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Commandos-Like Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Commandos clone with ninjutsu theme

MediantSamuel

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I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but it looks like when you use shadow mode and throw vanishing powder onto a fire or a brazier, said fire or brazier goes out.

Doesn't seem to work without shadow mode. Bug, I guess?
 

Infinitron

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http://www.pcgamer.com/shadow-tactics-review/

SHADOW TACTICS: BLADES OF THE SHOGUN REVIEW

Two soldiers, on the lookout for a sneaky band of heroes, patrol a stretch of road. They see nobody. Then, a sound that can only be described as “adorable” inspires one of them to wander off. It’s an improbably cute tanuki. Entranced, the soldier doesn’t notice the rock hurtling toward him from above. As it turns him into a smooth paste there’s a flash and a bang, the sound of a matchlock pistol, and soldier number two goes down. I exhale. Another pair of foes fallen to Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun’s heroes. Another notch on my belt.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of playing the Commandos series then you know what you’re in for with Shadow Tactics. Contained within this tale of an unlikely cadre attempting to stop a civil war are 13 elaborate and complex stealth missions where the odds are seemingly stacked against you.

Thankfully your quintet—made up of a saki-loving samurai, three ninjas, and an old man with a gun-leg and pet raccoon dog—have all the tools they need to overcome even the most insurmountable of challenges. Mugen, the gang’s gregarious patriarch, can rush in and cut down a trio of enemies in a second, while the group’s most precocious member, Yuki, can beckon guards towards her traps with her bird calls. Each of them has skills to distract and kill along with more specialised tricks in their bountiful toy boxes, ranging from geisha disguises to not-so-subtle explosives.

Every enemy encounter is a piece of a huge clockwork puzzle, all orderly and repetitive. To succeed, you need to disrupt the pattern. The fun part is creating chaos with the toy box of abilities and experimenting with them. There’s a lot of joy to be found in playing around with different strategies, tearing out the best parts of failed attempts and stitching them together until you have one that finally works. The ability to save anywhere makes experimentation easier, and a timer lets you know when it's been a while since you last saved.

Sometimes a problem requires lateral thinking. In snowy areas guards take notice of suspicious footprints, which can ruin a plan if you're not careful. However, you can can also exploit guards' inquisitiveness and lay ambushes for those that blindly follow trails into empty corners.

Some problems demand teamwork, and that’s where Shadow Mode comes in. This lets you assign each character a job and activate them all at once. Used correctly, Shadow Mode lets you sweep away large groups of enemies in swift, decisive moves. It’s a thrill to hit a button and see your minions move in tandem.

Each mission provides contains unique objectives, and the number of characters you control changes. This rather effectively stops you from getting too comfortable with a tactic, because you never know when you might find yourself unable to rely on it. In a whirlwind tour of Japan, you plan prison breaks, assassinations, burglaries and even army sabotage. Missions are designed to be replayed, as they’re essentially sandboxes rich with possible solutions. Unlockable challenges such as speed runs, offer added incentives to experiment.

Shifting art and themes support Shadow Tactic's diverse mission design. During the infiltration of Lord Yabu’s ostentatious palace, the area is painted in dark red and orange, matching the heroes’ thirst for revenge and their hope that the sun is about to set on the rebellion. That's in stark contrast to the rescue attempt in Suganuma Village, where the rain never lets up and the once lively fields are now accompanied by rows of corpses. It’s a grey and dismal location for a desperate mission.

The story has also been given a a lot of attention. It’s a simple, but well-spun, yarn that manages to explore its heroes and give them meaningful arcs without overbearing exposition or lengthy cutscenes. Through mid-mission banter you learn the most about the band and see them grow.

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun evokes the stealth escapades of decades past, but it’s an exceptional addition to the genre in its own right. It’s tricky, complex without being too complicated. It's characterful and user-friendly enough that even the stealth-averse might find something to tempt them into the shadows. Also, did I mention you get a tanuki?

THE VERDICT

92

SHADOW TACTICS: BLADES OF THE SHOGUN
Shadow Tactics’ impressive missions, laden toy box and likeable cast make it one of the greatest stealth games of the last decade.
 

Darth Roxor

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I finally sat down to check out the behind the scenes artbook that shipped with me boxed edition, there are some interesting early enemy concepts that never made it into the game. This includes guards with flamers, "elite bowmen", falconers, horse archers, kendo elite guards and sumo wrestlers.
 

Goral

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sumo wrestlers
A strange choice for an opponent, not including them was the right choice if you ask me. Sumo wrestler vs. a guy with a sword, I wonder who would win?

The rest seems plausible and could be added in DLCs or a sequel. BTW, one of the designers said on Steam forums that he read this thread and will take into consideration our observations/remarks.
 

Darth Roxor

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A strange choice for an opponent, not including them was the right choice if you ask me. Sumo wrestler vs. a guy with a sword, I wonder who would win?

Those are civilians, I think, not enemies, cuz they are on the same page as various civilian designs. I'd say the flamer dudes (and also some weird mecha-crossbow guards) were a good choice not to include, cuz they look sort of tarded. Otoh, I'd really like to see the falconers in.

