Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew PC Review

Mimimi Games is a semi-obscure developer, that is until you take a closer look at what they’ve released in the past. Founded in 2008 in Munich, Germany by Dominik Abe and Johannes Roth, this little studio just about blew up in terms of team size over the years while solidifying their own values and bringing them into the games they create. The value in question being that they want everybody to be happy, they pour their heart and soul into what they do, and they value art and quality alongside entertainment. Pretty simple, right?

 

They had a rocky start with their first release, daWindci, in 2011, a unique puzzler for mobile, but this release also got them on the radar. From there, they went on to release The Last Tinker: City of Colors in 2014, an adorable indie adventure built on colors. This is also where they really started implanting those values, and Mimimi Games just carried on with the same momentum when they released the Shadow Tactics series and Desperados III, both receiving very positive feedback from the various communities.

This brings us to the present with their latest masterpiece, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, which was released on 17 August 2023. It seems that Mimimi Games has no problem with redesigning the core features of a tactical RTS, though instead of making a mess, they made it better while including a lot more fluidity in combat.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew might look like your everyday pirate story, but there’s a lot more than meets the eye. Your adventure starts with Afia Manicato, a Cursed who wants to make a name for herself, though she needs to enlist the help of another Cursed she calls Jester in Angler’s Grove. Before you get to him, you’ll basically get to experiment with some of the more basic controls, like moving your characters around and getting a feel for the top-down view.

 

Right from the start, moving your characters around is pretty straightforward, and the same goes for panning around the area. However, rotating the camera feels a bit rigid but also slippery, this does sadly make things a little less appealing though there are ways around it. One thing you’ll quickly learn in Angler’s Grove is that most civilians won’t mind you being a Cursed pirate and instead welcome your presence. This changes completely when you eventually meet the Inquisition, who are always hellbent on eradicating the Cursed and purifying what’s left.

Carrying on to get to Jester, you’ll also briefly be introduced to another interesting mechanic, doors. Buildings and doors are usually everywhere, these serve two purposes, the obvious one being that you can use the doors to get to others as long as they are connected in one way or another. The other purpose for them is so you can hide. Being cursed comes with the downside of being somewhat fragile, so you’ll have to use what’s around you to survive.

You’ll eventually find Jester, and Afia tells him that there’s a certain ghost ship she’s looking for, the Red Marley. Jester will go on to explain that he can get her to the Red Marley, but it’s caught in Ignacia, the Inquisitor’s trap, and it has seen better days. Things turn a little suspicious when he says he doesn’t have a price, he just wants to be entertained. You’ll be teleported to a different island and get thrown into a bit more chaos as you’ll have to sneak or fight your way through the Inquisition.

 

Luckily, you’re not entirely powerless. Afia is just one of several characters you’ll have at your disposal, each with their own skills and archetypes. However, Afia is perfectly suited for the initial mission while you do the tutorial, even if some out of the box thinking is required. However, when you’re out and about, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew goes from a rather casual to a more stealth-based tactical experience. The most important things to look out for are opportunities to strike, hiding spots, and enemy sight cones. Stay out of sight, get the job done, get out. Simple, right? It starts off simple at first, but you’ll soon see that you’ll need to use the environment to your advantage as well. Boulders, hanging boxes, and even the odd help from the islands since some of them are sentient too.

Back to the matters at hand, getting to know her and each of your crew members will come in handy in many ways as each crew member has their own archetypes like Position Changer or Body Hider as examples. All your crew members will have the simple melee kill, though they’re not all the same. Melee Kill, while it can kill anything, comes with the downside of having a kill and noise duration. Nobody dies instantly, and your crew needs a few seconds to be sure the target is definitely dead, then there’s the noise duration, nobody dies quietly either, and this can attract unnecessary attention to you as well if you’re not careful.

As mentioned before, you’ll need to keep an eye out for sight cones. Sadly, you can only highlight one enemy at a time to see its sight cone, so you’ll need to plan accordingly and keep an eye open for others. Hiding in bushes or behind objects works well enough, but you’ll also need to move around. Luckily, when it’s dark, the sight cones will also indicate a reduced sight, letting your crew sneak through. This becomes tricky when there’s sand involved or anything else that will show visible tracks since it will cause any nearby enemies that spot it to investigate, possibly landing you in some seriously hot water.

 

Now that you’ve survived the basic tutorial, you’ll get the next part of the introductory story and the plot for Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew. Afia will eventually get to the Red Marley, though it’s more than just a ghost ship, it’s actually alive or possessed by a spirit. Freeing the Red Marley is pretty straightforward, and you’ll have made yourself a powerful ally that can play with time. The Red Marley has a really useful ability that works similar to quick saving and quick loading, she can capture memories of events as they are (Quick Save) and then unleash the memory (Quick Load) when needed to give you a second chance.

