Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew Interview – Setting, Characters, Abilities, and More

Having delivered games like Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and Desperados 3, Mimimi Games has firmly established itself as an excellent developer of real time stealth tactics games, and with its next outing, the studio is looking to outdo itself again. With an alternate history setting and a story revolving around pirates, the upcoming Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is looking like yet another solid adventure by the developer, and from the way its improving upon Mimimi Games’ gameplay formula to the many mechanical improvements it seems to be making, there’s plenty about the game that has caught the eye of many. Recently, hoping to learn more about the game and what will make it tick, we reached out with a few questions to its developers. Below, you can read our interview with head of design Moritz Wagner.

"This time we decided to make a lot more changes than we did from Shadow Tactics to Desperados. We completely changed the overarching structure of the game. And we added magic into the mix, allowing for cool abilities for crew members and enemies."

Mimimi Games has delivered some excellent real time tactics titles with the likes of Shadow Tactics and Desperados. Was there ever a discussion about whether to return to those properties, or was making a new IP always the plan?

Of course things like this are always looked into and discussed. For Shadow Tactics we released the stand-alone add-on Aiko’s Choice as our last project, since it made sense to have a smaller project in-between the larger ones and we love Shadow Tactics. So while something like this is never out of the question, the goal for the next big game at that time was always to do our own IP and a new setting.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew’s alternate history pirate setting is a very interesting choice. What kind of an impact will this have on the game’s story and the tone of its narrative?

The setting of course has a big impact on the story and characters. I think the tone of our games usually has a good combination of serious topics and story and fun moments and a tone that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Personally while of course the “serious” moments are very important, I feel that characters that are fun to be around and have great banter is what really makes people fall in love with the narrative of our games. I think this fits perfectly with pirates and what they stand for and so the setting is something that we can really deliver on by playing to our strengths as a team.

How familiar with Shadow Gambit’s gameplay mechanics be to those who’ve played Mimimi Games’ previous real time tactics titles? How are you striking the balance between building on your past efforts and delivering something fresh and new?

This is always a tough thing to do as a developer. People say they want everything to be new, but at the same time they don’t want anything to change. So it’s hard to strike a balance and identify: What parts of the games are the ones that shouldn’t be touched at all? Which ones can be updated? Which ones can be changed completely? And any time you make decisions here as a creative you only know if it works out for the fans, after the game comes out. This time we decided to make a lot more changes than we did from Shadow Tactics to Desperados. We completely changed the overarching structure of the game. And we added magic into the mix, allowing for cool abilities for crew members and enemies. So I think at its core the game will feel familiar to people who played our own games, but there are many new decisions to be made that hopefully make it feel fresh, without losing its initial hook.

The Red Marley looks like it’ll be a hub location that players will be coming back to repeatedly throughout the game. What can you tell us about it and how it will change during the course of a playthrough?

The Red Marley is not only a ship and hub, it also is one of the main characters in the game. It changes when you unlock new crew-members and they put their belongings on the Marley etc. But most importantly it will change as a character, develop and drive the story. Aside from that there will be a small storyline for every crew-member on the ship that players can engage with to learn more about them. So there also is a lot of side-content to be explored on it.

"Every character in the game is very unique. They have completely unique and different personalities and come from different parts of the world. From Toya, a Japanese Ninja who is also the cook on the Marley to Pinkus von Presswald, the Prussian quartermaster there is an extremely cool variety of personalities and archetypes among them."

Throwing magical abilities into the mix in a real time tactics game is something that has caught the eye of many. How much will these unique abilities impact both combat and stealth?

A lot. They really allow us to do awesome stuff we couldn’t do before. Characters can do really powerful things, like teleporting around, making enemy bodies disappear or even throw their own head as a distraction. The coolest thing here is the combination of these abilities, though. While each character is strong and interesting on their own, once you realize how you can combine all these abilities, there is a huge depth to be discovered and a lot of fun to be had.

Can you tell us about Shadow Gambit’s cast of characters and how much they will differ from each other in terms of both gameplay and narrative?

Every character in the game is very unique. They have completely unique and different personalities and come from different parts of the world. From Toya, a Japanese Ninja who is also the cook on the Marley to Pinkus von Presswald, the Prussian quartermaster there is an extremely cool variety of personalities and archetypes among them. From a gameplay perspective they all have completely individual specialties they excel in. They usually open a completely new angle of attack and stealth, when being on a mission. So depending on who you choose, the game feels very different and you might have a different experience. For example when taking Toya you have one of the strongest distractions in the game, with his Whistle ability. He is also extremely fast at killing with his powerful other abilities. On the other hand if you take Pinkus, you can overtake enemies completely and move around undetected while doing so. So how you approach the enemy might feel very different depending on who you bring with you.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?

It’s hard to say since in our type of game it very often depends a lot on the experience players have with the genre. Also how much you engage with the story, optional content etc. I would say that for an experienced player who plays at a normal speed the playtime can be estimated at around 25-30 hours at least. But there is a lot of stuff to do after you played through the game once in the form of badges and other stuff. So it can scale well beyond that if players want to invest more time.