Maybe you fling a vial of Aiko’s blinding perfume at a sniper and shank a nearby guard while his view cone recovers. Perhaps you find a secluded beach and use Yuki’s flute to lure a guard to a pressure-activated dart trap. And so begins the vital first step: the first kill that weakens the surveillance network. You swim around the outside, submerged but for a bamboo snorkel, getting a read on sightlines and confirming that, yes, every guard falls under the watchful eye of another. It’s a level made of micro levels, and gets me excited to see the two other new missions.Ī self-contained island is a perfect showcase for what Shadow Tactics is about. In between the two are islands where the sea lets you approach and attack from any angle. On the mainland they benefit from Mugen’s ability to kill entire squads with a whirlwind of blades, but swim the soggy trio closer to Takuma and they can synchronize four-man takedowns. This creates a range of exciting spaces for the three ninjas who can swim. Well, I say you get all five: the stage I play is set on an archipelago which naturally limits the movement of water-averse Mugen, while Takuma is trapped in a ship’s crowsnest that only grants him sniper coverage of closer islands. For starters, you get all five characters to play with - something that only happened once in the original game. Man, that would rule.)Īnd given that Aiko’s Choice is aimed at those familiar with the original, it also gives Mimimi permission to jump in the deep end. (It remains my great gaming hope that one day Mimimi will get the Mission Impossible licence. And if your thinking proves to be dud? The quick load key is right there, inviting you to cook up a fresh scheme. This exactness lets you chain abilities into grand plans, safe in the knowledge that moves will behave just so. I adore the way this team builds on the sweeping green view cones of Commandos and Desperados of old, adding attack sightlines, ranges and audio radius with colourful and clear UI elements. Mimimi understand that you can make a stealth challenge as tangled as you want, as long as players have the ability to parse it. That quibble aside, Shadow Tactics was a great game before Desperados and remains a great game after it. The change was a key factor in why I prefer Desperados 3 over Mimimi's origial ninja outing, so here’s hoping diligent modders add the full tactical pause they eventually added to Shadow Tactics proper. In that, you could freeze time to cue up moves and synchronise takedowns in Shadow Tactics, time still progresses, which can make the process more imprecise and panicked. The obvious downside is that you lose the superior planning mode of the cowboy adventure. This more interactive storytelling is the only Desperados 3 influence I detect in Aiko’s Choice, a world that is, mechanically, exactly as I left it in 2016. Or maybe they’re just enjoying hanging with the cast during happier times - Aiko’s Choice occurs in the timeline before shock seppuku casts a pall on Shadow Tactics’ final straight. I also detect a hint of the garrulous cowboys in the looser lips of our returning ninja cast as the squad of five embark on a larger mission they banter in a way that suggests Mimimi are a bit more comfortable around drama than they were in 2016. If you played Desperados 3, made between Shadow Tactics and this, you’ll recognise the vibe of the interludes from the flashbacks to young John Cooper. Is it wrong to shank an animal lover? I hope not. And I'm not going to argue with more Kuma, a critter so adorable even hardened shogunate soldiers stand transfixed. It’s a small, but welcome spotlight on a hero who was often consigned to a sniper’s perch in the original campaign (and will be again, in about four paragraphs’ time). In my demo, this involves freeing wizened sharpshooter Takuma from a ship’s brig by relying on his pet tanuki, Kuma, to distract guards while he hobbles along. Nothing about Shadow Tactics is rushed.Īiko’s Choice adds three new missions and three playable ‘interludes’, which are shorter narrative skits that hinge a single character’s abilities and help set the scene for the larger levels. It feels like a DLC package that should have been released closer to the original, but I’m not going to drag developers Mimimi for tardiness - after all, this is a game where it takes me upwards of three hours to creep around a single map. A standalone title, but one that slots into the original game’s main story. Aiko’s Choice is a miniature campaign extension to 2016’s real-time tactics wonder. In true Shadow Tactics fashion, here’s an expansion no one saw coming.
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