Sad news, folks. Munich, Germany-based independent developer Mimimi Games have announced that they're closing doors following the release of Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, which RPS only recently described as the studio's best work yet. The developer plan to support Shadow Gambit with patches and additions, but are otherwise ceasing development and will "slowly ramp down" in the coming months. Founders Dominik Abé and Johannes Roth are even now trying to relocate the studio's few dozen employees, who will be paid a bonus taken from Shadow Gambit profits to ease the transition.
]]>There’s still so much we don’t know about the next stealth strategy game from the makers of Desperados 3 and Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun. Until yesterday, all we had was a codename (“Süßkartoffel”, or Sweet Potato), and a few other scant business facts developer Mimimi Games posted about on their blog last year. In fact, the only concrete thing we really know about it right now is that it’s not going to be Shadow Tactics 2.
However, in chatting to Mimimi this week about leaving real-time tactics behind in favour of their new "Stealth Strategy" label, I’ve managed to glean a few more details. Alas, Mimimi still aren’t ready to reveal Süßkartoffel’s official name just yet, but head of design Moritz Wagner told me it’s not only going to be much more beginner-friendly than their previous games, but that it will also be much more like one big sandbox this time, resisting the urge to limit players by strict level constraints. To me, it all sounded a bit like they were aiming for something akin to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, so I asked him about whether that was an accurate assessment of it. “Yes and no,” he said.
]]>The makers of Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun and Desperados 3 have been thinking a lot about real-time tactics recently. Not just because they’re knee-deep in making their next tactics game at the moment, currently known as Codename Süßkartoffel (the word for "Sweet Potato" in their native German), but because they feel the genre as a whole doesn’t quite convey what’s so special about their catalogue of excellent stealth ‘em ups anymore. It’s a fair cop – despite appearing in our best strategy games list for many years, even I’ve struggled to come up with a succinct way of describing them. Thus, it’s time for a change, say the studio.
In a blog post published today on Mimimi Games’ website, the studio announced they’re going to be referring to their work as “Stealth Strategy” games going forward, and they’re hoping this new genre label will help prospective players better understand their special blend of silent assassination tactics. This kind of shift isn’t without its challenges, though, so I caught up with the team at Mimimi to talk more about this newfound shift, and how it’s going to lay the foundations for what’s to come in Codename Süßkartoffel.
]]>Real-time tactics games have had a resurgence over the past five years, and that can be almost entirely credited to Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun. It's a gorgeous Commandos-style stealth-and-stab 'em up set during Edo period Japan. It's also currently free via the Epic Games Store.
]]>If you've not yet enjoyed the splendid real-time tactical squad action of Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun, here's your chance. GOG started their Winter Sale today, and for the first 48 hours they're offering Shadow Tactics free for keepsies. They plan to give more games away free later in the sale. Also they have discounts and things.
]]>Aiko's Choice, the standalone expansion of the wonderful real-time tactics of Shadow Tactics, is out now. It's five years since the original game, so if you yearn for more sneaking and stabbing in Edo Japan, then here it is.
]]>Earlier today, Matthew offered up his thoughts on Aiko's Choice, the standalone expansion for ninja stealth 'em up Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun. In a synchronised attack, publishers Daedalic also spat out the release date: December 6th.
]]>In true Shadow Tactics fashion, here’s an expansion no one saw coming. Aiko’s Choice is a miniature campaign extension to 2016’s real-time tactics wonder. A standalone title, but one that slots into the original game’s main story. 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. Nothing about Shadow Tactics is rushed.
]]>Mimimi have announced a surprise standalone expansion to Shadow Tactics: Blades Of Their Shotgun, their excellent real-time squad tactics game from 2016. Named Aiko's Choice, the expandalone tells a new story focused on the game's disguise expert. I hadn't expected them to return to Shadow Tactics, so this is great news.
]]>The studio behind Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun and Desperados 3 today revealed that their next real-time tactics game is something brand new, telling a whole new story all of their own. So no, it's not Desperados 4, and it's not Shadow Tactics 2 either. After two cracking games, I'm well up for whatever their third is.
]]>The developers at Mimimi Productions who brought us the quite good stealth tactics game Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun and Desperados 3 are, surprise of surprises, working on another real-time tactics game. It'll be a while before the project codenamed "süßkartoffel" or "sweet potato" reaches our hands, but Mimimi have confirmed that it is indeed the next game on their docket.
]]>Kalypso Media have set up an internal studio to make a new Commandos game with the rights they bought last year. This is good news.
My two year-old brain hadn't developed to the point where it could enjoy sneaky shooting in Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines back in '98, or in any of its sequels, but my brain's more advanced form did adore Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun. Tim Stone lavished his Shadow Tactics review with Commandos 2 comparisons, so I'm hoping this will be up my street.
]]>My main memory of Desperados is repeatedly getting shot and not understanding why. That's because I tried to play it when I was eight, not because it was impenetrable or confusing. I'm simply making you aware that Desperados was before my time, and so based on my hands on with Desperados III I can't tell you whether it's living up that legacy.
It's from the same team that made Shadow Tactics though, and I can tell from the little I've played this absolutely lives up to that.
