Desperados III Xbox review: My unexpected game of the year so far
Source: Windows Central
Desperados is a storied IP. The franchise passed to THQ Nordic a little while ago, having not received a new title since 2007. Mimimi Games of Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun fame jumped on board to bring the franchise back to life, and they have done so in a big, big, big way.
Desperados III is the game I never knew I needed. A perfect blend of satisfying Wild West tropes, a surprisingly compelling story, and an endlessly-gratifying tactical layer that will make you feel like the architect of a bandit-murdering Rube Goldberg machine. With guns.
This is Desperados III, a real-time tactics game in the Old West.
Cowboy tactics
Desperados III
Bottom line: Final words.
Pros:
- Supreme and complex tactical fun
- Surprisingly compelling story
- Great, detailed environments
Cons:
- Controls aren’t the most intuitive on console
- Could be friendlier to newcomers
Visuals, setting, and story
Source: Windows Central
Category | Desperados III |
---|---|
Title | Desperados III |
Developer | Mimimi Games |
Publisher | THQ Nordic |
Genre | Real-Time Tactics |
Players | Single |
Xbox GamePass | No |
Launch Price | $60 |
Several Wild West biomes are represented in the game, from snowy mining towns high up in the mountains, to scorched deserts, and mosquito-laden swamps. Each environment presents different challenges and opportunities for tactical play, which we’ll go over in the next segment. The swampy areas in Chapter Two are particularly impressive, with tons of vegetation, realistic-looking mud, and great lighting.
Source: Windows Central
Sure, if you zoom right in, you might see some inconsistent texture resolution in certain assets. Still, the game is designed to be played from a broader, isometric perspective, zoomed out for maximum tactical awareness. It’s from this bird’s-eye-view that the game really shines, like a hand-crafted tapestry of Wild West goodness. There’s no copy and paste here.
The game examines the various’ playable character’s backstories as you progress through the incredibly beefy levels, with some solid voice acting, and more often than not, truly hilarious banter. Your party often bickers among themselves in levels, competing for the most kills, or mocking each other’s assassination methods. The attention to the character development and delivery, the environmental details, and depth of the simulation is a testament to the love Mimimi Games has poured into this title.
Gameplay
Source: Windows Central
On Normal difficulty (which is more than hard enough if you’re a beginner!), levels can take anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour depending on how careful and methodical you are. Each map is a separate mission across the different story chapters, and they’re truly huge playgrounds of traps, hazards, guard patrols, and unique assassination opportunities.
Source: Windows Central
Using the game’s “Showdown” mode, you can freeze time and set up actions for your squad, which you can then activate using different keybinds, or all at once. In the video below, I had two of my squad members hidden in bushes, with Kate, my disguised assassin, ready to hit the detonator on a TNT stack, blowing up three enemies at the wall. Doing so would naturally alert the other three guards, who I then set up to get shot by my cowboys-in-waiting.
It’s like a glorious Wild West jigsaw puzzle.
The game has a free-roaming camera that can be controlled using the right trigger in tandem with the stick, on console. It feels odd to begin with, but it makes more sense as you learn the importance of figuring out angles of attack, and getting a feel for the layout of any particular area.
You can watch enemy view cones to help you plan attacks, and avoid their line of sight. It’s also useful for figuring out where you can set lures, like McCoy’s doctor’s bag, which attracts bandits who think there might be cash inside. Luring enemies out of line of sight of their allies for a quick kill is key to progressing through a level, but the game throws several curveballs at you throughout the story.
Source: Windows Central
You’d think this type of game might get repetitive after a while, but the character delivery, banter comments throughout levels, and the seemingly limitless combination of different strategies and threats keep things fresh throughout the game. Hardcore completionists can even indulge in some truly insane challenges, earning badges for each stage on subsequent playthroughs. I suspect speedruns of this game will be truly exciting to watch.
Beyond the simple guard-murderin’ gameplay, there are several setpiece events throughout the game that come with unique weapons or opportunities to sew destruction. Some of the earlier levels finale with Gatling guns, blowing up a massive bridge across a waterfall, or dropping hazards onto enemy heads. There are a bunch of obscure interactions, too, such as throwing enemy corpses to knock other enemies out. I wonder what other interactions I am yet to discover.
Who should buy Desperados III?
Source: Windows Central
Desperados III is an epic introduction to the genre.
Desperados III certainly will not appeal to everyone. Despite having a solid story with great characters, and lovingly-crafted levels, the tactics genre simply doesn’t have the broadest appeal.
If you’ve ever enjoyed stealth games like Hitman, or turn-based tactics games like Gears Tactics or XCOM, Desperados III feels like a happy medium between real-time and isometric-style tactics, where you’re controlling units in a complex sim.
Mimimi Games achieves maximum satisfaction with Desperados III’s delivery, and as someone who had never played a real-time tactics game before, Desperados III is an epic introduction to the genre.
Sure, I think some of the controls could be a bit better on console. Learning how to use the Showdown Mode properly took several bouts of trial and error. The tutorial segments could be a bit friendlier to newcomers in general. I struggled quite a bit with it initially, but eventually it just “clicked,” and I’m so glad it did, because I discovered something endlessly rewarding as a result. And because of that, Desperados III has become my unexpected game of the year so far.
Hardcore tactics
Desperados III
Wild west strategy .
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