Steam Next Fest has ended. This week-long Steam event, driven by developers, was brimming with an abundance of free demos, developer streams, and more. We have covered some of the highlights so far, but one standout that we have yet to mention is Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew. Thanks to publisher Mimimi Games, we had the opportunity to spend a bit more time with the demo to fully immerse ourselves in the the world and lore of Shadow Gambit.
Island Desperados
To start off, Shadow Gambit is a real-time stealth strategy game set in the imaginative pirate world of the “Lost Caribbean”. Mimimi Games has previously worked on the critically acclaimed Desperados III, which boasts overwhelmingly positive reviews (7,900 reviews on Steam and a 86 rating on Metacritic). So you can say Mimimi Games is well versed in the genre.
From a technical standpoint, Shadow Gambit appears to be quite similar to the Desperado series. The developer’s expertise and reputation in the genre suggests that they should be able to transplant that style of gameplay to the pirate setting and lore without too much problems. The game presents the stages in a 2D environment bird-eye view, where the goal is to move your character(s) in a stealthy manner from point A to B. The level is, of course, filled with enemies you need to either avoid or ‘disable’. Each stage has one or two sub objectives, which generally drives the story forward as well.
Pirates of the lost Caribbean
The Lost Caribbean is an enchanting archipelago brimming with otherworldly enigmas. However, the Inquisition Army has been dispatched to the islands with the intent to seize control and eradicate all supernatural beings that roam there. Fortunately, you, your crew, and The Red Marley—an extraordinary ship with a sentient soul—have different intentions. As the cursed crew, you are embarking on a daring quest to claim the legendary treasure of Captain Mordechai, and you will not allow the Inquisition to hinder your path.
Harnessing the power of stealth tactics, leveraging the unique personalities of your crew members, and utilizing supernatural abilities, you will strive to overcome any obstacles that stand in your way, including the Inquisition.
Motley cursed crew
You embark on your adventure as the cursed pirate Afia, whose primary objective is to locate and dig up Mordechai’s treasure. Along your journey, you will come across black pearls that hold the power to resurrect your fallen crew. Each of the eight members of your crew is a playable character, possessing their own distinct personality and equipped with extraordinary supernatural abilities.
For instance, Gaëlle wields a magical cannon capable of launching objects or adversaries with great force. Mr. Mercury possesses a soul anchor, which enables the opening of mystical portals. Afia, the aforementioned protagonist, wields a legendary sword that allows her to swiftly traverse spacetime, enabling her to execute surprise stealth attacks in the blink of an eye.
With these unique and diverse powers in your grasp, you and your crew will face thrilling challenges and engage in epic battles throughout your quest for treasure. Not much is known yet about the other characters, unfortunately. Hopefully, Mimimi will release some information about the other character pre-release. if so, we will keep you up to date, of course.
Stealth gameplay
In the game, you have the ability to control up to four characters simultaneously. Before each mission, you can freely choose your crew members from the pool of eight available characters. During the preview demo, which was also playable during Steam Next Fest, the primary objective is to free The Red Marley from the clutches of the Inquisition. At this early stage in the story progression, other crew members weren’t available yet. So while playing the demo, I didn’t had the opportunity to experience how the skills and expertise of the individual crew members work together and how controlling four characters works.
The campaign promises to include character-specific missions, where you will have to master each character’s unique skills and uncover their backstories. These character-specific missions will not only add depth to the gameplay but also provide insights into the personalities and histories of your crew members. As you progress through the campaign, you’ll discover how to best utilize the distinct abilities of your characters and witness how their individual stories unfold. The first mission shows that the game does quite well in holding your hand, giving pop-up clues with short and visual examples on how to use the interface, powers and stage map.
Time manipulation
Shadow Gambit encourages experimentation quite blatantly with it’s time manipulation feature. This gives you the chance to try different ways to make your way through the island and avoid or assassinate soldiers in the most unsuspicious way possible. The time manipulation feature is a more or less an easy way to quickly save (F5) or load(F8) your game and is an integral part of the gameplay and narrative.
The game doesn’t punish you in anyway of (over)using it, it is only limited to the number of saves you can recall. In its tutorial-like first mission it even hints at convenient moments to save your progress. You do still have to manually save, so it’s not like a rewind option. So, saving is still a part of the the tactics.
Finding your way out
The Inquisition is littered over the islands you visit and they’re on the lookout for anyone suspicious. You need to sneak past and stay out of the line of sight, as you might expect in a stealth strategy. You need to silently disable your enemies and move their bodies out of sight to avoid other soldiers being alarmed by the dead body of one of their own.
Any mistakes or carelessness usually end up with the enemy sounding the alarm, which will cause them to gather and try to find you. You still have a chance to run out of sight and try to hide, just like in many other stealth games. A cooldown period will eventually result in the search party returning to their normal tasks, giving you a second chance. However, if you are cornered with no way to escape, using your abilities and weapons to engage in a shootout becomes unavoidable. Though the chances of success may be slim, you can attempt to lure your opponents into a corner where you can trap and eliminate them. While the goal is to avoid such situations, I find those moments quite exhilarating. Surviving them is extremely satisfying too.
Short wait
I’m confident that from a gameplay standpoint, Shadow Gambit doesn’t raise any uncertainties. With the current state of affairs and considering Mimimi’s legacy, this game will likely be solid. However, in terms of the story, it remains open, of course. The story beats and dialogue present in the demo provide a lot of hope. We still have to wait for about a month as the game is set to release on August 17 this year on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. Check out the Shadow Gambit’s Steam page to wish list the game.
As we creep towards launch day, keep an eye out on our News section for more upcoming Shadow Gambit news.