There's also an interesting "boss enemy" concept there, some sort of blind high priestess with extra sharp hearing.

... there are also sketches for an "evil shogun moon base" level with laser turrets and drones. I can only assume this was some sort of in-joke or easter egg :M
 

Zombra

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I finally sat down to check out the behind the scenes artbook that shipped with me boxed edition, there are some interesting early enemy concepts that never made it into the game. This includes guards with flamers, "elite bowmen", falconers, horse archers, kendo elite guards and sumo wrestlers.
That's great! Too bad none of this made it into game #1, but it's encouraging to know they had plenty more ideas. Bodes well for a sequel!
 

Darth Roxor

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2nN7Wq.jpg


:dance:

I think it's safe to say I've squeezed the last juices from this game.
 

Darth Roxor

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Some of those badges were a real fucking bitch to get though. Highlights:

- Masaru kidnapping without climbing ladders or using hookshots. That one took me a RIDICULOUS amount of time and effort, because there are plenty of guards placed on inconvenient elevations and a number of samurai that block chokepoints. It gets even better with the "don't extinguish any torches" badge, because it also means you can't kill any guards that carry them, unless you use the pistols (which you shouldn't).

- Kage-sama's camp and "don't step in puddles" + "hide all bodies" + "don't choose Mugen". This wasn't any challenge at all, but fuck me, was it A FUCKING CHORE. There are no bushes on the map, so the only places where you can hide bodies are houses and wells in the centre, around Kage-sama's tent. This means you have to carry some of the shits across half the fucking map. The safest and easiest way leads through an area with a shitton of puddles and very narrow wooden walkways, so you have to keep sending your bodycarriers ahead with waypoints. And no Mugen means you have to make-do with Hayato, Yuki and Aiko to carry like 20 of them around... Seriously, fuck this map, it's the worst one in the game in all possible aspects.

- Suganuma village's "don't climb" + "(effectively) don't use Mugen" was also a bit of a bitch, but here it was more of a proper challenge than a chore.

- Speedrun in snow-town where you gotta steal the documents from the official. Most speedruns I managed to do on 1st or 2nd try (barring restarts within 2-3 first minutes when something went wrong), with a few minutes to spare still, but this shit, Jesus Christ. It took me many tries, and when I finally succeeded, I had like 20 seconds to spare.
 
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I remember finishing some of those missions then seeing the conditions for the badges and being like, what the hell man, how the fuck am I supposed to do that shit?
 

DemonKing

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I finished this off last week - thoroughly impressive effort. I would have liked to see more than 3 different enemy types but otherwise a lot of fun. It did a good job introducing new gameplay variations almost up till the end. It was very hard but the moment you crack what seems like an impossible nut make the head-scratching and reload fest beforehand worthwhile. The quicksave system was great too.

Will buy a sequel/expansion.
 

KK1001

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Amazing game. Here's hoping for an expansion or a sequel that throws the player right into it.
 

Nryn

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Just finished my first playthrough, and it's the best stealth game I've played in years. Impeccable level design and clever enemy placement ensured that the enemy variety or lack thereof was never truly a hindrance to enjoying the game.

Apart from obvious expansion/sequel additions like new abilities, heroes and enemy types, there are a few changes I'd like the (hopefully) next game to have:

1. Even more differentiation between the characters: Characters in ST can all perform 4 broad categories of actions: a primary attack (mostly melee), a secondary ranged attack (except Aiko), a distraction and shoot sidearms. The differentiation between the 5 characters comes from the variation in abilities within each of these 4 primary categories, as well as movement options. For the next game, I'd prefer if different characters performed completely different roles instead of performing largely similar roles through different means.

2. UI changes: A minor change I'd like to see is better area monitoring. ST provides just a dotted line from the enemy whose vision passes over a selected area, whereas Commandos 1 actually provided the entire sight cone of the offending soldier when it crossed the specified area. The difference is that when 2 or more enemies saw the same spot, Commandos 1 showed exactly when the enemies saw the monitored area (ST does this), as well as what exactly they see (ST does not provide this). Commandos 1's area monitoring provided more information, enabling the designers to include even more demanding enemy placements.

One major change UI change I'd like to see is a more reliable way to drop off bodies to a lower floor. The game's far too finicky about this and limits this functionality when it logically shouldn't. Instead of having to pixel hunt the exact spot that gets the contextual "drop bodies down" icon to show up, I'd prefer a dedicated button to save myself from this hassle altogether.

3. The ability to edit enemy placements on existing campaign maps and share them with the community: One of the good additions of the recent Hitmans is the ability to create custom contracts and share them. This idea is begging to be implemented in the Commandos genre of games since puzzling out the intricate web of interconnected enemies is the main draw of these games. Even if the level stays the same visually, different compositions and locations for the enemy means having to relearn the level all over again. The developers can still use expansions and sequels as a means to introduce new enemy types, abilities and hero characters.

Anyway, even if none of the above comes to pass, and the expansion/sequel is just "more of the same", It'd still be great news, since ST was one of the most satisfying stealth experiences I've had.
 

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