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Commandos-Like Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice standalone expansion

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth



https://af.gog.com/game/shadow_tactics_blades_of_the_shogun_aikos_choice?as=1649904300



Aiko's Choice is a brand-new standalone expansion to the beloved stealth tactics game Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, set in Japan around the Edo period.

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice focuses on one of the main game's protagonists: the kunoichi adept Aiko. She is a master of camouflage and distracts enemies disguised as a Geisha. Although Aiko was certain that she left her old life behind her, a new enemy deeply connected to Aiko's past reappears from the shadows to challenge her. Together with her friends of deadly assassins she sets out to hunt down the ghosts of her past...

The expansion features three fully fledged main missions, set in brand-new environments, and three shorter interlude missions.

In the style of the main game, you take control of a team of deadly specialists to sneak in the shadows between dozens of enemies. Choose your approach when infiltrating enemy bases in hidden forest camps or lively Edo period towns. Set traps, poison and distract your opponents – or avoid enemy contact completely. Carefully plan your every move and come up with your own ingenious tactics to vanquish enemies and complete each of the challenging missions that lie ahead!

Disclaimer: You don't require a copy of Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun to play Aiko's Choice. Even though you can enjoy this standalone expansion on its own, we recommend to play at least the first few missions of the main game in order to get a feeling of the game's mechanics as well as the characters and story!

Features:
  • Return to the beautiful world of Shadow Tactics set in Japan, early Edo period.
  • Rejoin your favorite characters for one final adventure set within the story of the main game Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun.
  • Experience a previously untold tale centered around the kunoichi adept Aiko, who has to face a vicious enemy connected to her past.
  • Explore three fully fledged main missions, located in brand-new environments, and three shorter interlude missions.
The expansion includes all the features of the main game:
  • Play a team of completely different characters with their unique skill sets.
  • Synchronize your team's actions to strike down your enemies at once with the "Shadow Mode" feature.
  • Choose between non-lethal or deadly stealth attacks.
  • Find dozens of ways to take out or sneak past your opponents the way you want.
  • Choose from three difficulty levels to match your skill.
We are really happy to finally return to Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun after all these years, and we hope that we were able to convert that joy into this standalone expansion. Join us on a final visit… to Japan, early Edo period.
 
Last edited:

Jezal_k23

Guest
Who cares about the fucking trailer? What actually matters is that Shadow Tactics is getting a fucking expansion. HOLY SHIT.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.mimimi.games/aikos-choice-will-be-pc-exclusive/

Aiko’s Choice will be PC exclusive!
ST_Aikos_Choice_Logo-scaled.jpg


Aiko’s Choice is a brand-new standalone expansion to our beloved stealth tactics game Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogunand set to release in late 2021!

However, it’s with a heavy heart for the team that we have to announce that Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – Aiko’s Choice will be a PC exclusive release!

This means that Aiko’s Choice will be playable on Windows. We are also planning to add Linux (32-bit, like the original release) support.

Back in 2016/17 we were happy to release Shadow Tactics on Windows, Mac, Linux and consoles so that players of all platforms can experience genuine real-time tactics galore.

This is why the decision to release Aiko’s Choice only for PC was not an easy one. We are aware that the console and Mac players among you will be disappointed with this news. We are sorry for that! The least we can do is to communicate this fact to you, our community, and explain the reasons behind it:
  • The technical effort that it would take to develop this standalone expansion for all platforms is more complex than you might initially think. In order to support non-PC platforms we would have to update the engine. This would require an immense amount of additional work for the team as they would have to edit the code and partly switch to other engine features. This also means that we cannot update Shadow Tactics to a Mac 64-bit version.
  • Hence, developing the expansion for all platforms would be, simply put, not viable and demand much more of our team’s time than we could spare – as we are still single-project focused!
  • Basically, we had to decide: Let the dream of a Shadow Tactics expansion die or create a PC only version. We went for the latter option because this way at least a big part of our players, who call a PC their home platform, have the chance to revisit the world of Shadow Tactics.
In any case, we hope for your understanding. We love all our players no matter what their preferred platform is. Thank you for your support throughout the years!

Yours,

The Mimimis <3
 

Tacgnol

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Somehow I can't imagine the console playerbase for this being very large.
 

fork

Guest
Somehow I can't imagine the console playerbase for this being very large.
I played both Shadow Tactics and Desperados 3 on console on hardest difficulty. The controls are very well done. But I guess you're right, if they'd sell well, mimimi would probably port the expansion.
 

oldbonebrown

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I wish they would do way more maps than three
and I hope its challenges are harder than anything in the base game
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
From last month: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1579380/view/3002193607254246099

Lady Chiyo – the cunning villain of Aiko's Choice revealed!
Introducing: Lady Chiyo, the notorious villain of the Shadow Tactics standalone expansion Aiko's Choice!

Konnichiwa everyone!

Today, we are very happy to reveal more juicy details about Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice!

As you might already know, Aiko's Choice is a brand-new standalone expansion to our beloved stealth tactics hit Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – set in Japan around the Edo period. It focuses on one of the main game's protagonists: the kunoichi adept Aiko.

