Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun

Very fun! Difficulty and enemies are fair. Characters are similar in concept but unique in execution (no pun intended). Dialogue is good, and the story's enjoyable.

I probably won't play this again as I found the stealth bits frustrating and often times a bit tedious. However, this is a great game if you like isometric tactical games that play as puzzles and less as skill-based combat.

Shadow Tactics, is a real-time tactics video game where you control a group of
assassins with different abilities who have to work together to uncover a rebellion against the shogun.

The story is nice, and it has its heartbreaking moments.
I liked the characters very much.

The gameplay is very good and smooth.
In each mission, you can choose different ways to accomplish your goal.

I'm looking for the Shadow Tactics 2.

Playtime: ~ 30 hours

Overall: 8 out of 10

If you like Desperados and Commandos, you should definitely give it a try.

I just played the first two missions and I must say this game is phenomenal! I just purchased it for $3.99 for 90% off... and feel like I stole it. I can already tell I would purchase this game for its normal $39.99 price tag. Do yourself a favor and buy it! I'm playing on Lenovo Legion Go - iykyk

Verdict : 9/10

Story : 8/10 cool story bro, very Japanese i think...

Gameplay :9/10 amazing tactical play, very rewarding and thought provocking.

Music : 8/10 good for what it is.

Visuals : 7/10 bit old but practical.

Creative/new Fresh: 8/10 fresh take on stealth, but been done before many times.

Conclusion : Wonderful game if you like strategy type stealth. very fun game would recommend!

I enjoyed Commandos in my childhood, so this game was really enjoyable the tactical stealth gameplay with ninjas. Only issue is there are only 13 missions, around 25 hours of gameplay. In my opinion with so many modern games having 100+ hours of gameplay at a quarter of the price, Shadow Tactics not really worth the full price.

Recommend getting when on sale or discount.

Brilliant tactical action game. If you liked Commandos, you are going to love this even more.

Did you really decide to remove the time stop to call yourself a real-time strategy game? Do you understand that the player needs time to move the cursor to the next character? And the player is limited to one monitor!
Pathetic...

bruv 33 min in the game and ive fun like never before ... finally a game that is actually good

Very difficult, and yet I keep coming back because I want to solve the puzzles! Enjoyable but not relaxing.

TL;DR A smooth and beautiful tactical game with very few issues. Definitely worth the purchase.

Story

Gameplay

Overview

The best stealth mechanics I've ever seen. I only played through the game on normal but still found it very challenging at times.

PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE, if you dont have patience then this game and TRUE STEALTH GAMES LIKE IT ARE NOT FOR YOU. If you do have the patience though then this game will be a great strategic challenge akin to chess but more fun and greatly rewards those who plan their movements ahead of time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. My only gripe however is that sometimes the camera can be an obstacle, other than that its a perfect game

Excellent tactical stealth game. Loved Commandos from many years back, and this is like that, only 100 times better. Beautiful graphics, game mechanics, variation in characters, missions are great. A great challenge and a lovely game. Highly recommend it!

This is the game that made me realize that indie games can be as good or even way better than AAA titles.

A very fun and challenging game. A very likable group of characters.

Very good game. There are a few bugs that I guess at this point will never got fixed but not annoying enough to hinder experiencing the game.

Loved the game but purchased it on sale and it was refunded although I did not request a refund. I have no idea how it happened still and now the game is 10 times the amount I paid for it. I own Aiko's choice on Epic but would like to get this game again but after being forced to lose it when it was like 5 dollars on sale I do not think I would ever pay close to 40 for it.

If you like Commandos' like games then this is quite good and has aged well in the last years. The presentation with the cast and setup is fantastic and the soundtrack is stellar.

Some of the viewcone angles and mechanics feel bit too demanding about near pixel perfection or absolutely precise timing, combined with the fact that you can't chain actions with the shadow realm stuff like set them to hit enemies and start dragging the bodies to another location.

There's lots of replay value in the game but if you have any games in the backlog all of the optional medal stuff feels bit too gimmicky and slow to grind through, compared to games like Hitman games of last decade where the experiementation and in-game achievements come naturally if you like to experiment with the sandbox.

Easy grab from a minor sale with the Aiko's Choice expansion, some of the positioning and "who should I knock out first to make this easier" will tickle your brain stem a bit if you haven't played these kinds of games in a long time.

am i missing it or you can input more than one action per character in shadow mode?
overall a great game. an absolute time sink until you watch speedrun on youtube though.

Great tactics and great story too. Challenging but fun!

At first, I thought I made a mistake of buying this game. I didn't even play it for a few days after buying it but then after I played it, I got hooked by how the game forces you to improve your strategy.

I like it very much and I've also purchased Desperados 3. It's a pity that this studio doesn't make games any more. If you like stealth games get it.

