henke on 2/4/2017 at 12:53
Commandos was the first stealth game I ever played. Shadow Tactics is Commandos, but with ninjas and samurai instead of WW2 commandos. What I find most remarkable about the gameplay in this is just how little has changed since Commandos. Genres usually evolve over time, but this particular one hasn't changed much. Maybe because the real-time squad-based stealth-game hasn't seen many additions over the past 20 years. The Commandos sequels, Desperados games, and Satellite Reign are the only ones that spring to mind. (mostly when people make squad-based strategy stealth games these days, they're turn-based or pause-time) Or, maybe Pyro really just nailed the gameplay with Commandos and so there isn't much to change!
Among the game's short list of updates to the formula are more nuance added to the detection-system, and an order-queueing-system. Detection is no long instant when one of your units gets in the enemy's sights, instead their view-cone fills up until it reaches your position. And in a move perhaps borrowed from MGS5, the game also kicks into slo-mo when you're about to get spotted, giving you more time to react. The order-queuing lets you assign commands to you units and then execute them at the same time when pressing enter. This is useful for synchronized take-downs.
I'm only 5 hours and 4 missions into the game yet. Story and characters seem alright. Gameplay and level design are good. Here's some footage from level 3:
[video=youtube;kKdT6qCfPqE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKdT6qCfPqE&feature=youtu.be[/video]
The game is currently on sale on Steam, for €30, till tomorrow.
Pyrian on 2/4/2017 at 17:02
That looks very interesting, I'll have to try it out. Has a free demo, nice.
Yakoob on 2/4/2017 at 19:05
Vid looks good but it always makes me lol when a guard gets distracted, leaves his post to investagate, finds nothing, and returns to his patrol happily, never minding that now all his guard friends are mysteriously gone ;p
faetal on 2/4/2017 at 22:18
Probably because a realistic stealth game would be too hard for anyone to enjoy.
Renzatic on 3/4/2017 at 00:26
Just a heads up, this game is on sale over at GOG for $10 off.
Yakoob on 3/4/2017 at 06:38
Quote Posted by faetal
Probably because a realistic stealth game would be too hard for anyone to enjoy.
Full on realistic, sure, but there's ways around it to make it seem more intricate. Instead, it's like we froze the formula 20 years ago and haven't updated it. I getting a guard suspicious why his buddies are missing could lead to new gameplay repercussions aside from easier/harder. What if he starts panicking and moving erratically? Throw a few boxes and he panics, runs away to his barracks. Just an example.
henke on 16/4/2017 at 10:24
21 hours in, I'm getting close to the end of Shadow Tactics. I believe I'm on the final or penultimate mission right now. My stealth skills are growing, not just by the introduction of new equipment, but by experimenatation. I just figured out how to take out a 3-man patrol with one unit, Yuki. I had the equipment required for this kind of an attack already quite early on in the game: a trap, a gun, and a blade, but it took a bit of experience and experimentation before I figured out how to put them all together into such a lethal combination.
[video=youtube;dFrXiu3qql4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFrXiu3qql4[/video]
Sulphur on 16/4/2017 at 17:46
I take it that's a sign you're enjoying it. I played a few levels, and it's very compelling. Lots of potential approaches and elegant design with, surprisingly, some very decent characterisation.
Sulphur on 16/4/2017 at 18:26
Oh, and I'm playing it in Japanese with subtitles, for that slightly more authentic flavour.
henke on 16/4/2017 at 18:40
Yes, I finished it today, turns out that was the final mission. 24 hours playtime in total.
[video=youtube;McwWZlkHaxw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McwWZlkHaxw[/video]
It was a very good game, but also aggravating quite often, probably exacerbated by my quickload-abusing playstyle. In something like Invisible Inc or Frozen Synapse I can sit and analyze a move I'm about to make for several minutes, but here there's barely any penalty for mistakes that can't be remedied by a 2-second quickload. So I would quite often throw caution to the wind, rush in and see if my half-baked idea would work out. The perfect attack would often be refined over 10-15 quickloads, and lots of swearing. The end result, once everything finally worked out just right, rarely felt as satisfying as a perfectly planned and executed section in those other games I mentioned. Despite that, yeah, I liked this. The characters are indeed very likeable, even though the story is pretty generic "samurai honor and betrayal" stuff.