Aside from the official logo and release date window, we haven't shared more details about Aiko's Choice, let alone the story. In the standalone expansion Aiko is confronted with her past life: A new enemy deeply connected to Aiko's background reappears from the shadows to challenge her and her deadly assassin friends ...

An enemy that is as infamous as she is dangerous: Meet the cunning spymaster Lady Chiyo!

bcf9ea96cc168884be7e060d196a3da4168a3c97.png


Lady Chiyo: Elegance in all things


Yes, this elderly lady is the main antagonist of Aiko's Choice. But don't make the frivolous mistake of underestimating her. That's what many did before you – and they all paid with their lives.

She carries her age with elegance and her unfailing wisdom as well as cunning nature define her character more than anything else. Even the strongest wills crumble in her presence!

Naturally, her name has become entwined with many legends that people whisper to each other by the fire: "I heard that she once conquered a castle with a single word!" "Oh yeah? It is whispered that she once stopped an entire army with a cup of poisoned tea!"

Indeed, defeating your enemies from the shadows is something that Lady Chiyo turned into an art form. She is one of the first who established the teachings of the Kunoichi – the female Shinobi practitioners. In fact, she is Aiko's former master and taught her everything she knows! However, Aiko eventually left her old life and her former sensei behind her. But now Lady Chiyo has stepped out of the shadows once again. And she is coming for Aiko and her companions!

Why? That is something that you are to find out yourself in Aiko's Choice!
Wishlist Aiko's Choice now!

Aiko's Choice is set to release in late 2021 for PC. Wishlist Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - Aiko's Choice now and return to the beautiful world of Shadow Tactics set in Japan, early Edo period. Rejoin your favorite characters in this previously untold story centered around Aiko – and face her former sensei Lady Chiyo!
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth


https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1579380/view/2960541741559461659

New Gameplay Trailer
Watch brand new gameplay footage of the upcoming stand-alone expansion

Konnichiwa everyone,

We are delighted to show you the brand new trailer which shows the first gameplay footage ever for Shadow Tactics' upcoming expansion. If you are a veteran of the main game, you maybe want to watch closely for an old friend...

The expansion features three full-fledged main missions, set in brand-new environments, and three shorter interlude missions.

Like in the main game, you take control of a team of lethal specialists, move in the shadows and sneak past dozens of enemies. Choose your approach wisely when infiltrating hidden forest camps or lively Edo-period towns. Set traps, poison and distract your opponents – or avoid enemy contact altogether. Carefully plan your every move and come up with your own ingenious tactics to vanquish enemies and complete each of the challenging missions to uncover Aiko´s past.

Features:

  • Return to the beautiful world of Shadow Tactics set in Japan in the early Edo period.
  • Rejoin your favorite characters for one final adventure set within the story of the main game Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun.
  • Experience a previously untold tale centered around the kunoichi adept Aiko, who has to face a vicious enemy connected to her past.
  • Explore three full-fledged main missions, located in brand-new environments, and three shorter interlude missions.


The expansion includes all the features of the main game:
  • Play a team of completely different characters with their own unique skill sets.
  • Synchronize your team's actions to strike down your enemies at once with the "Shadow Mode" feature.
  • Choose between non-lethal or deadly stealth attacks.
  • Find dozens of ways to take out or sneak past your opponents the way you want.
  • Choose from three difficulty levels to match your skill.
 
Last edited:

Infinitron

I post news
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Messages
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/sh...g-into-a-small-but-sublime-slice-of-ninja-fun

Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice is shaping into a small, but sublime slice of ninja fun
Shinobody does it better



In true Shadow Tactics fashion, here’s an expansion no one saw coming. Aiko’s Choice is a miniature campaign extension to 2016’s real-time tactics wonder. A standalone title, but one that slots into the original game’s main story. It feels like a DLC package that should have been released closer to the original, but I’m not going to drag developers Mimimi for tardiness - after all, this is a game where it takes me upwards of three hours to creep around a single map. Nothing about Shadow Tactics is rushed.

Aiko’s Choice adds three new missions and three playable ‘interludes’, which are shorter narrative skits that hinge a single character’s abilities and help set the scene for the larger levels. In my demo, this involves freeing wizened sharpshooter Takuma from a ship’s brig by relying on his pet tanuki, Kuma, to distract guards while he hobbles along. It’s a small, but welcome spotlight on a hero who was often consigned to a sniper’s perch in the original campaign (and will be again, in about four paragraphs’ time). And I'm not going to argue with more Kuma, a critter so adorable even hardened shogunate soldiers stand transfixed. Is it wrong to shank an animal lover? I hope not.

If you played Desperados 3, made between Shadow Tactics and this, you’ll recognise the vibe of the interludes from the flashbacks to young John Cooper. I also detect a hint of the garrulous cowboys in the looser lips of our returning ninja cast; as the squad of five embark on a larger mission they banter in a way that suggests Mimimi are a bit more comfortable around drama than they were in 2016. Or maybe they’re just enjoying hanging with the cast during happier times - Aiko’s Choice occurs in the timeline before shock seppuku casts a pall on Shadow Tactics’ final straight.

