Back in 2023, Mimimi Games, the Munich-based indie studio that almost single-handedly reinvigorated the real-time tactical genre over the previous decade, released its very best game to date. And then it shut down for good.
Of all the indie studio closures we’d had up to that point, this one felt like it got to me the most upon hearing the news. I was a huge fan, and it was a proper shock that a studio which had given us the sublime Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and Desperados 3 (genuinely two of my all-time favourite tactics games) could be in trouble or struggling at all. Surely these folks were living the high life, hoovering up the rewards for delivering two absolute stunners unto the world?
Instead, with the release of Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, Mimimi, citing a mixture of burnout and the fact that profits weren’t meeting the cost of producing new adventures, said farewell. And that blows. It really does.
Let’s not be downbeat all the way through here, though, and instead try to focus on making this review a celebration of a game that I’m absolutely delighted has made its way onto Switch 2. I love Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. I’ve played through it a few times already on other platforms, and in coming to this Switch 2 port, all I really need to see is smooth performance, some loading time improvements, and a control/UI translation to console that works well. Give me that, and I’m gonna be in some sort of real-time tactical paradise, with my wee real-time tactical trousers on, having the real-time tactical time of my life. Something along those lines.
Blades of the Shogun initially released on PC back in 2016 and it’s fashioned its real-time tactics in the classic Commandos mould, meaning you’ll need to get ready for some good old save-scrubbing (easy with quick save here) as you’re pitted against tough enemies, and environments designed as wonderfully intricate little puzzle boxes for you to solve – either shambolically (hello!) or with style to spare.
Where Commandos rocks a WW2 setting, Shadow Tactics gives us a whole load of sneaking about and killing stuff in feudal Japan. Mate! That’s, like, the exact period of time that allows us access to loads of cool swords, ninja stuff, and all that caper. What a deliciously violent turn of events.
What’s more, whilst the likes of Commandos can be hard as nails, and a little off-putting perhaps, especially to newcomers, this gem manages to be at once tough and approachable, thanks to how clearly laid out its dynamics, controls, and mission-specific goals are.
As much as I’m in love with Shadow Tactics, the story, as serviceable as it is as an action-oriented backdrop, isn’t gonna stay with you very long after the fact. It ties the gameplay to the time period decently enough and, as far as I’m concerned, that’ll do for this sort of experience. This is, first and foremost, a game where the lasting magic is in the work of strategising and perfecting runs, and you’ll want to replay multiple times for this reason; sometimes fully, sometimes just in little chunks. After the first playthrough, the narrative almost gets in the way of all the magical killing things, choking fools out, creating death traps out of your surroundings, and what have you, so this way I don’t have to feel bad for skipping all the cutscenes the second, third, and tenth time around.
To counter this aspect, though, and part of what elevates Shadow Tactics above so many other games of its kind, is that care has been taken to ensure each of the characters in your party is a joy to be around. While the story is fairly standard stuff, the characters themselves feel alive in ways they rarely do in this type of game. Switching between the likes of the wooden-legged Mugen, the Splinter of the piece, and the rest of the gang — each of whom brings both attitudes and a smorgasbord of tricks, traps, and combat options to the table — is a constant joy. It almost feels by design that the best characterisation happens in moments of gameplay, where it isn’t impeding your actual playing and tooling around.
Taking control of your five-strong band of warriors across an artistically resplendent representation of Edo-period Japan where you’ve been hired to go unveil the true identity of the big bad guy, Shadow Tactics shuttles you through some cracking locations, all dripping in the sorts of exquisite little details that kick a game’s atmosphere into high gear.
Here you’ll employ the skills of your ninja, thief, spy, sniper, and samurai in unison to take down enemies and complete objectives across 13 missions. And with each of these missions playing out like surprisingly dynamic problems to solve — with as many ways to do things as you could hope for once you get through the expansive tutorial missions — it’s a campaign that gives you a good 30 hours or thereabouts of the toppest of top-notch tactical treats to tuck into (there’s also the Aiko’s Choice expansion to pick up standalone or as part of the Deluxe Edition, for when you inevitably become addicted).
The moment-to-moment action — hiding in bushes, observing enemy lines and cones of sight, watching and learning for the rhythms and flows of how guards patrol, or how different unit types attack and/or guard their surroundings — is all the good gravy you’ll have turned up expecting to drink gallons of.
But, this gravy is extra-specially delicious. Oh yes. Because the ‘shadow’ in the title, you see, alludes to the game’s signature shadow dynamic, whereby you can queue up your team’s moves, putting each one into place, moving them around without fear of the enemy seeing and choosing whether they’ll hide, attack, throw a smoke bomb, take a sniped shot to silence an overlooker and so on. Then you set the whole thing in motion and let it all play out automatically, like some incredibly violent Rube Goldberg machine. It’s very good. It feels clever. It makes you feel clever. Everyone feels clever now!
Once you get the hang of using your shadow ability, and once you’re au fait with the skills and abilities available to your party (all of which are unlocked from the get-go as this is about mastering things, not just unlocking ’em for no reason), you’ll find that you can go to town putting together complex and completely undetected takedowns that you’ll want to show off to people. Genuinely. I’ve forced my wife and children to watch me ganking guys in straw hats in this game a hundred times over. Believe it. It’s a beautiful thing.
On to this Switch 2 port specifically now, and what we’ve got ourselves is a version of the game that runs great in both docked (4k/30fps) and handheld (1080p/30fps) modes. No huge surprise given its age, perhaps, but it still elicits a heavy sigh of relief when a game I adore runs well on a Switch console, as this one does. It also looks and feels better in action than I remember it on either my PC or PS4 back in the day, as I’m sure it stuttered along quite a lot then. So we’re eating good on this front.
We also get a mouse mode thrown in, and while I have been 100% fine with the console controls overall, it’s nice to have the option, complete with lots of ways to tailor it to your preferred setup. I did just default back to the controller in the end, though, as it’s just more comfortable overall for how I like to play splayed out on the couch.
The camera can be a little niggly at times; it’s a little quick to zoom around, by default at least with the Joy-Con, but it’s something you get used to, and button shortcuts make light work of turning cameras and zooming where required.
Overall, it’s really quite hard to pick holes in this one beyond that slightly loose camera and my own indifference to the narrative. I guess you could say the tutorial area goes on a bit too long, if you were being really picky. But, everything else here is top-tier, and I can’t help but want to scream at everyone to go pick this one up in the hopes that this amazing team gets the chance to bring the rest of its incredible back catalogue to Switch 2. These games absolutely sing in handheld, and I’ll gladly replay the lot given the chance.
Conclusion
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is a fantastic real-time tactics adventure that wows with top-notch gameplay, fantastic looks, and a set of delectable missions that challenge you to get into your ninja groove and bring the best out of a team of shadowy assassins. The signature shadow mechanic is a delight to use, and the cherry on top of an impressively flexible core combat system, whilst large missions give you endless opportunity to get creative.
Oh, and it all looks and plays wonderfully well on Switch 2. With mouse mode, improved loading times, and solid performance to boot, there’s precious little to criticise with this all-timer. Now, give us Desperados 3 and Shadow Gambit!
