"That's what we do..!"
If you love pirates and fantasy from a top-down isometric perspective, where you control up to 3 characters (sometimes 8) across numerous islands and their missions, to take down enemies in specific manners (such as teleporting, luring, sniping, possessing, etc), then Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is for you.
Disclaimer: it requires quite a bit of patience (30+hrs worth for main game // 60+hrs to 100% achievements) and puzzle-solving to experience due to strategizing throughout the missions, with the last mission taking over an hour to beat (at least for me), though there are difficulty modifiers in case you want a slightly more streamlined experience.
World-wise, the game seems to take place in our world given by the lore of Toya (who hails from Japan) and Gaëlle (who is apparently Breton), and of course the off mention of the Caribbeans and Blackbeard as well, so it's a fantasy world mixed with a bit of reality.
The story... I won't say anything regarding it, but the in-game saving system is raveled to it; the devs did an amazing job at tying them together, and the writing is some of the best writing I've ever experienced: from the story itself, to the characters, to the world-building - it's all done so good, and the voice-acting sails it.
While playing throughout the game, you'll learn of your crew through their Crew Tales (little moments on the ship between missions) and their exclusive missions where you learn of their past, with some of the moments being bittersweet and even humerus.
[hr][/hr]
[u] Problems [/u]
Like Ghost Rot on a Ghost Ship, Sweet Baby had their hand in the ratlines of Shadow Gambit, starting with the lead protagonist being a Jamaican/Black woman, which wouldn't be a problem, but this game was created during the height of Wokism, so... the ship is also voiced by a woman, the figurehead is voiced by a woman, the antagonist is... you guessed it, and then the 'deity' of the cult - yup... though surprisingly, the crew is equally proportionate when it comes to their sex, UNLESS you unlock Virgilio, adding another to the roster of men, but godspeed on that one... lol.
The problems don't stop there though: there's 'Suleidy', who's pretty cool when it comes to skills and story, but her voice kills immersion as it sounds like a black woman that grew up in Chicago or something, which contrasts heavily against the game's world; comparing her to the other voice actors like Afia, it's a night-and-day difference.
Then of course, we get some rich daddy issues by one of the characters but luckily it was done in a decent way, so I believe Mimimi had their hand in that one, though as for the other: a possible butch lesbian, who's entire exclusive missions are based around delivering a letter to her presumed female lover, while not a single one of the other crew bring up their past intimate relationships - talk about shoehorning; I have a feeling that's all Sweet Baby's 'baby'.
As for gameplay problems, dead enemies are still highlighted red, which makes sense so they aren't lost against the isometric camera angles or distance, allowing the player to easily discern them so they can be hid, but they need to be a different color; moving around the map with the camera and seeing the red makes it look as if you missed an enemy, but fortunately, the player can zoom out to the world map to see if all enemies are dead in the area; changing the color of the highlight based on how they died, such as by "accidents", could fix the issue.
The Antagonist is great and all but they seem to never go away, creating a repetition of doing the same thing over-and-over - sometimes literally; that got old and I was just wanting it to end, which isn't a bad thing per-se since it created a great villain, but yeah, it was drawn out in my opinion, especially on that last mission.
[hr][/hr]
[u] Bugs [/u]
Toya's 'Shadow Swap' re-attacks enemies that are knocked out if they are lying in the area-of-attack.
Teresa's bolt's icon seeming to stay after being picked up - happened several times.
Shadow Mode ghosting from canceling moves.
The last mission's second-to-last area: it seems like moving bodies into buildings with Shadow Mode doesn't load two moves, so I had to go into Shadow Mode, pick up the body, then Shadow Mode again to place it into the building.
The last mission's last area: I changed my crew order and it removed one of my crew from the eight, where it apparently combined them with another, so I couldn't select them by clicking their windows or key-binding, but luckily I could multi-select outside Shadow Mode; it apparently bled into my prior saves as well, because reloading didn't fix it - a 15 minute reload.
In the settings, the key-bind for Crew members goes '1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6, 7, etc'
When Pinkus possesses someone, he's highlighted red which makes him look like the enemy, ironically enough.
[hr][/hr]
[u] Nitpicks [/u]
Can't multi-select while in Shadow Mode.
Saving and loading hitches before resuming the game, and if you reload a save prior to the recent one, it hitches even longer, which makes it irritating after multiple times of doing it back-to-back.
Pinkus 'Peruse Mind' ability is OP, at least in the respect that there is no timer, and the only weakness is range, which can be circumvented by just taking over another - maybe the indefinability could be attached to the upgrade; secondly, I think higher tiered guards should be suspicious of possessed lower tiered if acting in certain ways, i.e. rubbing shoulders with a Prognosticar.
Can't load up more than one skill in Shadow Mode (other than moving bodies), meaning you have to use the one ability, then quickly go back into Shadow Mode to lock in the next - it's especially a problem when it's tight timing.
Shadow Mode pathing makes the shortest path to the 'Shadow' as priority, instead of taking the path the player made the 'Shadow' walk; this ends up becoming a problem when you are trying to make intricate moves, which fails and causes the player to move incrementally with 'play/pause' instead, though it's obviously not coded to be that way, but it'd be nice if it was.
When pressing backspace during Shadow Mode to cancel all skills/moves, also pulls you out of Shadow Mode.
When on an island, opening Logbook should already have the island selected, instead of having to select it myself.
Challenges requiring players to not climb ladders, ivies, or swim, go through doors, etc, should have an option to check that before playing the level, which would make it not possible to do those things during the mission; that, or at least tell the player that they screwed up, instead of letting them find out 30 minutes later after beating the mission - I've noticed some challenges do show failure.
There needs to be a restart option that uses the same landing spot and crew, instead of taking you back to the missions intro, landing spot, and picking the crew again.
After beating a mission, there should be an option to replay it, instead of going back to the Marley and having to go through all them menus again.
When an object requires interaction, there shouldn't be the initial interaction then a sub-interaction if there's only one option; especially boggling choice by the devs when the interactions are within guard view-cones, where timing is of the essence.
Players should be able to see statistics while currently on mission.
[hr][/hr]
[u] Tips [/u]
Teresa's 'Ashen Judgement' can be used to extend the time of friendlies kills.
Suleidy has a fast assassination, so prioritize her for tight timing kills within guard view-cones.
Quentin's 'Treasure Rod' can yank keys from pockets.
Logbook challenges don't have to be completed on the same save: you can do the challenge, then reload and keep the progress - also seemingly retroactive.
You can wait on ladders by clicking on it while climbing.
'Treasure Hunt' missions at night for cleaning up badges.
Shiver. Me. Timbers!
