Warning: The following article on why Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew deserves your attention contains spoilers for the title.
Desperados 3 was an enigma that pulled me toward Mimimi Games.
It was a riveting Western starring revenge and camaraderie between a misfit crew of striking protagonists. These characters were recognizable, as evident by their fervent voice lines and different approaches to navigating Louisiana bayous and dusty Mid-West towns. I’d coordinate one of them to snipe an enemy atop a tower to sneak ahead, then have another whistle to lure an enemy into a nasty beartrap in chest-high reeds.
I’ve stayed away from RTS games for years because I could never appreciate them, but Desperados 3 finally clicked everything into place. The stealth loop invited me to concoct numerous strategies to answer stimulating moment-to-moment scenarios. It tingled my brain and tapped into that gratification a player earns when solving problems on their own terms.
The studio’s latest game, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, echoes this gameplay loop emblematic of the rest of Mimimi Games’ library. I expressed having issues with its repetition outside of missions in a review of Shadow Gambit; however, I still was swooning over its pirate-styled characters with cursed powers and exotic dialects. There was a visible step up from previous installments for strategizing through a map and the complexity of abilities.
Everything I loved about Mimimi Games’ way of handling gameplay mechanics and mission objectives felt way more fun in Shadow Gambit and encouraged you to go wild.
Gamers likely discovered Mimimi Games through this pirate game like I did with Desperados 3, yet unfortunately, Shadow Gambit will be the studio’s last hurrah. Mimimi Games is shutting down after over a decade of making games, a move that stunned many but unquestionably made sense judging from the toll development had on the team.
As a fan, I’m sad to see the studio close its doors for good, and as a critic, I can’t help but share some words about how much of a smashing icon Shadow Gambit is in a year full of memorable bangers. Whether you’re an RTS fanatic or not, Shadow Gambit deserves your attention because we won’t ever get a game like it again.
Related: Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew Is an Undead Pirate Stealth-Strategy Game
The characters in Shadow Gambit and how they interact with the world is the game’s defining strength, more so than narrative setpieces and mission tasks. Your crew is an eclectic cast brimming with enough personality to make it hard for you to decide who to take into the field.
The navigator Afia is sharp as a whip and acts as a leader to your wayward cursed crew in search of Mordechai’s lost treasure. Meanwhile, you’re getting to know Red Marley, the accursed ship used as your base of operations, and her awe-inspiring loyalty to the late captain.
The shipwright Mr. Mercury was a personal favorite of mine; his dutiful care for Red Marley’s cracks from wear and tear was an endearing quality of the Scottish man who looked more threatening than you’d initially believe. And then you have characters like Suieldy, the ship’s doctor, who has an insatiable desire to learn everything possible, and you can’t help but feed her passion.
From a group of eight cursed pirates, you can only use three during a mission, which can make for a rather challenging decision the further you get into Shadow Gambit. Beyond their quirks, these characters present a cornucopia of methods to engage with environments, enemies, and each other in a way that makes you feel like a diabolical tactician.
With the crew’s French cannoness Gaëlle, you can shoot teammates with her mighty cannon across the map to fly over enemy sightlines, setting up combos with Suieldy’s ability to mind control foes or put Mercury in range to smack enemies into an otherworldly dimension with his barnacled anchor.
Shadow Gambit is a stealth game where missions are playgrounds to experiment to your heart’s content. Through trying things out, you can untangle extremely complicated patrol routes, infiltrate tightly guarded areas, and sneak out without setting off alarms to earn achievements.
Related: Mimimi Games Reveals Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew Will Be Its Final Title
To that same point, objectives will convince you to re-think strategies that worked before and use objects on maps to your benefit. Enemies demand the same amount of scrutiny, requiring you to kill specific mobs simultaneously or coordinate two characters to defeat a unique enemy.
Unlike past games, the ceiling in Shadow Gambit is higher due to Mimimi Games stepping into the realm of magical powers and how they can transform the scope of what players can accomplish. Infiltration isn’t just picking off enemies like a domino effect, but rather a game of shifting priorities dependent on what characters you bring, diversifying your playstyle.
Because of this core loop of optimizing character abilities, outfoxing crowds of enemies, and taking advantage of mechanics, Shadow Gambit rises to dizzying strategic heights. It accomplishes much in even just a slice of its gameplay, rivaling the complexities in beloved stealth games, from Dishonored to Splinter Cell to Hitman. Obviously, Shadow Gambit is a far different game from those titles, yet deservingly earned a spot next to them.
Mimimi Games has left its legacy on the finest interpretation of what a “stealth-strategy RTS” game looks like and knocked the gameplay out of the park. As a sendoff, the team has dropped new characters through a recent DLC and even patched in a free modding level editor tool as a last farewell gift to its community.
If you missed out on this game throughout the year or were on the fence about it, you won’t be disappointed with its gameplay if strategy is your thing. It’s one of the best strategy games I’ve ever played, looking back on it, and it echoes the legacy of Mimimi Games as a team of creatives trying to do something incredibly new in a once-popular genre.
