I knew nothing about this game but saw it pop up on Steam, where it's now on the Top Sellers list. This game is very much like the old Commandos games but with ninjas and samurai. It has very similar mechanics (for example, vision cones you get from clicking on enemies, crouching v standing range on the cones, picking up and moving bodies, lots of patrols and puzzle like way to figure them out).

To those who never played the series, it is a stealth game from an isometric perspective that is real time. You usually have to infiltrate some well guarded area and work slowly through it, using different units you have which have unique abilities. In this game, you have a samurai that can kill multiple enemies in one melee attack and a ninja who has a ranged attack. Even with your samurai, you need to be using stealth. It's a lot about watching patrol routes, monitoring vision cones, picking your spots, and timely use of abilities. This is a sneaking mission. But in some missions you can get your hands pretty dirty and set up ambushes and that kind of thing.

The mechanics are more polished I would say in a modern way and I think it's very friendly as far as giving you feedback about stealth. Enemies slowly spot you and game clearly shows you that and you can even click any open ground and see if any enemy is looking at it. The game also has a really cool "simultatneous action" type mode you go into called Shadow Mode that lets you set up your units to all act at once (it even just lets you pre-load each action and click them off one at a time, which allows for tricker timing to work or a plan with steps).

The art is really good and it has the great feel of almost like a little beautiful diorama battle scene going on. The first map is a siege and you see enemies running around engaged in it (reminded me a lot of the D-Day map from Commandos 3). It has a nice comic booky type style to it.

If you're interested, there's a demo that goes through the first mission and will give you time to get into the second one. If you ever liked Commandos you definitely need to check this out. Anyone interested in stealth and tactics and RTS type games should check this out as well. I just went through the demo and was very impressed and I'll probably buy it soon.

I thoroughly enjoyed the demo and am probably going to pick it up this week sometime. I have no experience with the Commandos series but the aesthetic of Feudal Japan was enough to get me interested in this and the demo helped solidify that I could enjoy the act of playing the game.

It's also on a launch discount on a bunch of different sites, ranging from 10 to 30% off so it can be had for less than $30, which is within my range of "Scew it, let's get this game" territory.

I played a bit of this at PAX West and was really intrigued. I might need to pick it up and play some.

I loved those Commandos games back in the day. Samurai make a lot of sense for that gameplay model although there was something about that WWII setting that really drew me in for the originals. Even in 1997 the graphics, at least in my memory, were gorgeous and brimming with detail. Seeing a u-boat surfaced through ice was something else!

@instantryan: Good tip. Found it for $28 which I think I'll pick up at that price. I have some other games I've been wanting to get to but I really enjoyed the demo.

Coincidence or not, the collection of the first 4 Commandos games is having a steam sale, for 1.79€.

Yes this looks interesting, I hope they play it on one of the shows...maybe today's UPF? oh well one can wish.

Oh man, Commandos! I don't know how I used to have the patience for those games back in the day, seeing how much of a casual-fun type of gamer I am these days. I did enjoy the first two games a whole lot, though, some of the voice lines and music will forever remain in my head. Commandos 2 also looked amazing back in the day.

@artisanbreads: Where?

@kcin: Try Gamersgate, or GreenManGaming

Man, this theoretically seems up my alley. Does it let you pause and issue commands? I'm not entirely opposed to my tactics games being fully real-time (WH40K: Dawn of War 2 is pretty good) but I'm certainly a lot better at them when I can micromanage without time constraints.

@arbitrarywater: Not exactly, there is a system to coordinate your character's actions though. The game has a demo on steam if you'd like to get a feel for it. Also this game has full control support, and it's quite nice.

I'm past the second mission, well into the third which is a big complex type set up like a lot of classic Commandos maps. Really awesome game so far. The feedback is fantastic for this kind of game and so far the level design is top notch.

I got it from green man gaming for 28.

I just played a bit of the demo, and it turns out I'm still pretty bad at real-time tactical stuff. Seems fun though! I'll definitely pick it up when it's on sale eventually. Daedelic is always good about discounting their stuff quickly.

This game is soo coooooool. I'm loving the hell out of it. Makes me sad that I hadn't really heard much about Commandos befor ethis. :C

You can get them all cheap and give them a shot. This game has a lot more feedback to the player type stuff that has come with modern stealth games that is great but it's quite similar to those old games. Commandos 3 I really like and it feels more modern of course. There is even more detail in some aspects of that game (like fully 3D interiors of buildings). There are some cool missions in there like working alongside the D-Day landings and a mission aboard a moving train.

There's also a Western themed game called Desperados that is a quality game of that type as well.

@artisanbreads: Yeah I probably won't play a bunch of similar games in a row, but these oldies are definitely on the watch list now. Desperados seems extra cool just because I'm always on the lookout for a solid Western game of any type.

@arbitrarywater: Dunno if it helps, but think of the game more as a puzzle game than a tactics game. Every kill you accomplish in the game is it's own individual puzzle. And use quicksave liberally.

Love Commandos so when i saw this game, i had to have it. Been playing it on hardcore which is more in the tradition of the Commandos games.

You can? i didn't know that. How do you do it. The game does a good job, i think, with translating a complex variety of control options to a controller, via modifiers, but a lot of the controls can go over yer head. I was 4 missions deep before i figured out how to command all your units to move at once, and i missed the bit in the tutorial about how to switch to your passive elimination option.

On a somewhat similar note, i finished Satellite Reign which is a game on the verge of being great, but brought down by some bad design decisions, like lacking a quick save within enemy territory, that end up making it a bit tedious. If you've already played Commandos, Desperados, and are looking for a similar Real Time Tactics/Stealth game it's worth a look.

Just started playing the demo and...wow, everything, from the ui (vision cones, highlights etc.) to the small selection of catchphrases that play whenever your order your guys around to the character abilities (luring enemies with a bottle of booze, knocking out a bunch of enemies at once with your tank guy) feels like straight out of commandos and its various clones like Desperados and Robin Hood. I love it. I played the heck out of those games when they were new(ish), and I had already given up hope to see anything like these ever again.

Hi ArtisanBreads,

I've found this thread 5 days ago. As every year I search for similar games like Desperados and Commandos.

And what can I say. Really thank you for this great suggestion.

I played this game for hours now and it is really cool.

Thanky you!

Having just played the demo for PS4 I encourage everyone to give this game a go. My PC couldn't run it so glad it got a console release and some very decent controls to complement it.

@aimxoo0o: Glad you like it. I always loved that genre and was sad to see it just vanish basically. I couldn't believe how well executed this game was and modernized in good ways. Having finished the game now, the one thing missing for me is the set piece spectacle (like @humanity mentions) and variety to some of the Commandos maps but I think with a sequel to this game we can see that happen.