This more interactive storytelling is the only Desperados 3 influence I detect in Aiko’s Choice, a world that is, mechanically, exactly as I left it in 2016. The obvious downside is that you lose the superior planning mode of the cowboy adventure. In that, you could freeze time to cue up moves and synchronise takedowns; in Shadow Tactics, time still progresses, which can make the process more imprecise and panicked. The change was a key factor in why I prefer Desperados 3 over Mimimi's origial ninja outing, so here’s hoping diligent modders add the full tactical pause they eventually added to Shadow Tactics proper.


That quibble aside, Shadow Tactics was a great game before Desperados and remains a great game after it. Mimimi understand that you can make a stealth challenge as tangled as you want, as long as players have the ability to parse it. I adore the way this team builds on the sweeping green view cones of Commandos and Desperados of old, adding attack sightlines, ranges and audio radius with colourful and clear UI elements. This exactness lets you chain abilities into grand plans, safe in the knowledge that moves will behave just so. And if your thinking proves to be dud? The quick load key is right there, inviting you to cook up a fresh scheme. (It remains my great gaming hope that one day Mimimi will get the Mission Impossible licence. Man, that would rule.)

And given that Aiko’s Choice is aimed at those familiar with the original, it also gives Mimimi permission to jump in the deep end. For starters, you get all five characters to play with - something that only happened once in the original game. Well, I say you get all five: the stage I play is set on an archipelago which naturally limits the movement of water-averse Mugen, while Takuma is trapped in a ship’s crowsnest that only grants him sniper coverage of closer islands. This creates a range of exciting spaces for the three ninjas who can swim. On the mainland they benefit from Mugen’s ability to kill entire squads with a whirlwind of blades, but swim the soggy trio closer to Takuma and they can synchronize four-man takedowns. In between the two are islands where the sea lets you approach and attack from any angle. It’s a level made of micro levels, and gets me excited to see the two other new missions.


A self-contained island is a perfect showcase for what Shadow Tactics is about. You swim around the outside, submerged but for a bamboo snorkel, getting a read on sightlines and confirming that, yes, every guard falls under the watchful eye of another. And so begins the vital first step: the first kill that weakens the surveillance network. Perhaps you find a secluded beach and use Yuki’s flute to lure a guard to a pressure-activated dart trap. Maybe you fling a vial of Aiko’s blinding perfume at a sniper and shank a nearby guard while his view cone recovers. Or do you program all three to leap from the ocean and stab the guards in the neck at the press of a key, ending all three cries of alarm at once? Experimenting, and seeing how each new island layout negates the previous’ winning strategies, is all part of the fun.

The concern, and the risk of releasing this kind of expansion so long after the original, is that it might get you into the zone for an experience that is over too soon. I know that after playing this demo I’m already feeling a bit sad that I’m a third through it. Of course, to say that this is ‘only’ three levels does a great disservice to Mimimi’s eye for replayability. As in their last two games, main missions come with a huge range of bonus criteria, ranging from speed runs (it takes me almost three hours to finish a level with a target of 15 minutes) to tests of playstyle, such as clearing out an entire island with just Takuma’s sniper shots, or destroying another island’s objective without touching a guard. These are ideas designed to lure you into stealth systems and ability combos that are far deeper than they first seem. I’m sure returning fans will lap it up.


While I’m convinced that this would have made more sense as a digestif served after the original release, I’m also not so churlish to sniff at more of one of my favourite games of the last decade. And if it offers more financial stability for Mimimi to focus on its next big original game - the bafflingly named Codename Süßkartoffel - I’m all for it. When Aiko's Choice releases on Steam in December this should fill a couple of those long winter nights nicely.
 

Zombra

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Story recap trailer for those who played the first game but don't remember it that well.
(Remember the expansion takes place between missions 8 and 9 of the original 13-mission game so certain events are not recapped here.)

Incredible how much nostalgia I can feel for a game that only came out 5 years ago. The music is perfect, and this recap beautifully summarizes the love and detail that went into crafting the characters and the story. I never thought a 2 second flashback of Mugen and Hayato drinking together in the hideout would bring so much memory flooding back.

 

zool

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Incredible how much nostalgia I can feel for a game that only came out 5 years ago. The music is perfect, and this recap beautifully summarizes the love and detail that went into crafting the characters and the story. I never thought a 2 second flashback of Mugen and Hayato drinking together in the hideout would bring so much memory flooding back.

Yes, Shadow Tactics was one the best games released in the last decade and was clearly a labor of love. The production value was very high all around. Great setting too.

Shadow Tactics actually single-handedly managed to bring hope in me again that the industry wasn't completely dead and that we might yet see other non-indies good games in the future.
 

boot

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without a pause button I can't play this game, requires too much dexterity managing UI and I don't care for that. Real time strategy is a shit genre imo
 

0wca

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The original Shadow Tactics were FUCKING AMAZING. If this is anywhere close to that, I'll be losing sleep for at least a few days playing this.

iu
 

oldbonebrown

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without a pause button I can't play this game, requires too much dexterity managing UI and I don't care for that. Real time strategy is a shit genre imo
It plays very smoothly with a controller, lessening the use of the UI
 

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