Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun

Just seeing those view cones again makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I'm not an avid gamer, as in that I'd call it my main hobby. But especially during my teenage years I spent quite some time behind a computer screen and that was mostly thanks to the style of game that combined thinking with action. Deux Ex, Thief, Hitman were examples of this in the 1st or 3rd person genre, but my absolute favorites were always the top-view Commandos (up until Commandos 2) and Desperados (the first installment), where you control a small squad of specialized individuals facing huge and beautiful maps full of strategically placed enemies. For some reason aside from these four games, it was difficult to find games that offered the same experience these games had to offer. Until now. Shadow Tactics: Blade of the Shogun is the real deal, and when they say it's the successor to Commandos and Desperados, fans of these games can be assured that it is. Commandos set the stage magnificently, Desperados added a bit more colour, plot lines and quirkiness, and Shadow Tactics moves forward much in the same vain, providing you with huge levels, an arsenal of distractions, hiding spots for both yourself and your victims, and attack moves that make a fight of 2 versus 80 feel unfair to those eighty people, yet always challenging. Enemies are, like in Desperados, diverse and react differently. Some are easily fooled and killed, while others are more disciplined and intelligent and take an original idea to get past them. Shadow Tactics comes with a very interactive environment, where boulders are waiting to be pushed and big animals can cause major accidents. It's so fulfilling to pick off those red dots on the beautiful map one by one, proceeding as you go through wonderfully rich environments and a great story to boot. The replayability is huge, with every map providing many different ways to solve it, each solution having its own challenges. An optional badge system with special mission completion conditions adds to that. My only slight quirk is the speedrun badge that goes against the spirit of this game. Obviously this is optional, and quite easily ignored, I just felt there is no need for speed in this game. Every second in it should be enjoyed, and I intend to spend many more of those here. I can guarantee that his game is absolutely perfect for the Commandos and Desperados fans, but even if you haven't played those: try it and discover a great genre and a game that does it right. Maybe it can steer the younger generations to the older gems? And maybe, after this game's resounding success, more games in this genre will follow? One can only hope. I'm already thankful for this game, an instant-favorite of someone who had even stopped hoping another game like this would come out. Shadow Tactics is more than I had dared to wish for.

All the 5 stars reviews might induce you to think this is one of the best games out there. It depends on what you like, but let me say this: you have to be careful and invest a few hours in the game to begin to enjoy it. Once you get the grip of the mechanics and get to know the plot and characters...well, you will be in love with this game. The game is hard and may be harder if you want to. The voice acting is great and the characters are so, so awesome. And I usually hate a closed, small roster of characters, but man, these ones work great. By the time you get good at killing enemies, you start to look for more stealthy ways to accomplish missions and/or the game challenges you with some event. Thanks to the developers. I played this game during the covid 2020 spring quarantine and I really needed not to think of a very close relative delicate state of health. A game is meant to entertain and this game sure does the trick. Thanks again for all the hard work and love put into this game. Rest in peace mom, you would have liked this game.

This game is superb at its genre - I can't find any fault with it. Love that we can have voices in Japanese (with subtitles in English) - makes the adventure more immersive, feels more authentic. Played it in Ubuntu Linux and it has worked flawlessly. The game did NOT require me to accept any abusive Terms & Conditions to play.

-Had stacks of fun. -Levels were really well designed. -Characters were great, could feel the bonding on them as the game went on -Game length and playtime was good. -Was addicting -I loved trying out different solutions to different situations. -That awesome feeling of 'dividing the pie' slowly getting tasks and areas clear as you work your way through the level. Favorite level: probably the Monastery level. Favorite Character: Akio the sexy spy women Most disturbing thing in the game: Using Yuki for so many kills and to drag bodies I feel I've messed with her mental health.

I don't blame game devs for this, but I must provide awareness for both devs and consumers alike to the privacy compromization of forced telemetry. If you don't mind being spied on, that is fine, but to the others, this is just to let you know, be safe.