Returning aboard Red Marley, more than three months after the release of Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew something strange. A mixture of reassuring impressions, since we know that we are going to set foot again on well-known lands, apprehension (have the promised patches done their job?), and sadness. Reassured, we are from the first hours of re-exploring the Lost Caribbean archipelago, we quickly find our bearings, because yes, the technical monitoring provided by Mimimi Games has made it possible to make the game more technically stable, more fluid, and the few menus bugs and balancing problems that we may have noticed are nothing more than bad memories. As for the sadness, it’s impossible to get rid of it, when we know that we will never put our hands on a Mimimi Games game again. Final blunders from the Munich studio, these are two DLCs, entitled The Ritual of Zagan And Yuki’s Wish which arrive on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series on December 6. Two expansions which will be accompanied by a free update with a new game mode and a (last?) patch for Shadow Gambit.
The Little Inquisitor’s Guide for Dummies
Quick rewind: Shadow Gambit puts us in command of a team of cursed pirates in search of the treasure of the legendary buccaneer Mordechai. With a good range of inquisitors and fanatical soldiers blocking your way, from mission to mission, you have to play smart by hiding as best you can, eliminating the opposition with class and discretion, avoiding at all costs to be spotted, because who says alarm signal, says assured death (or almost). Take Desperados IIImix it with Captain Bloodadd a touch of myths and legends from the Bermuda Triangle and you are there.
The first DLC, The Ritual of Zagan, allows you to recruit said Zagan, a former member of the Inquisition who is now an Apostate. In his absolute quest for power, Zagan exposed himself to a Black Pearl, becoming a cursed creature and persona non grata for the Inquisition. Now hunted by his former colleagues, the Apostate continues his research, and suggests that Afia Manicato, navigator of the Red Marley, go and enjoy herself during a unique adventure. Made up of six new chapters and a new island, for a duration of four to six hours depending on your strategic skills and the degree of difficulty adopted, this expansion benefits from very solid writing. We will not reveal anything about the scenario, politics no spoilers obliged. However, the subject addressed here is of an obvious double reading, and allows both to develop the character of Zagan, who is much more than a rough undead Jafar, as well as to deliver a message to the faithful of the Mimimi studio. We almost shed a little tear at the end of the race, that’s saying something.
Zagan is to be placed at the top of the basket of characters of Shadow Gambit. His first skill Catatonic Grip allows him to knock out an opponent in close combat. There is no need to hide the body, since Catatonic Grip plunges the enemy into a state of hallucinated stasis which will be envied by his fellow inquisitors. Then comes Excision, a ranged attack that ignores any obstacle to strike down a character like Palpatine. Then the Construction Polyhedron, a technique that is both passive and active. In active mode, it allows you to freeze an enemy without anyone realizing it. As long as Zagan does not move, the enemy remains in Grévin Museum mode. This same skill is triggered automatically if Zagan is spotted, and immobilizes the person who identified him for a few seconds, just long enough to get rid of him. Zagan is a real game changer capable of riding a good portion of certain maps on his own.
Clandestino
Parallel to the arc The Curse of Jafar according to Mimimi, it’s a huge gift that the studio is giving to its fans: the second DLC brings back the character of Yuki, straight out of Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. She returns in a very pitiful condition, with a skeletal arm and one eye missing, but accompanied by the tanuki Kuma. Presented as a legend among pirates for having sunk an “iron ship” (among other things), we discover her as a stowaway aboard the Red Marley. Like Zagan, his narrative arc consists of six chapters, and will lead us in search of a dragon capable of granting three wishes. The opportunity to discover a new island, Le Rêve du Dragon, with a fantastic medieval Japanese atmosphere. Winks to the players of Shadow Tactics are not lacking, between clear quotes from certain passages of the game during dialogues between heroes, and scenarios directly inherited from the title which revealed Mimimi. A pure joy for our nostalgic little hearts, for the eyes (Dragon Island is splendid, with its Okinawan scent), and for the gameplay possibilities.
Yuki’s skills come straight from Shadow Tactics. His melee attack with a katana leaves no body behind, his victims transmuting into a piece of wood, thanks to a substitution technique. Yuki can also set a trap in the form of a tight rope: any enemy who crosses it also disappears without a trace. Finally, she can use Kuma the tanuki to lure enemies out of their usual path or position. On very dense maps, where there is a lot of traffic, the young woman is particularly effective. Paired with a hero capable of covering her from a distance (such as Teresa the Sniper), Yuki clears the enemy ranks faster than Sam Fisher on a blackout evening, leaving only pieces of wood behind She. Zagan and Yuki are clearly unbalanced compared to the rest of the team, and position themselves as bonus characters for pure gaming pleasure. Their ability to neutralize enemies without leaving traces or attracting attention makes them choices luxury for a very solid team, or even to indulge in speed run.
And since happiness never comes alone (there they already happen in pairs), Mimimi has planned the deployment of a new technical patch on December 6, the day the DLC arrives on the market. This update will bring some technical adjustments, as well as a new free mode: Treasure Hunt. This game mode will allow you to revisit islands and locations already visited, in search of 14 legendary pirate artifacts and treasures. In order to find the locations of these puzzles, you will need to solve visual puzzles. If islands hold several treasures, it will only be possible to search for one of these treasures. pressssssssssssssssss at a time. These Treasure missions will be an opportunity to highlight new game mechanics, such as the need to eliminate certain soldiers with a specific weapon, or to see your team deprived of certain skills. More great hours of gaming ahead.