Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun

Overview

A game that challenges the player to use clever strategy and stealth, commanding up to five units from an isometric viewpoint to infiltrate a series of bases and uncover a conspiracy that threatens to destabilize Japan. Players can use a variety of tactics to make up for their lack of manpower and strength, like setting up traps, preparing tag-team ambushes, hiding fallen bodies, and more. The game also utilizes quick-save functionality to allow the player to quickly revert to an earlier state in order to test multiple strategies for completing their mission.

Characters

Mugen: An honorable samurai close to the Shogun who reluctantly uses less-honorable methods as he leads a small team to stop the conspiracy threatening his leader. Carries a throwable bottle of sake to distract or lure enemies, and can kill up to three guards at once in a small radius with his "Sword Wind" skill. He is also the only one who can kill enemy samurai without help.

Hayato: A ninja from Iga who teaches Mugen about stealth tactics while infiltrating an enemy base. He can leap onto and off of some rooftops with his grappling hook, throw pebbles to distract or lure enemies, and can quietly take out unarmored enemies with his shuriken.

Yuki: A young thief who can set up single-use traps in the field that kill anyone who steps on them. Also plays a flute to lure guards near her position.

Takuma: An old man who carries a sniper rifle built into his cane and fake leg, but cannot perform any melee attacks. The rifle has a wide range, but limited ammunition that cannot be replenished until the end of a mission. Takuma also has a trained tanuki named Kuma who can distract or lure enemies by itself.

Aiko: A spy who can steal clothes to disguise herself as a geisha, hiding in plain sight by distracting most guards (except for samurai). She can also fling sneezing powder at an enemy to greatly lower their cone of vision.

Plot

Sometime during the Edo Period (1603-1868) of Japan, a mighty Shogun has finally unified the country after centuries of war. However, a mysterious warlord known only as "Kage-sama" has set in motion a plan to overthrow the Shogun and bring back the age of war. Thus, the Shogun tasks a samurai named Mugen with hunting down Kage-sama. Over the course of the game, Mugen teams up with four other assassins: a ninja, a thief, a spy, and an old sniper, in order to uncover the identity of Kage-sama.

Eventually, after falling into a trap set by their enemy, the team discovers that Kage-sama happens to be the Shogun's brother, who wishes to bring back the Sengoku era where warriors like himself had more meaning in their lives.