Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew

The perfect specimen of its genre and its current undisputed king. Confident, expertly designed, beautiful and without weak points - and it implements elements of other genres in order to advance its own.

Shadow Gambit shines with its well thought-out systems, the multitude of characters and possibilities, and offers you significantly more options and even more reasons to seriously think about your approach and experiment. That's exactly what such games are all about, and it's outstandingly implemented here. If you liked Shadow Tactics and / or Desperados 3, don't think twice and get Shadow Gambit, you won't regret it.

Shadow Gambit is a near-perfect game for stealth strategy fans. The new sandbox approach means that levels feel a little less curated than Mimimi’s previous titles — but who cares when you’re having this much fun?

With innumerable improvements to the formula, Mimimi has delivered another hit. Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a wonderful tactical title with an even better story than its predecessors. This is the formula perfected.

Exceptional stealth-based strategy gameplay with fun characters, colourful visuals and an emphasis on playing your way in your own time.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a wild, creative, and fulfilling strategy adventure taking place in the fictional Lost Caribbean. The ragtag crew of cursed pirates aboard The Red Marley compliment each other in both gameplay and personality. The fantastical abilities of each pirate, coupled with the large and open-ended levels, give players the freedom to approach their objective from any angle. This thrilling stealth tactics adventure is captivating, addictive, and definitely worth experiencing.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a challenging and extremely entertaining stealth action and tactics game. It has a charming setting and story, with characters and mechanics that encourage creative and varied approaches to combat. There aren’t nearly enough great pirate games, so I’m glad Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew sailed into port.

A joyous blend of stealth tactics, swashbuckling adventure and whimsical humour, Shadow Gambit is Mimimi Games at their very best and considering their history, that is saying something.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a complex and very open game that will mainly appeal to players who loved Mimimi’s previous entries in the stealth action genre. All the mechanics are refined, and character choices open up a ton of options for each mission. Success requires patience and good planning, but improvisation often creates more memorable moments. The title tries hard to be accessible to newcomers, offering bespoke introductions for each character and solid tutorial missions. But success and progress require careful thinking, good planning, and cautious executions. It takes time and patience to master Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew and the game offers impressive set-pieces and a great sense of accomplishment in return.

This is a modern masterpiece that no tactic-stealth strategy fan should miss, and a great starting point for those interested in the genre.

Fun, rich, balanced... Mimimi Games surpasses itself and delivers a new stealth and strategy hit with Shadow Gambit The Cursed Crew, that will attract veteran as much as newcomers with its many qualities.

Shadow Gambit is one of the pleasant surprises of this 2023. A title that presents a catching and delicate mix between gameplay and narrative, which does not leave out veterans as well as those who are new to the genre.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is fantastic in every way. Excellent gameplay, nice graphics, great sound, and a ton of variety in its objectives mean this absolute gem is one you should look into no matter when you’re reading this review.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is the finest strategic stealth game on the market, not much to add. It's an evolution made possible by Mimimi's extensive experience, as they've carefully thought about how to expand the genre's formula without losing its essence, creating a broader-scope experience that only drawback could be its potential to feel demanding due to its strictness. It's a mentally engaging game that, however, can provide a lot of satisfaction, especially when one has mastered all the various systems it comprises. Therefore, it's an absolutely recommended title, one that those who enjoyed Desperados III or Shadow Tactics should not miss for any reason.

The fantasy setting of Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew plays a decisive role in giving new life to the Commandos-like genre, providing a series of new skills that will surprise newbies and fascinate veterans. The complete freedom of approach to the missions and the possibility of deciding almost immediately which character to face them with makes this game unique, certainly the best of its kind and among the most interesting real-time strategy video games to appear lately. Charismatic protagonists and a superb level design complete the offer making it a must for those who want to be quick with the mouse and quick with the mind.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a peak example of the stealth tactics genre from a studio that is clearly mastering its craft. Its mission structure is spread across excellently entertaining levels with rich detail to find and master, while characters shine with voice performances, endearing humor, and colorful art that both delight and impress. With innumerable ways to approach its levels and an extremely smart integration of the practice of saving and reloading into the world’s fiction, it’s firing on all cylinders in all categories except perhaps enemy AI. Frankly, I don't know anyone I wouldn't recommend it to.

Aye me cursed undead Hearties! I hope ye are ready for a legendarrry treasure hunt. Captain Mordechai left us a trail of doubloons, that we buccaneers are ought to follow. We sail on this ghostly conscious ship Red Marley, bellies full of grog, singing chanteys all the while Inquisition is hunting down all lovely seadogs. We must assemble a crew of stealthy cursed hands, unleash powers of Marley’s progress-saving memories, and kill the vicious inquisitor, Ignacia! Come fly a Jolly Roger with us and find all the promised treasure and glory!

I don't think it would be a considerable surprise reading this that I recommend Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew. Mimimi has made yet another fantastic real-time tactics title, and I would argue they've cemented their place at the top of the league (if there was one) of developers in the sub-genre. Shadow Gambit is also a huge game, a wide variety of missions and locations - plus the re-visits - brought me in at close to 50 hours, and I still have little things I can do.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is, through and through, a delight. The inventive setting, swashbuckling macabre tone, an enjoyable cast of phenomenal characters, and a compelling gameplay loop all come together for a uniquely satisfying stealth-strategy experience. I can not only recommend it, but I truly hope it's the start of a franchise so that I can spend more time with me mateys.

