a nugget not to be missed

Mimimi Games, the creators of the Shadow Tactics and Desperados series, are back with Shadow Gambit The Cursed Crew. Exit the samurai and cowboys, this time, the adventure is resolutely pirate. Like their previous creations, the game relies on a cutting-edge strategy to offer a rich experience. As we have seen with certain games before it, and without much surprise, the action takes place in an alternative version of the golden age of piracy, where a mysterious curse brought the dead back to life, their granting supernatural powers.

The player is tasked with the mission of gathering a crew of cursed pirates to explore an archipelago. Whether we agree with it or not, Mimimi Games has decided to abandon the realism of its previous creations in favor of a more epic approach, like a tale that Disney could have imagined. At the center of this quest is Afia Manicat, an undead pirate brimming with ambition, aspiring to join the crew of the ship Red Marley, in order to find the treasure of the late captain Mordechai Blackeye.

A Stealth Strategy game, késako?

If you are new to Mimimi Games, Shadow Gambit The Cursed Crew is a “stealth strategy” game. Merging elements of stealth and strategy, it is not about frontal combat but about discretion and tactics. Players must monitor enemy movements, use the environment to their advantage, and meticulously plan moves to avoid detection, as detection can result in dire consequences.

Like any game of the genre, Shadow Gambit offers exploitable environments, offering hiding places, distractions and other elements that can be used to neutralize enemies. Detection is fatal, causing an alert or even a mission failure. Here the adversaries are most of the time members of the Inquisition. Fanatical soldiers who hate everything related to the supernatural and who relentlessly hunt down cursed pirates, thanks to a sacred fire capable of consuming souls. In the game, they are easily recognized because they wear the attire of 16th century Spanish soldiers, namely morions.

How it works ?

Shadow Gambit prioritizes stealth, offering several tools to sneak behind enemy lines. It notably offers a visualization of the characters’ fields of vision, which gradually darken to signal the increasing alert of an enemy. At the heart of the gameplay is the solving of numerous tactical puzzles, where you must distract, attract and neutralize obstacles.

The method of achieving this is left to the player’s discretion. What must be kept in mind (and that’s the word) is the path of the adversaries to determine the right moment to act. It involves waiting in the shadows with one crew member, while you slip discreetly with another to capture attention in a corner of the map. Fans of this type of game will find the gameplay familiar, because stealth remains at the heart of the action and instead of collecting gold, you have to find black pearls to save souls. However, Shadow Gambit seeks to bring new features in several aspects.

A clear break?

Unlike Desperados, freedom is at the heart of Shadow Gambit. This fits perfectly with our idea of ​​a pirate’s life. You have the choice of your crew and the order of recruitment. Of the eight characters available, only one is essential but it will take some time (more than ten hours) for the entire Marley crew to be assembled. This freedom is also manifested in the approach to missions. You decide the composition of your team according to the objectives presented and you have several starting points for each quest.

Each character has several skills: a basic melee attack, a diversion skill (a flute tune, a ghost summon, etc.), a firearm with limited ammunition and finally a However, in order to To avoid repeated use of the same characters, each member left at the dock gains Vigor, comparable to experience, which allows them to strengthen their abilities.

Constant evolution

To get an upgrade token, you need 25 points. Players who do not alternate their team therefore progress more slowly. A good way to balance Shadow Gambit The Cursed Crew without imposing constraints. In this regard, we regret the movement limit which is now much less restrictive than before, greatly simplifying the gameplay. The placement of guards often seems a little too predictable, and, in the long run, there is a lack of challenge. Our characters, through their versatility and power, sometimes allow us to overcome objectives with disconcerting ease.

Each has several skills: a basic melee attack, a diversion skill (a flute tune, a ghost summon, etc.), a firearm with limited ammunition and finally a special power specific to each . While most of these elements won’t surprise Desperados veterans, studio Mimimi has gone crazy with the special powers.

The studio actually took some skills from previous games, added a dash of magic, and mixed it all together. The chef Toya (who we love) has, for example, a spell allowing him to summon a parchment on which he can teleport to neutralize an opponent. Impressive. We also note the excellent John Mercury (who has nothing to do with Freddy) capable of opening a portal to hide there. Each character is as unique as they are endearing, like an intriguing mix between Tim Burton and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Another Breaking Point: Backup

Shadow Gambit’s save system is distinctive. During a mission, the player has the ability to save and reload his game at his convenience. However, all interactions with the Marley are saved permanently, which prevents testing a crew member before permanently choosing them for the game. In the first half, it is therefore wise to avoid resurrecting characters at limited movement capabilities. Your initial decision regarding resurrection will significantly influence your team composition for future missions.

In terms of confrontations, and like the studio’s previous games, although it is possible to eliminate opponents individually, the vast island expanses encourage coordinated eliminations by exploiting the complementarity of the crew. This point was a major strength of Desperados 3, and it undeniably remains so in this part. What a pleasure to see all our strategy and tactics come to fruition in a ballet of grandiose actions. Watch a character whistle to attract the attention of an Inquisition guard, while a second member of our team plunges his blade deep into our opponent’s body. Jack Sparrow himself would be jealous.

An exhilarating adventure

Shadow Gambit is an intoxicating and accomplished experience, especially since the environments, although island, are very varied – without forgetting your ship which serves as a base. Each member of the crew has their own little story: Toya provides a memorable lesson to a suspended fish; Gaelle soothes the melancholy of a skeleton… Everything is both poetic and brilliantly orchestrated both in the staging and in the gameplay.

What a joy to explore all these places that evoke the collective imagination of pirates: forts inspired by Spain, ghost ships, tropical islands, etc. It’s as if Mimimi immersed herself in the world of Sea of ​​Thieves, and the result is particularly successful. In 30 hours of play, we had the opportunity to cross numerous environments with breathtaking level design, as ingenious as it is aesthetically successful. If we add to this the well-known artistic touch of the studio, we find ourselves with a new gem of the genre which has nothing to envy of the studio’s previous opuses.