However, the Red Marley is more than just that. She’s your mobile hideout, along with the only thing that can help you expand your crew. Though she is missing one vital crew member, a captain… Her captain. You’ll hear a lot about Mordechai and his odd dealings, but not enough to give you much detail about him except that he had a massive treasure trove and that he started a Shadow Gambit. With Mordechai gone, done, and dusted, you’ll need to unlock his deepest secret hidden in the Red Marley by finding and reviving the rest of the crew members.

Granted, this is easier said than done, as you’ll need a ton of Soul Energy and Black Pearls. Soul Energy is easy to come by through the various missions you’ll do, Black Pearls come from their own missions and are a bit harder to come by. Luckily, you’ll have two pearls to start with and enough Soul Energy to revive one crew member between Suleidy and Toya to at least get you started. This seems like a very rough start against Ignacia and the rest of the Inquisition, and it can be if you’re not careful.

 

To jump ahead to the future, let’s say you do manage to get more Soul Energy and Black Pearls. Now you’ll probably have a few extra crew members, however, you’ll need to choose which crew members to take on missions. Balancing out their abilities and passive abilities will be key to making it all work as some of your crew members, for example – Can’t swim or climb ivies where others can.

Now that you’ve got a crew, you’re finally ready to jump into missions. You’ll need to sneak past or kill what’s in your way to get what you want, as mentioned before, staying out of sight is your best bet. However, killing is totally fine, too, as long as you hide the bodies. As long as there’s a place for you to hide, like a bush or haystack, you can also hide the bodies in them, and they’ll get pulled into the ground, never to be discovered by enemies that will definitely trigger the alarms.

Speaking of alarms, aside from raising the alarms, the inquisitors will most definitely call for help if you’re spotted or if they discover a body. This will, in turn, cause them to be on high alert and search the area where they discovered you or the body’s corpse. You’ll have to stay and stay off the radar to keep your end of things from falling apart.

 

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew takes on a bit more RTS and tactical gameplay with the planning stages. You’ll likely have to kill multiple enemies at the same time, and this is where the tactical menu is great, even if it is a little primitive and simple. It’ll let you plan out one movement action and one skill per crew member, this makes things a little tricky if you have a crew that relies on multiple skills to get the kill in. Sadly, this means that complex plans are not possible at all, sorry for those who like to plan an entire heist and let it play out in one shot.

It goes without saying but don’t underestimate the inquisitors. Acolytes are your easiest to deal with and don’t pose much of a threat, but they can alert the Commisarius, Iudex and much worse. Then there’s also the fact that not all inquisitors are susceptible to the same distractions as others, you’ll need to keep their weaknesses and strengths in mind. Though the most annoying inquisitor, aside from Ignacia but she’s our antagonist, is the Kindred. A special pest that comes as a 2 for 1 package deal, you’ll need to kill both at the same time, or they rise again.

 

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew has everything you’d like to back it up in a great story, and that is brilliant voice acting and music. Mimimi Games really did pour their hearts into this game with the voice acting alone, there’s a clear difference between each character just from their accents alone.

To give an example or two – Afia is clearly from New Orleans, but she’s also got a little bayou in her, too, quite fitting considering her background. Toya sounds like he hails from the Far East, Japan to be exact, and his skills say as much too. However, the soundtrack in Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew also just adds so much extra depth and quality to an already great game, the music seems to be semi-aimed at a less rowdy rendition of old sea shanties with a nice modern touch.

On the visual front, it’s almost surprising as to how much detail went into each character’s design and how much their designs reflect their personalities between dialogues and out in the field. The same can also be said for the inquisitors, though, even though they’re all uniformed, each different enemy still has a unique design for their rank or role that sets them apart.

The overall world design almost feels cinematic with the smaller animations, like the trees rustling in the wind and with how the shadows are placed. With a game like Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, you’ll still see a lot of the ‘to be expected’ green smoke and shadows for almost everything, it might be somewhat overused, but it does have a different feel to it that makes it oddly refreshing to see.

 

Overall, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew seems to be another masterpiece from Mimimi Games and embodies their core values down to the last. You’ll get to live the life of a pirate from a top-down perspective, explore the various different islands, and experience a great story that’ll keep you sucked in for hours. Not to mention, the many different characters and mechanics keep things from going stale.

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Editor, NoobFeed