‘Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew’ is a real-time tactical stealth strategy game developed by MimiMi Games, and the developer uses the genre name ‘Stealth Strategy’. It is a game that is familiar to those who have already played Mimimi Games’ games, especially ‘Shadow Tactics: Blade of the Shogun’, and it is a game that will be familiar to those who remember Commandos in the past. Although the game itself is not completely different from Shadow Tactics, Mimi Me Games has made a lot of progress in Shadow Gambit to the extent that they decided to self-publish. Is the result of consistently digging just one well successful? Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew was an attractive strategy game to the extent that Mimimi Games could appeal to the genre of stealth strategy by itself.
Game Name: Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
Genre: Stealth Strategy
Release Date: 2023. 8. 18.
Review Version: v.1.0.204.r36934.f Developer: Mimimi Games
Service: Mimimi Games
Platform: PC (Steam), XBOX, PS
Play: PC
A strategy game enriched with fantasy
As the cursed pirate ‘Appia Manikato’, the player embarks on an adventure in the Lost Caribbean, where the souls of the dead cannot disappear. Appia confronts and confronts the inquisitors of the Inquisition in order to find the mysterious treasure of Mordecai, the former captain of the Red Marley, along with the ghost ship ‘Red Marley’ (Red Marley), which has an ego and can speak. .
Of course, the characters are all cursed pirates and sailors, and each has a look and ability that suits the role of each crew member. The battle is conducted using this, but compared to the previous works, the concept itself is different, so the degree of freedom is higher. The game’s main story itself flows linearly, but the player’s choices and strategies flow non-linearly. A key goal is given, but the way to reach it is left up to the player to choose. This is a direction similar to that of the previous work, and although the basic tone itself has been maintained, it is felt that the degree of freedom has increased even more due to the change in concept.
▲ The sense of achievement of the operation prepared with thorough preparation is thrilling.
The core of the game is strategy tailored with fantasy and magical elements. The experience and sense of achievement when each crew member’s strategy, such as teleportation, stealth, crowd control, and long-distance sniping, is created and these sums are matched to achieve perfect performance is great. The experience of using sailors to ignore the terrain, induce enemies, break the flow, eliminate (or stun and bind), and conceal is very good. In fact, this experience itself is not much different from the Shadow Tactics series, but it feels like the experience that was great in the previous work has progressed further by blending with the fantasy world and magic.
At the beginning, Apia is alone, but Apia’s ability itself is very passable and outstanding, so it is very useful. And from then on, you can resurrect your companions such as Toya, Suleidi, Pinkus, Quentin, Teresa, Gael, and John Mercury step by step and take them to the mission. As mentioned above, depending on the role, they can lure enemies, assassinate without leaving a corpse, manipulate enemies, or snip at long distances.
As a result, the player’s options increase one by one. Hiding in the bush and moving stealthily is basic. While raiding from walls and roofs, you sometimes have to confuse guards and send sailors to unexpected places to find a way out. So, even if it’s the same mission, the strategy changes greatly depending on the members, and thinking about it is the beauty of this game.
Even a simple strategy that uses Gael’s cannon to send Quentin to heights he wouldn’t normally be able to reach can have a big effect. Sending Quentin up greatly increases the utilization of Theresa, who has severe movement restrictions, with fishing skills, and with John Mercury’s diving skills, it is possible to attack enemies from unexpected places by walking on high ground. These tactics and strategies are the player’s choice, and although the difficulty varies depending on the composition of the crew, there is no map itself that cannot be broken without a specific crew member.
▲ Even if you know this roughly, there is no problem playing the game.
However, the number of enemies is not very large. There are only 5 enemies in total, excluding special NPCs, but depending on where each one is placed, it becomes difficult to rush into the game. It’s especially annoying when deployed with Prognostica (Prophet), who subdues the crew if they come into sight without being knocked down at once, or Kindred (Brother), who are linked together and have to deal with both. In addition, if a Udex (judge) with a wide field of view is placed at a slightly higher floor height, the player’s concerns about finding a ‘loophole’ to invade deepen.
These enemies show interest in and investigate sailors and anomalies in their sights, and occasionally, when a patrolling Acolyte disappears, they will explore the surroundings and become alert. In particular, if you leave the enemies with a big alarm on their backs alone for a moment, the vigilance is ridiculously strengthened, and ‘assassination’ is almost over. The player’s wit must be exercised here.
