


Shadow Tactics frontloads almost all of the training you'll need for the remainder of the campaign. Once saving becomes a habit-executed with a single keystroke-you grow more comfortable trying out creative strategies without fear of risking hard-fought progress. If you go more than a minute without saving, a timer appears onscreen to remind you, growing more intense with each passing minute. From the very beginning, you're taught to save-constantly. Shadow Tactics can be challenging, but isn't as punishing as most stealth games. Often you'll have to wait for enemies to be in the right place at the right time to make your move, and if you step out of turn and accidentally blow your cover, you may have to say goodbye to your progress and start from scratch. But stealth games call for a subtler hand. That's because the language of games, for better or worse, is usually conflict. Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is an elegant answer to a simple question: How do you make sneaking unnoticed from Point A to Point B compelling? Many games have built themselves around that concept, but few stealth-focused games manage to make sneaking as interesting as Gears of War makes shooting or Portal makes puzzle-solving.t A few moments later, we're ready for the shogun-our real target. The third, a sniper, perches in a high tower and finishes off the remaining enemies. I make one of my assassins toss out a tasty flask of sake to distract a guard, while another slit the throats of two unwary henchmen nearby. With a trio of assassins, I prepare to breach the outer gates.