Very good mix of sneaking and fighting, which allows many tactics because of the free team selection. Beautifully detailed and animated.

Mimimi Games doesn't disappoint and yet again the German studio is able to deliver a very satisfying stealth-tactical experience. A must play for any fan of the genre.

On par with its (excellent) predecessors, Shadow Gambit trades some focused design for deeply compelling piratical freedom.

Mimimi Games shocked us all by saying "let's retire when we're at the top" after delivering their masterpiece with Shadow Gambit. It's a must-play game, the cursed crew needs our company.

Shadow Gambit’s biggest pros are pirate atmosphere and excellent characters. The gameplay mechanics are typical for this genre, and some skills are from Desperados III or Shadow Tactics. It’s a really great game worth playing.

mimimi games successfully weaved fantasy and magic into pirate's age. While the UI and mission structure is a bit disappointing, unique art and attractive sound design, as well as strategy features with various sailors are making it a higher standard for 'stealth strategy' game.

The gameplay works perfectly, and the level design is polished down to the last detail. There are no particular surprises, but you'll enjoy discovering a new world with a host of new skills and, above all, a great deal of freedom, notably the free composition of your squad from among several complementary characters. Everything has been well thought out and works perfectly. If we add in the presence of funny mini-scenarios between missions, to bring a little change to the game and give it a pleasant rhythm, as well as the great replayability, there's not much to complain about. A new license is probably born.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is undeniably engrossing, with a strong cast of characters and a story that twists and turns. Armchair tacticians, get your leaning ready, because there’s booty afoot, and the only ones who can claim it are a bunch of dead bodies. You got this!

With a great supernatural pirate theme and excellent character synergy, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is another outstanding stealth strategy game from Mimimi, though revisiting the mostly unchanged islands throws a small cloud over the otherwise vibrant treasure hunt.

We may not be fans of the new, open-world approach of this new tactical stealth game, but Mimimi once again shows that they have mastered the intricacies of the genre.

It's beautiful, it's clever, it's captivating : we want more. 30 hours of pure delight.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a really exciting experience, full of great ideas and atmosphere, but unfortunately is held back by the limited resources available to the developers.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew doesn't necessarily excel at either its narrative or character-related RPG beats, but it does enough to get by, while its gameplay carries it to safe harbour.

With a charming cast of undead pirates, lots of style and all the bells and whistles from Desperados 3, this is another excellent addition to Mimimis considerable catalogue. The unusual freedom of choice however proves to be a double-edged sword: It's fun to pick a crew and play the missions as we see fit, but it also takes away some of the challenge we loved in the previous games.

With Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, Mimimi Games tries to bring a new twist to the strategy genre by adding stealth. This makes for a slow, but exciting progression that provides great satisfaction when a plan succeeds. The game also has a high replay value, which justifies a purchase. However, there are also elements such as Crew Tales that are not really engaging and feel like filler content. In addition, loading on the PlayStation 5 can take a bit of time, which is not an issue on the PC.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew can't offer anything new to the classic gameplay style of Commandos/Desperados, but thanks to a nice setting the game still feels quite fresh, which is more than enough.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a cerebral but hugely characterful stealth tactics game filled with creativity and depth. And fun pirate stuff.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew takes the character-driven stealth tactics I loved in Desperados and applies a ghost pirate theme to it in ways that are nearly always fun to play and beautiful to look at.

It demands your full attention at every moment, something that was equally true of Mimimi's previous two games. [Issue#388, p.108]

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew can take a while for players to get used to, especially if stealth isn’t their forte. However, so much is here that allows the player to learn, and with a save system that encourages frequent reloads, newcomers won’t find themselves overwhelmed. Shadow Gambit exceeded my expectations and made me not only enjoy the strategic process but excited to jump back in after failing and try something new.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is so close to being Mimimi’s best. There are enjoyable diverse skills that make for some of the best stealth tactics gameplay we’ve ever seen. Enjoyable too is the colourful and often humorous side stories, along with plenty of feats to seek after for completionist obsessives. It may not have the most interesting main-story quest structure or be the most stable and bug-free at the moment but when Shadow Gambit gets moving it soars and sails, providing an addictive and fun tactics adventure.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a good game, but it lacks a spark.

Playing Shadow Gambit feels like peeling an onion - as I progress from the outer layers to the core, taking down enemies in the city, and each achievement is small, often mixed with discomfort and bitterness.

The resulting tone is even more fantastical and cartoonish than that of Mimimi’s previous games, suggesting Pirates of the Caribbean mashed up with the big personalities and individual superpowers of One Piece.

This spooky age of piracy has charming supernatural characters and visuals, but the hardcore stealth action on offer is an uncompromising, often unwieldy beast.

Shadow Gambit is a fiendishly fun stealth strategy game that does precisely what it says on the tin. With stunning voice acting, atmospheric maps, and no shortage of ways to solve the sandbox puzzles in each one, you'll be so bewitched by the world and its charming cast of characters that the muddy plot can almost be forgiven.