Sometimes, even if you boldly enter the line of sight, you can move to a place where you can quickly hide, and if the enemy is not harmed even if an alarm sounds, you can hit a few bullets and annihilate the area itself. If you don’t have to worry about noise, you can boldly feed the enemy bullets. Anyway, if you remember that it is an assassination without a ‘eyewitness’, you should not forget that it is simpler than you think.
I think this is the beauty of Shadow Gambit and the ‘stealth strategy’ game made by Mimimi Games. Even if you go carefully while thinking about it, you can also create a scene where you boldly slaughter immediately if you judge that you have an upper hand to some extent. Anyway, if there are no witnesses, it’s assassination. And if you make a mistake, you can go back in time with the save/load concept Red Marley and experiment with different strategies. Isn’t the greatest reward and driving force for play the sense of pleasure and achievement when the strategy that was decided at the end of the long-awaited match is perfect and the perfect concealment of the scene is achieved?
▲ Even if the alarm goes off and there is an uproar, it is an assassination if there are no witnesses.
▲ It is possible to adjust the difficulty level, but to be honest, I don’t have the confidence to beat NO Save…
The story, world view, and sound that clearly made use of the pirate concept
▲ If you resurrect a sailor, the tutorial that tells you how to use it right away is kind.
While using this strategy, he naturally recruits sailors and experiences a strong confrontation with Ignisia, the Heretic Questioner camp, in the process of finding Mordecai’s treasure with Red Marley. The enemy is not easy enough to drive Mordechai, the former captain of the Red Marley, into a corner and make him sacrifice himself. In addition, he pulls out tricks that worked the worst for his allies and persistently blocks the player.
These stories are naturally introduced during the mission, and although the directing is not flashy, it definitely feels well composed with ‘pirate sensibility’. Of course, if you go to the second half, this story requires repeated play to the point of being annoying. In terms of the flow of the story, it feels like there is no forced structure, but there is a feeling that it is a bit stretched as the mission is forced to lengthen.
▲ I feel that the story direction is not lacking.
▲ The illustration + 3D character direction was not boring, and the voice acting was really good.
In particular, in the process of reaching the end, the missions are forcibly increased with less attractive stories, which slightly feels like the play time has been increased. Of course, I think this is a part where personal tastes differ greatly. Personally, I liked the story that tells the story of the sailors and their stories in depth, but at this point, I wondered if it felt more like that because there was a lot of fatigue in each mission.
Still, the story itself shown in Shadow Gambit does not mean that it is forced or meaningless. The texture is good, and the composition and flow are okay. The directing is rather plain, but there is no feeling of boredom because the standing illustration and the directing of the in-game screen are harmonized. Above all, the voice actors are great.
The OST, BGM, and in-game sound effects, along with the excellent voice actors, match really well and are so great that there is no awkwardness. Enemies can also be seen talking to each other when approaching nearby, and there are not a few scenes where the lines change depending on the situation. This wonderfully harmonized sound makes the world of Lost Caribbean, prepared by Shadow Gambit, even more attractive.
▲ The elaborate map is also a must-see. It was nice to see the different scenery during the day and night.
Shadow Gambit was a strategy game that was immersive and focused enough to make the time go by quickly if you planned a strategy while playing. The personalities of the sailors prepared as a fantasy concept definitely fit very well with this story called ‘Pirates’, and through this, you can easily find out what you are thinking and worrying about.
The worldview of Lost Caribbean, where fantasy and magic are harmonized, is tightly woven in its own way, and the storytelling in search of Mordecai’s legacy is not poorly decorated, although there are individual differences in taste. The directing is not flashy, but there is nothing lacking in telling the story, and the voice actors’ passionate performances, BGM, and excellent sound effects make the player happy.
▲ It’s fun to hear an aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
However, what was a little disappointing was that the strategy due to the geographical features reached its limit towards the second half. Since most of these strategies are focused on sailors, I think there may be individual likes and dislikes. Sometimes, even in terms of UI and UX, there are areas where visibility is unsatisfactory or mistakes can be made in crew operation, so it’s a little disappointing.
Still, it is a game with magic that makes you lose track of time as you challenge higher difficulties and unlock challenges. It is a little disappointing that there are few additional unlocking elements according to the achievement of the progress, but it is nice to have several elements created so that you can continue to challenge after seeing the ending. As it is a strategy game, it is fun to experiment with various crew combinations and challenge the limits.
Mimimi Games begins its first stand alone with this ‘Shadow Gambit: Cursed Crew’. Isn’t this decision possible because the know-how accumulated over the years has finally prepared a level of perfection that can be confidently called a ‘stealth strategy’? For users who like Commandos-style strategy games, I think Shadow Gambit is a game that can fully show its value.