This is Desperados in Japan setting. If you like games such as Commandos, Desperados and do not have any issues about Japan setting you should like it. Recommended.

shadow tactics: blades of the shogun is a stealth-focused real-time strategy/tactics game developed by the now-defunct mimimi productions and published by daedalic entertainment. it released in december 2016 for PC and then july 2017 on consoles. players control a group of characters as they perform different kinds of stealth-oriented acts such as assassination, espionage, and even things like stealing important documents and rescuing other ally characters. the game is set in feudal japan and tells an interesting narrative that keeps players intrigued throughout.

i am extremely pleased with this entry in mimimi's catalogue, as it's a giant improvement and complete change of pace from their first game that i played, the last tinker: city of colors. i would say they went from that game being a chikdish 5 or 6 out of 10 kind of game, to developing a superb entry in the tactical-stealth sub-genre that i wouldn't say is anything below a solid 7/10. im excited to potentially get around to playing the expansion, desperados III, & shadow gambit, the other stuff mimimi put out before closing in 2023.

bought this game a while back and my laptop couldn't handle it for more than an hour at a time. I enjoyed it enough that i bought it on console instead and proceeded to have a blast.

updated my laptop and have been eyeing this ever since, thinking about replaying it. it's pretty decent. i'd give it a 7/10 for what it is.

less of a tactics game and more like a stealth puzzler. fun if you like meticulous and challenging gameplay but a real downer of a story.

I felt like the game is fairly well made, and a bit difficult. The graphics are definitely good. But...

It's not fun? Like, I had fun with it for a small while but I didn't find myself engrossed, just bored after a while. But I kept playing for a couple hours to see if it was going anywhere interesting and out of boredom. It's just endless sneaking around. There's not really much variety, overall.

I guess the whole "sneaking around" bit was as advertised but I didn't end up liking it. You can't really get technical or develop your skill because the character moves too clunky and that you can never just fight enemies and win basically. So, it's not like a fighting game where you can execute skill-based moves. If you "know the answer" then there's nearly no challenge to executing it. But if you don't, then nothing you do matters and you just die a ton of times because you can't skill your way out of a tricky spot, so you can sort of soft-lock yourself and then have to reset the level. Particularly annoying on long levels.

Top tier stealth game and a hell of a game to achievement hunt for. Controls are awkward at first particularly the camera movement. Shadow mode to make characters work in unison is fun but not all that necessary to complete a lot of maps so to me it feels more stylistic than a key aspect of the gameplay. I originally had this game on the xbox in the past and revisited on steam some years later and found the same joy I had when I first played. Would highly recommend for anybody interested in stealth games

🏆 Overall rating: 9.5/10
This is one of the games you simply must play.
Having never played Commandos before, this was my first experience with this style of gameplay. With 5 characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, coordinating them, their skills, and interacting with the environment to achieve the best results was truly enjoyable. The feeling of spending hours replaying to achieve all the achievements was incredibly satisfying.
I would rate the game's story as decent, providing a very authentic feeling, making me feel like I was the characters I was controlling (especially when Mugen chose to sacrifice himself).
The music also did its job well. Even if you spent hours replaying a level, you wouldn't feel bored or annoyed.
You really should experience this game. At just 10% of the original price (it's almost always 90% off), the experience it offers exceeds all expectations.

I like the graphics and everything else but the controls are uncomfortable and janky

The best stealth/strategy game I ever played. Brilliant level design with a unique story. Theres also a lot of replayability with different "badges" you can earn by completing different tasks during missions. I will definitely check out the other games by the devs :)

Only downside: It will probably forever ruin other stealth / strategy games for you

The game's strong point is using your squad's unique abilities to get through each map undetected. The different squad combinations and multiple paths to the targets keep it interesting.

Also, pulling off a good shadow mode combo and watching several guards drop at once is very satisfying.

A solid tactical stealth game to expand on the genre created by Commandos. The two games are similar but also very different. Commandos is more of a sandbox where each member shares a lot what they can do, and exploration is a major part of the experience. Shadow Tactics plays more like a puzzle game in the sense that each character is dedicated to their special role and enemy placement is a lot more elaborate so you really have to carefully plan your execution. This means that despite the obvious influence from Commandos, Shadow Tactics has its own character and offers a very unique and unforgettable experience.

Also I would say Shadow Tactics has a better overall story and more enjoyable character development. The entire roster is likable and I cared for the characters. This is something the Commandos games never achieved thus I really recommend that fans of the genre should give Shadow Tactics a try. You won't be disappointed.

Love this game so much, fell in love at the start and it lasted 'til the end lol. I'm sad Mimimi is no more, but still so glad I decided to play this game

Great game.

More like this in the stealth genre would be most welcome

Solid real time strategy game where you carry out varied missions from assassinations to rescue missions.

I found it best to play with keyboard and mouse.

One unique aspect of the game is that each mission will have an assortment of different characters and you'll need to figure out which mechanics for the given characters will work best for the objective. Additionally, you can setup actions for all team members to execute at a single time, allowing you to take out multiple enemies and/or actions at a single time.

I usually took about an evening or so to play through each of the 13 missions. Replayability is there if you really want to execute each mission in a different manner, but a single play through of every mission was enough to scratch the strategy itch for myself.

