
Not shabby for a standalone expansion.Īs for the visuals and sound this is pretty much exactly the same as before. Once you are done with a chapter, certain challenges open up that require further planning and higher difficulties are brutal but fun. All in all, there’s an impressive 8-15 hours of replayable content to be seen here. Though these smaller missions do provide a solid 20 minute challenge to solve. They take a couple of hours each to complete. The large missions are obviously the main attraction, and are wonderfully designed and provide unique challenges that put your stealth skills to the test. There are main missions which are the more traditional Shadow Tactics design, and three mini chapters which are the equivalent of a single encounter. Even the slightest issue with your plan could end in disaster so finally overcoming the challenge is all the more rewarding.Īiko’s Choice is split into multiple chapters. The game doesn’t punish save scumming instead, it actively encourages it. That same gameplay loop of quicksaving, trying something only for it to fail and reloading is back. Shadow mode allows you queue each character’s actions to perform at the same time or sequentially.
#SHADOW TACTICS PC REVIEW HOW TO#
Shadow Tactics gives you the necessary tools to progress and it’s up to you how to proceed, rewarding creative strategies and use of all the characters. It’s a standard fare seen in other isometric stealth games, such as Desperados III, and it works brilliantly.īy right clicking on an enemy, you will be able to see their vision cone which allows you to plan your moves in advance. For example, using Yuki’s whistle can distract enemies for Hayato to go in for a takedown or using Aiko’s disguise can help Mugen slip into a more suitable position to takedown the deadly samurai enemies. Then we have Takuma and his trusty pet Kuma, who act like a sniper and distraction respectively.Įach character serves an important gameplay purpose and success relies on combining each of their abilities. We also have Yuki, who can lay traps and attract enemies towards her position. Mugen is your tank-like Samurai, he’s not effective at stealth due to his bulking armour, but easily able to take down other fellow Samurai and multiple enemies at once.

Aiko is a Kunoichi (a female ninja) who plays in a somewhat similar style to Hayato, but specialises in disguises. Hayato is your general shinobi class, hiding in shadows and able to take enemies down with a shuriken at a range.

I would also recommend Satellite Reign if you're into real-time tactics with stealth.Shadow Tactics is an isometric stealth strategy game that has you controlling a small band of heroes. It can get frustrating when you figure out a solution and don't have the micro to pull it off, but I've only gotten stuck like that once and I pulled it off after 20 minutes of reloading/experimenting. It's a fairly common feature nowadays and would make it feel less frantic. AFAIK you can't queue up multiple commands for a single character, which would have especially been nice for hiding bodies. From what I can tell, you can only queue up one action per person in 'shadow mode'. On the flipside, they're pretty likeable characters and I see no reason why you wouldn't want to bring everyone you could.

You don't get to choose who to bring along since the story gradually introduces the characters and bases the mission objectives off their capabilities. You can go back and replay them at any time for better scores and challenges, but it's still very much a linear progression with cutscenes at the opening and closing of levels.

The game is linear in that there is an order of missions, escalating in difficulty, that you unlock one at a time. There's a misconception that linear means 'low replay value' but that's simply not the case. I'm not very far, but there are some sections where it's really obvious what the easiest solution is and if you want to progress without say, killing people, you have to cheese the AI (which feels more like luck than anything).
#SHADOW TACTICS PC REVIEW TRIAL#
It's fun, just involves a lot of trial and error.
