Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun for Windows

A stealth-action game set in some very pretty locations

Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun takes a lot from the early Tenchu games for the Playstation, but it has the distinct whiff of Assassin’s Creed too. Your job is to use stealth and your wits to take out your enemies. If you make a mess of things, you need to run or draw your sword. Just like the best stealth games dating back to the Thief games, there is more than one way to take out your target.

A step forwards in development of better enemy AI

Many games, from Metal Gear Solid onwards have shown gamers that enemy AI can be more than guards tracking the same route around a compound. Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun goes a step further by making the guards more aware of events, rather than simply having them react to sounds and footprints. For example, if you kill a guard and hide his body, the other guards will become worried and start searching for him. They also do not give up on searching for you just because you hid in a bush. It is a definite step forwards for enemy AI in stealth games. The Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun story is compelling, the voice acting is great, the music sets the right tone, and the artistic style of the game is both suitable and works to create the right atmosphere.

It may be too difficult for some people

One of its biggest flaws is that the game is a little too difficult. Adding extra intelligence to enemy guards has made infiltration and stealth a little too tricky. The game rewards players for sneaking rather than killing, but taking out the guards is the fun part of the game. Nevertheless, if you enjoy stealth games and think you can beat them all, then you will find this game a worthy challenge. It also has very good controller support too.