![]() ![]() ![]() Players issue commands to five different characters, each with their own unique talents. Availability: Out now on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.Shadow Tactics is a strategy/stealth hybrid set in feudal Japan that follows in the footsteps of the long lost but fondly remembered Commandos games. There's not much more satisfying than seeing a good team come together, something Shadow Tactics developer Mimimi no doubt understands. It was really nice getting to hang out with this crew again.A winning premise of cleverly combined genres let down by a series of irritating design issues. All of this is delivered with great voice acting, whether you play in English or Japanese. While the overall plot isn't exactly mind-blowing, there is also an interesting reveal about Aiko's character that changes the context of both campaigns and offers a little bit of a silver lining to its biggest tragedy. It has the same sort of vibe as Mass Effect 3's Citadel DLC, getting to see your friends one last time before they embark on what would turn out to be a particularly costly mission in the original campaign. The last of them features the titular choice, which is a small but personally meaningful moment for Aiko, as well as a heartwarming and slightly tragic send-off for our small band of blademasters. They're not particularly difficult, and only took me 15 to 20 minutes to finish, which is a big contrast to the three hours or so each of the big infiltrations lasted. The shorter, interlude missions that sit in between are nice little breaks that give the story and characters more time to breathe. There are even a few small new mechanics to learn, like characters leaving footprints in the sand that can either give away your position or lure enemies into a trap. All of the new missions could stand up alongside the best ones from the main campaign, and I was downright impressed they managed to find so many new ways to make me think about these characters and their various tools again, all these years later. The fifth, and most exciting, is out of rifle range and doesn't have a bridge, so you have to tackle it with only three characters. Two others are in range of Takuma's powerful sniper rifle, allowing you to pick off particularly annoying enemies you can't easily sneak up on. ![]() Only two of them are reachable by the heavily armored Mugen, who can't swim and relies on bridges to get around. My favorite of the new missions involves a series of five islands that force you to use different combinations of party members for each. But it strikes me as a little odd that Daedalic would release Aiko’s Choice as a standalone game if that’s the expectation. You can pick up some scrolls that remind you how certain character abilities work, and there is fair warning given that you should play at least the first few levels of the base game before jumping in to get familiar with the fundamentals. Whether I was rescuing a captured party member or sneaking into a secluded temple, the difficulty level felt about on par with some of the maps in the original game's third act. While none of the new areas in Aiko's Choice feel obnoxious, they definitely don't hesitate to throw you into the deep end. This definitely is not a walk in the sakura garden. It's worth cautioning against anyone considering coming in without having played Blades of the Shogun before, though.
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