Shadow Tactics - Review @PCGamer

PCGamer review Shadow Tactics and find it one of the greatest stealth games of the last decade.

Every enemy encounter is a piece of a huge clockwork puzzle, all orderly and repetitive. To succeed, you need to disrupt the pattern. The fun part is creating chaos with the toy box of abilities and experimenting with them. There’s a lot of joy to be found in playing around with different strategies, tearing out the best parts of failed attempts and stitching them together until you have one that finally works. The ability to save anywhere makes experimentation easier, and a timer lets you know when it's been a while since you last saved.

Sometimes a problem requires lateral thinking. In snowy areas guards take notice of suspicious footprints, which can ruin a plan if you're not careful. However, you can can also exploit guards' inquisitiveness and lay ambushes for those that blindly follow trails into empty corners.

Some problems demand teamwork, and that’s where Shadow Mode comes in. This lets you assign each character a job and activate them all at once. Used correctly, Shadow Mode lets you sweep away large groups of enemies in swift, decisive moves. It’s a thrill to hit a button and see your minions move in tandem.