I’m not sure how it happened but Shadow Tactics Blades of the Shogun slipped past my radar over E3. Just catching the trailer reminded me of XCOM blended with Ninja Gaiden. So I figured I would show the developing title some love and share the trailer as well as early announced features.
Developed by Daedalic Entertainment, who have developed other adventure/RPG genres such as Blackguards and Deponia, the team certainly has experience developing both a narrative and a creative adventure. Shadow Tactics looks to be beautifully cell shaded in the style of OKAMI to compliment its eastern setting.
The story revolves around a new Shogun’s rise to power in the year of 1615 in his goal to secure peace for the nation of Japan. In the battle for his rebellion, the Shogun hires five specialists each with their own ability. The breakdown of this team features the ninja, Hayato, who can quietly take out his opponents through stealth. Samurai Mugen is the tank of the team and can take out more opponents at once. Aiko is a master of disguise and can camouflage in plain sight as well as distract enemies. The street child Yuki can lay deadly trap and lure unsuspecting enemies to their final rest. Finally there is Takuma who solely relies on his sniper to take care of enemies before they see anything.
The abilities of this team will make for very interesting scenarios as well as a high level of difficulty. Can the street child hold his own against guards? Or will you need to guard some of your mercenaries for specific purposes?
The biggest challenge with Shadow Tactics will be having to micromanage the team in real time combat. That means creating a plan, watching enemy patrols, timing movements and attacks, there is plenty that can go wrong.
At E3 it was announced that their will be thirteen missions but we do not yet no the scope of the game. These missions could contain multiple objectives that lengthen the game out but I hope we see Shadow Tactics deliver a compelling game with plenty of challenging hours of gameplay.
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