Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew review – in the shadow of Desperados

The German studio Mimimi Games has only been around for a little over ten years, but in that time they have certainly managed to make a big name for themselves. They are devoted exclusively to one genre, which they themselves have already named – stealth strategy. Classic games like Commandos or Desperados. The Mimimi have already succeeded with their title Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and have impressed publisher THQ Nordic so much that they have entrusted them with the third installment of the already titled Desperados series. However, after that, the developers returned to creating their own brands, and now they have brought us another stealth strategy called Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew.

• Platform: PC (Verified), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
• Publication date: 08/17/2023
• Developer: Mimimi games
• Publisher: Mimimi games
• Genre: stealth strategy
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data to download: 22 GB
• Game time: ~ 34 hours
• Price: €39.99 (Steam)

Assembly tested:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K
• FRAME: 32GB DDR5 6000MT/s
• Graphic card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080
• Storage: Solidigm P44 Pro (1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD)

pirate adventure

Unlike the historical setting in the form of feudal Japan and the Wild West in previous games, here the creators have relied on pirates with a great mixture of fantasy. The fact that the main character Afia wears a saber stuck in her chest probably speaks for itself, there really is no historical authenticity here. In the beginning, it is Aphia who frees the Red Marley ship, which can partially control time, because it can create a memory and then return to it. Her captain recently died, but left behind a treasure, and of course our goal is to find it. But it will not be easy, first you need to revive the local team, as well as defeat the Inquisition, which also craves treasure.

Frankly, Shadow Gambit is the least interesting of Mimimi’s creations. After all, the historical theme is much closer to me than fantasy, but I was still curious to see what the story would turn out to be. However, having played it, I must say that it is somewhat weaker, although it has strong points. And while he sometimes tries to be serious, he inevitably takes on a humorous note, which is understandable given the setting. The somewhat more unique concept of Desperados 3 definitely suited me better, but if you’re into a bit of over the top fantasy, you probably won’t be disappointed.

Great in essence

After all, the gameplay is important in these games. While Desperados 3 brought only a few (albeit very significant) Quality of Life improvements over Shadow Tactics, the developers have taken somewhat more massive action here. The essence of course remains the same, you complete missions in which you need to get from the starting point to the final destination by sneaking around enemy units. However, in most cases, you cannot do without eliminating them, which, of course, you must plan carefully so that other enemies do not notice this. Of course, it’s not easy at all, basically you have to use trial and error all the time (quick save and fast load will be your best friends). But when you manage to kill several enemies at once, it’s a great feeling.

So if you don’t get spoiled by some bug that I had more than sensible while playing, but the authors assured me that they will be fixed in the day one patch, so let’s hope that it really will be. In any case, aside from the bugs, the game is really fair. I played it on the second hardest difficulty, which turned out to be a great choice, because I never felt that the mission was too easy, but not impossible either. I definitely recommend this setting for players who already have experience playing this genre. In Shadow Gambit, the difficulty balance is well done, and artificial intelligence plays a big role in this, which is definitely not stupid.

The gameplay as such will definitely not disappoint you, Shadow Gambit is one of those games that quickly grabs you and doesn’t let go. This is also due to the variety of abilities of individual characters. Of course, there’s the classic coin toss and whistle, as well as a host of other skills not seen in any of the previous games. In terms of gameplay, my big favorite has been Pincus von Presswald, although he is slowly unaware of what’s going on around him, he can “possess” the enemy and control them, allowing other units to effectively infiltrate from within. While you’ll find your favorites, each character has a very useful set of skills and the game is well balanced in that regard. It also motivates you to switch between characters very well, as you get more points for it, which you will then need to unlock an upgrade for the selected character.

Great freedom

If there’s one thing the writers have particularly focused on, it’s freedom. As I have already pointed out, you can choose your crew (mostly three people) for each mission, it is not predetermined like in previous Mimimi games. At the same time, you get a preview of the map before the mission, you can choose a starting point, you can get to your destination in any way convenient for you, and then leave the island again using one of several exits. In a word, there are a lot of options, which is certainly nice, at least at the initial stage. The only pity is that this negatively affected another aspect of the game.

But should it be?

We are talking about maps that are exclusively islands. Although they are usually relatively large in size and varied in appearance, the problem is that they are few and far between. By playing the main campaign, you will reach a total of 9 locations, but there are many more missions and you will be viewing each map multiple times. Of course, the walkthrough is not exactly the same, because the goal of the mission is different, you can choose a different starting point, take on different characters, sometimes the mission takes place at night and not during the day… But the truth is that the differences are not big enough to justify such big processing. It’s a shame, because this inevitably leads to repetition, which the creators could have easily avoided by reducing the number of missions.

The fact is that because of the repeated cards, the whole game is somewhat stretched. It took me about 34 hours to complete the main campaign, which is exactly what awaits you in the post-game content, where you often return to familiar places. As a result, a terrible shame, because the gameplay itself is a pleasure, the lack of maps pretty spoils the impression.

However, we must admit that, unlike previous games, there is content here that goes beyond the missions themselves. The time between them will be spent on the Red Marley ship itself, where you can chat with the crew or play out short stories of some of the characters. There are stronger and weaker parts, but they always consist of just walking around the ship and talking, mostly a lot of dialogue and they are not always that interesting.

bittersweet visuals

But the characters themselves are certainly interesting. Not only do they have a variety of abilities, but also a character. For the most part, it’s one crazy next to the other, but that’s the intent, of course. As stated here, in most cases the game is not taken very seriously, and the characters are no exception.

The characters are crazy not only externally, but also visually. The style was very successful, Mimimi did a great job again and it fits in very well with the setting. It’s a pity, however, that it’s a little let down by the overall level of detail, which is often quite low. Of course, with a classic top-down view, you won’t even notice it, but during cut-scenes, which are quite a few, it’s definitely noticeable. Paradoxically, I found the detail to be slightly worse than the 3 year old Desperados 3, but the truth is that the creators probably had a significantly larger budget thanks to THQ Nordic. And on top of that, at least the game runs very nicely, I haven’t noticed any annoying crashes or crashes.

What I have absolutely nothing to complain about is the soundtrack. It was handled (as in Desperados 3) by Filippo Bec Peccos and did a great job. The music is fun, catchy and, of course, perfect for the pirate theme. There is also a classic in the form of an openly pirated song.

Western or Pirates?

All in all, Shadow Gambit is a great stealth strategy game that fans of the genre can definitely recommend. The developers didn’t reskin the previous games, they introduced quite serious innovations and made the game much more open. However, the repetitiveness, weaker plot and rather annoying bugs made the title, at least in my opinion, fall short of the qualities of Desperados 3. Therefore, for those new to the genre, I would recommend an adventure western. But if you have already seen it, then you will definitely like the pirates.