Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice

A masterful, methodical journey through the shadows of Edo Japan – brilliantly polished and perfectly paced, my only real sadness is that there was not more of it.

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun was one of my favorite games of 2017, and Aiko’s Choice is a return to form. Mimimi Games continues to deliver tight gameplay, incredible stealth, and a compelling story to tie it all together.

Aiko's Choice is a polished, challenging, and welcome – though a bit short – standalone expansion to the exceptional Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun.

As demanding as it is gratifying. People with low frustration resistance are better off skipping Aiko's Choice.

Shadow Tactics: Aiko’s Choice is a good game for a very specific audience. Fans will need to be both interested in character-driven stealth-action sequences and in the universe that the first game in the series has established. Taking down a complex enemy setup with careful planning and timing is challenging and satisfying at the same time.

Both new and returning players will be challenged by Aiko’s Choice, but the rewards are worth the effort. Effectively completing the game’s missions is satisfying in the same way as solving a tough puzzle. Added to that are the game’s lovely art and music, a cast of engaging characters, and an interesting story. I suggest playing the base game first, though, if for no other reason than to get up to speed on the mechanics. It’s a shame that Aiko’s Choice doesn’t welcome new players a little more, but those who persevere will be rewarded. For fans of the original, the expansion has been worth the wait.

It’s just three new missions without new characters or gameplay mechanics (well, with one small exception). They’re interesting, they’re difficult, graphics, music and voice acting are top-notch, – but Aiko’s Choice is still too small to be sold as a standalone game. [Issue#258, p.54]

Shadow Tactics: Aiko’s Choice manages to be both a welcome expansion for old fans and a surprisingly good place for a new player to jump in. It builds upon Blades of the Shogun in intriguing ways, and even though its challenge and complexity mirrors the later stages of that game, brevity and instructive level design make Aiko’s Choice uniquely placed to showcase what makes tactical stealth games as engrossing as they can be. For a niche genre that’s not exactly known to be welcoming to newcomers, that’s an impressive feat.

While only six hours long, this is a great addition to the original Shadow Tactics. Varied missions, likeable characters and plenty of tactical puzzles make Aiko's Choice an easy recommendation, especially if you enjoyed the main game and don't expect anything drastically new. Because sometimes 'more of the same' is exactly what we need.

Aiko’s Choice is a solid addition to Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, which expands the game’s story by introducing a new villain straight from Aiko’s past. The three main levels will keep you entertained for a few hours, but if you’re expecting new mechanics or daring gameplay you might be in for a disappointment.

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice is more of the original, which means it's more of one of the best real-time tactics games around. The few issues that you could have with the original, such as the difficulty curve, are made worse due to the location of these missions within the larger story - and with it being standalone - which could make it inaccessible. The lack of introduction to characters, presuming foreknowledge, also means new players will find it hard to get into. Even with these flaws, I could only recommend it as it looks great, sounds great, and plays even better.

With Aiko's Choice, Mimimi delivers a good extension for Shadow Tactics with three neat missions that offer us a challenge strong enough to exploit all the mechanics set up. On the other hand, there is nothing new in terms of gameplay. This makes it more of a pack of additional missions. That said, the care given to the missions and the richness of the tactical situations allows once again to rack your brains in this excellent infiltration game that is Shadow Tactics.

There’s no innovation, no evolution, nothing particularly exciting about this DLC. What you get is what you’d expect - three new missions which feel exactly the same as the original ones.