Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun

One of the best games I have ever played! Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is by no means an easy game. Nope, it's actually challenging and would require you, as the player, to strategize your every move, unless you want to get detected or shot at by the enemy. No, every move should be precise and well-thought out, and that's the beauty of it. Unlike any other game which will make you rage quit due to an unbalanced difficulty spike, ST: BotS actually motivates strategy, without taking itself too seriously. The story, the soundtrack, the visuals, and most especially the gameplay, they are all superb and well-delivered. Kudos, Shadow Tactics! I just hope that there may be a sequel in the foreseeable future. This game is definitely a must-have and a must-play!

I was expecting I wouldn't enjoy Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (ST:BotS) as much, so I got it when it was on sale. But, boy, was I wrong! I still prefer games like Dishonored and Mark of the Ninja, because they feel faster. However pulling off an attack in ST:BotS with 3 or more characters in real time is just so satisfying. The game features a scripted actions queue, which I thought was too short. 3 actions at most is quite insufficient when each character has 4 skills. It did remind of Transistor a bit, but I guess the point in ST:BotS is to control the characters in real time. Especially if you want the speedrun badge, i.e. complete a level in 15-20 minutes. You don't have to rush though. I took my time with Misson 9 and I finished it in 1 hour and 27 min. After that I checked the speedruns online and there was a 57 SECONDS long one (loading screen incl.). Wow! It's amazing how ST:BotS allows you to enjoy it at your own speed. On top of that using different characters to solve a problem provides a vastly different experience and lets you go on a unique journey of your choice. I did have some trouble with actions getting canceled or characters not responding as fast as I was issuing commands, but that's about the only complaint I have. I didn't experience any other bugs. Everything else is great! The gameplay is solid. The graphics are brilliant. The soundtrack fits perfectly with the atmosphere. The voice acting is also great, although I enjoyed the Japanese one more than the English one. There are subtitles though, so you can go with the language of you preference. The story telling stood out to me as well. It's a simple story, but good and the dialogue is so well written that you get to know each of the 5 characters and share their feelings throughout their journey. As a whole ST:BotS feels so complete and colorful, with various ways to finish each mission that it just creates the ultimate experience. Verdict: Brilliant! Worth full price.

I got this game for free on GOG's 2021 Winter giveaway. First impression is that the graphics is very good. I like this type of stylized graphics compared to reality graphics. After playing the first mission, I was hooked. Some gamers may not like scripted or fixed pathways to complete the quests, I prefer it to those games with open world but rubbish quests. At least you can be sure the developers put in a lot of effort to make the gameplay/storyline good rather than put in lots of filler quests in the main storyline to artificially beef up the play time because they have to spend time making side quests in the open world. The storyline is good as well and the characters are very memorable. My favourite is Yuki due to her skill set and her concern for her team mates. Gameplay is very smooth but I did encounter 1 bug whereby the samurai is stuck in 1 place and it is linked to a guard so I cannot kill the guard at all and have to go around him. If I tried to kill the guard, my character will be frozen in place and I cannot do anything. Other than this bug, the gameplay is very responsive for all the missions. The voice acting and BGM are also very well done. I have only completed the game once but I will try to complete all the challenges (a.k.a. badges) in the missions. I will also purchase the DLC: Aiko's Choice to support the developers. I highly recommend this stealth game!

This Game is a prequel, from an engine and stealth perspectivea but with different setting. It has an eastern mystical vibe and a fair save-game system with three quick-saves and also normal saves und represents a little gem (which is avaiable now (12 . Feb. 2022) at about 4€.

I'm writing this in the middle of level 9. I like it, I really do. I like the characters, the story, the graphics and the gameplay. But it's too frustrating for even the most patient gamer. In the early levels there are many enemies, but if you ponder for a little while and try different strategies, you can find a window of opportunity and feel good about it. Not so in the later levels, where there the enemies are stationary, are looking at and are looked by at least two other enemies, and are of the kind that you can't lure. And that's normal difficulty. You're expected to do this shit while you get spotted almost instantaneously, among other medal collection related handicaps. I don't know who this game's supposed to be for. I don't know if I just suck at it. But I do know that, while objectively good, it's probably not for me.