Story is fairly weak, but didn't detract from the overall game too much. There are some cut scenes between missions that use the in game models but don't expect too much.

Overall, if you are a fan of isometric real time strategy games this one is worth a go when it is on a steep discount. 7.5 / 10

The missions in this game are quite challenging (but fun!), so if you are a slowpoke like me, set aside at least two hours for each gaming session. The developers know this; that's why after you complete a mission, they are caringly taking you back to the menu so you can take a break. The game is pretty much perfect in every way; it has multiple characters who complement each other nicely; there are tons of ways to complete each mission; and, best of all, finishing each little puzzle and mission as a whole feels very rewarding!

Firm suggestion: REMAP YOUR KEYS. The default control scheme is... odd, to say the least. Somebody here on Steam helpfully wrote a guide for a more comfortable control scheme that you can utilize, or at least springboard off of, for your own comfort, so why not use it?

If you're bad at stealth games, like I am, then this is a game you want to play in small doses - maps are large and take time to complete, and even the easier missions can range into an hour or longer depending on how badly you do (in my case, it routinely takes me an hour or longer, because as I said, I'm bad at stealth games). This is also not a game where you can simply charge through and kill everything in sight - your characters are squishy, and even the strongest among you will quickly be torn apart; you will routinely be outnumbered, and if an alarm gets raised, reinforcements get called in to make things even worse; and you have to toggle your combat abilities every single time you want to attack anything, which takes precious seconds that will cost you your life.

However, the game has proven to be very engaging otherwise, and the diversity of each character's moveset strongly urges you to strategize on the fly, aided as well by the Shadow system which allows you to coordinate multiple characters' actions simultaneously. The game urges liberal use of quicksaves, and in fact has a built in function to remind you when you haven't quicksaved in a while. You can load quicksaves at the push of a button, even in the middle of being spotted by patrols, so don't worry about it if you get caught and start dying, just hit your quickload button and it magically never happened!

Mind the voice acting - it's British actors trying to affect Japanese accents. It, uh, it can be a bit touch-and-go in places.

Excellent stealth tactical game.
Shadow Tactics is clearly inspired by the all time classic "Commandos-Behind Enemy Lines", which I played in 1999.

This is a quality game and it's evident in every aspect of it:
- the story is truly captivating, it has interesting, emotional twists,
- the isometric graphics, with a beautiful and detailed art style,
- the addictive gameplay, in which you control 5 assassins, each with his or her unique skills,
- the soundtrack with some very nice tunes,
- the difficulty is challenging, the "normal" difficulty is actually closer to "hard" is most games. all the levels feel like a puzzle, in which you have to study the environments a lot, study the movements of enemies and plan your strike in advance. there will be a lot of saving and loading, trust me. with each new level there will be more guards and they will be more packed together, so the difficulty will go up. but in time your skills will increase. it is very rewarding to complete each level and generally, the entire game after so much effort.
- the voice acting is top notch.

The only downside are the optional in-game "badges" that you can obtain by completing the levels with various very hard and frustrating demands - like not killing anyone, not using certain useful skills, not using disguises, not using certain terrain advantages etc.....Also, you clearly have to finish each map more then once if you want to acquire them all. Those badges weren't needed in my opinion. The developers added them to artificially increase the length of the game, and to force replayability.

It's a great adaptation of the tactical genre, popularized by Commandos.

Pros.:
- Characters.
- Variability.
- Difficulty varies.
- Not demanding.

Cons.:
- Hm... I didn't like the shadow mode controls.

Very fun stealth game. Characters share the same basic stealth mechanic but each have different strengths and weaknesses. There's more than one way to distract an enemy and more than one way to approach each mission. Dialogue is interesting, well done, and well paced.

Desparados 3 which is a game by the same dev is pretty much this game but with mechanics that aren't clunky and levels that aren't horrid. Play that instead. I 100%ed Desperados but this game is like a much worse version of it and I think I am done with it. If you are after RTT games, Sumerian Six is also a much better game than this.

Excellent gameplay. Brings back old memories of playing Commandos and Desperados, only better !!! Outstanding work by Mimimi studios.

I only wish that this game was never ending.

Awesome gameplay
Beautiful soundtrack
Stunningly immersive art style

Great strategy game by the also great former studio Mimimi.
Follows the same formula (actually this one came first) and delivers a touching and interesting story, yet another setting.

Can be a lot of work if you decide to persue all badges - specially time related ones.

Very polished game. Every mission is very unique and there are tons of ways to finish the missions.

10/10

It's more of a puzzle game than a stealth one, with each map being a big puzzle that you have to figure out piece by piece. The game is well made, pleasant to look at and offers a plot that's maybe not groundbreaking, but still fun to follow to the end. A real shame that a quality developer had to close the doors down, because the genre they pretty much perfected was too niche to keep them afloat.

Challenging gameplay that can be solved with careful planning and quick thinking alike! Great sound effects, music,characters and story. Would strongly recommend to anyone interested in a tactical stealth game!

The enjoyable story with a twist.