Quick Look: Desperados III

Sold! Downloading this tonight.

Hope you enjoy; it's really good.

I think I started typing a comment out but didn't get it done: hopefully this QL isn't too short for y'all but I think we cover the bases for the most part. It's more Shadow Tactics and that's OK. If you haven't played Shadow Tactics I'd recommend that too, or our QL for it!

Rorie: "This is pretty much a reskin of [Shadow Tactics] with new characters? Well... not even new characters a lot of the were very similar to the ones in Shadow Tactics"

I think what you meant to say Rorie was "Shadow Tactics was pretty much a reskin of Desperados and now we're back" =P

Yeah, my histories a bit wonk since I never played the older Desperados games that I can recall - maybe I tried a demo or two there. But here even the UI is pretty much the same as Shadow Tactics. I'm not mad, though! I like these games.

I started playing this today and am really enjoying it so far (especially as a Shadow Tactics devotee myself). I totally get how it is hard to use the word "reskin", as it has a bit of a negative connotation, but there are definitely a ton of UI/mechanics/character archetypes carried over between Shadow Tactics and this. But honestly, if it ain't broke, don't mess with it.

Obviously the devs put in a ton of effort creating new assets, designing new missions, etc. and I like the cowboy theme for this one.

My singular complaint with Shadow Tactics was something Rorie briefly mentioned - mainly that by the end it gets pretty complex and pushes the game's desire to let the player quicksave/quickload as needed to an extremely finicky level, as you are attempting to execute more and more precise plans. I'm hoping Desperados avoids that same inclination.

It was also cool to see the differences between the PC version's UI here and the PS4 version I'm playing; the game is very well adapted to the console, and runs really well from a control & technical standpoint (as was the case w/Shadow Tactics...yes, a broken record, I know :P)

Reskin is harsh but whatevs, I loved shadow tactics and so definitely checking this out!

Yeah, it might be a bit of a stretch...maybe Total Conversion might be a better phrase. But honestly so much of it feels exactly the same that I think people should be aware of it. It's not so much the mechanics as it is the characters being kind of reshuffled that is kind of obvious to me, especially in the trap/whistle configuration. I guess I just wish they had broadened things up a bit more but hopefully there's more surprises later!

Yeah, I think I came back to one of the mid-game missions of Shadow Tactics not too long ago where I think you only even have three or four people and it was difficult to figure out even what to do, let alone how to do it such that you didn't trigger alarms and everything. I bet it's satisfying to beat these games, though; never did get all the way through ST.

Thanks for the Rapid Glance, Rorie and Ben! I actually kind of appreciated the shorter length seeing as it was, as you say, substantially similar to another game you have relatively recently covered. Was Shadow Tactics recent? My god, I'm so old...

I think it was 2017? I think it was the tail end of 2017 and I didn't discover it for a few months later so the QL was early 2018 if I recall.

@rorie: No worries, it just made me laugh hearing it right at the beginning =P

Thanks for the Quick Look! The game looks rad

Okay, as someone who watched my friend play through Desperados, I feel like I need to point out that Desperados pretty much felt like a reskin of Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, so Shadow Tactics just adds to that "grand tradition". Hector was always like that with the bear trap and the whistling and carrying multiple bodies.

As for character's gender being visible on mouse.over, I imagine the girl who was in the first game who would show her leg to distract enemies is back, but probably only works on men to keep things simple/interesting, so therefore knowing who your enemies are/being able to make assumptions about their sexual preferences is helpful.

Anyway, neat Quick Look, just thought I'd add some context if needed.

I took a drink every time Shadow Tactics was said in this QL. I'm dead now...

@tempys: This!

Wild Marge is a female woman! Rorie is the best :)

I adored Shadow Tactics and got through the entire thing. This is just what I want from this developer for eternity. Keep making and improving these games and set them in different locations and time periods.

The key part of these games (ST and this) is each level is very different than the last. In a time where procedural generation is a big selling point for a lot of people, having intricate crafted level design feels outstanding.

I would love to play game like this in a "Modern Warfare" setting.

I think they could do something fun with a sci-fi setting but I'm not sure if they want to seem too X-COMy.

I finished ST (and then messed around with trying to get some of the badges for levels / try alternate routes), but I remember by the end of the game, it was taking me like 2+ hours to get through a single map on my first try as I tried to deftly navigate the giant bespoke clockwork maps (rather than like 45mins-1hr), which are pretty impressive. The level design kinda reminds me of Hitman in some ways.

I will say, if you didn't see ST all the way through, I thought the story was pretty well-told and there is something that happens near the end that genuinely surprised me (which another user mentioned in a spoiler block elsewhere in the comments). I'm hoping the story in Desperados 3 is as interesting, I like what I've seen so far, having just finished the wedding mission.

I just may pick this up. I feel like we still don't see a lot of westerns in this medium, and this looks very intriguing.

@vectortheangel: That moment in the game was an interesting story moment but served as a way to pull a major tool from your tool kit and made you rethink how to approach everything. Other games would add more options but I think it was a bold move to take something away.

@merxworx01: It's a good example of a little thing video games can do as a medium that others can't. I was really impressed that Mimimi made that decision.

This is accurate, Kate's distractions only work on men, that's why the enemy gender is shown.

This game feels a little bit more hitman than Shadow Tactics, with plenty of signature kills in each level (the town level that is shown here has 4 targets, and each one has an accident kill associated with them). I'm at the beginning of Act II, and they are already working the difficulty up, so I imagine that by the end of this game things will be real rough.

All this does is make me want to try to finish Shadow Tactics

I wonder if they make a commandos game next. I remember those plane fly-by's making everything brutally difficult.