]]>Today's Humble Caffeine Bundle is chock full of very good games for very little money, but a little hard to categorise. United under the banner of Caffeine - a "social broadcasting platform for gaming", not the life-giving stimulant - there's eight games here, each one representing a wildly different genre. We've got the Metroidy Headlander, platform roguelike Gonner, party game tank shooter Treadnauts, a historical novel adaptation and even a ninja stealth sim all up in here. There's only (in my opinion) one game that's not immediately worth your attention. See the full lineup and trailers below.
]]>While it still bears some reputation as a scrappy little browser-game toolset (and that's no bad thing - it enabled much of the GMTK 2018 jam recently), ubiquitous game development platform Unity has spread to all corners. While I don't have a single creative bone in my body, the Humble Unity Bundle contains a pile of Unity tools and assets to build your dream game. Even if you're not the creative type, there's some good Unity-based games in here too, including ninja sneak 'em up Shadow Tactics, teen horror adventure Oxenfree and moody tearjerker The Last Day Of June.
]]>After a decade face-down in a dusty digital gulch with the buzzards fighting the lizards for its gizzards, the Desperados series will return to life next year. Publishers THQ Nordic today announced Desperados III, resuming the real-time tactical action, and excitingly it's being made by Mimimi. They're the studio who made 2016's Desperados/Commandos homage Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun, which was great - a fine match. Here, have a look at Desperados III in this preview video from our Matthew.
]]>Everything old is new again, and everything once overlooked by publishers is cool once more. Today, publisher Kalypso Media (Sudden Strike, Tropico, Dungeons et al) went and bagged themselves the rights to all of Pyro Studios's old games, which means the entire Commandos series of stealthy tactical puzzlers. Better still, the publisher has already confirmed that new games in the series are on the way, as well as "an extensive adaptation" of the older games to current systems, which sounds like remasters to me.
]]>Like it or not, subscription services are becoming a greater part of the gaming sphere with each passing month. Humble Monthly, Origin Access, the XBox game pass (which now includes PC games) among others. Many of us already have a subscription to Amazon Prime, which brings with it a slew of perks and giveaways on streaming mega-hub Twitch.tv, and now you can get a monthly bundle of games as part of the service.
The first month's lineup is an impressive lot, including time-bending FPS Superhot, teen horror adventure Oxenfree, Hotline Miami-esque Mr Shifty, board-game adaptation Tomb of Annihilation and (last, but by no means least) brilliant Japanese-themed Commandos tribute Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.
Commandos was hard. It looked like an RTS but it wasn’t like Red Alert. That confused me. Your small band of soldiers need to be in the right place, at the right time, or else the plan would go to hell. Levels were puzzles that required patience and timing. I don’t think I ever got past the first handful of levels. But I’m glad it existed, because it's responsible for... well, look behind you and see.
]]>Like a sentry on a bitter night or the Isle of Man in a strong sou'westerly, Flare Path's birthday has a tendency to move about. Last year the champagne corks ricocheted and the streamers tangled on August 12. This year the big day is September 1. Today Rock, Paper, Shotgun's most Panzeriferous and Spitfiery column becomes a hexager. Celebrations will take the usual form – a litter of wet-nosed, bushy-tailed, berry-eyed foxers all far more approachable and, potentially, much more rewarding, than the standard co-op type. (COMPETITIONS NOW CLOSED)
]]>Alec is away this week, following the Vengaboys around on tour. Or, if they're not currently touring, just visiting places they've been, taking photos and placing them inside his scrapbook alongside some brief reflections. That means it falls to me to tell you which ten games were the best selling on Steam in the past week, and there are some pleasant games inside.
]]>In a frozen courtyard in Kansai two guards patrol while a heavily armoured samurai stands sentinel before an icicle-fringed gateway. The gaze of the stationary warrior pans from side to side like a broom sweeping snow from a path. It takes in the patroller on the eastern side of the courtyard before shifting to the patroller on the wes... Strange, the other sentry is nowhere to be seen! More annoyed than concerned, the samurai contemplates leaving his post to investigate, but decides against it. It's only when he resumes his routine and notices that the eastern guard has also vanished that he's spurred into action. Matchlock pistol raised, he advances warily. Spotting then following a trail of footprints that leads to the courtyard's only shrubbery, the searcher is seconds away from discovering the shinobi crouching in the undergrowth when a musket ball knocks him off his feet and a small but deadly dagger is thrust upwards through the base of his skull.
]]>Psst. Psst! Over here, in the shadows. If you've been missing the top-down, squad-based stealth-o-action of games like Desperados and Commandos, have a gander at Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun [official site]. It's similar to that sort of real-time tactical game but set in Edo-period Japan, with classes like a ninja and marksman up to no good. It's due in a few weeks and a demo arrived today with a sneaking sample.
]]>In the alphabetical news round-up waiting like a pre-pounce puma beyond the break 'A' is more likely to be for 'airship' or 'angry house' than 'apple'. Stripy ungulates probably won't feature in the entry for 'Z' but simulated Bf 110s or Mitsubishi A5Ms might. If you've an eye for a shapely engine nacelle or a finely chiselled turret – if you've an interest in the bloodier bits of history - I guarantee your curiosity will be piqued by something in the 26-compartment specimen drawer below.
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