Desperados III’s mechanical perfection cannot save it from becoming tedious. In a vacuum, it is extremely satisfying to align the characters, all with unique abilities, to pull off a crazy chain of stealth kills. And by midway through the game, you can pull off some truly ridiculous feats. The game also seems to do a good job of adding new variables to each level, making each play out in a somewhat novel way. Add in the several bonus objectives for replayability and a neat map after each level showing exactly what you did, and Desperados III offers an appealing package.

It is, admittedly, more of a game to sip rather than chug though. Each level takes a good while to play out with tons of trial and error along the way. Beating one is satisfying, but the thought is starting another is somewhat unappealing. Add to this the brutal difficulty (including enemy placement that is punishing rather than conducive to cool moments) and a wholly uninteresting story/characters, and it can be temping to set it down for good.

Which is what I ultimately did, despite the fun I had along the way. I made it around half way through the 2nd act when I fell off and it left Game Pass. However, if you are into tactics games and can take it at a more leisurely pace, Desperados could be an enjoyable enough experience.

Well made levels allow each character to make good use of their skills. Excellent ability synergy. Even on the last level I was finding new ways to use characters together. An item like Doc's bag drawing the attention of enemies seems limited compared to other abilities until you combine it with Kate's lure or Cooper's coin, etc. Allows for more aggressive play but not to the extent you can just shoot everyone by moving your characters together and luring all the enemies to you like in the first game. Guns now have limited ammo and a cooldown but make much less noise. Challenge levels that change existing map's goals and characters, the game has five now and more are supposed to be added over time through updates. Three DLC missions for people that bought early or the season pass are still be to released.

Poor pathfinding at times. They would take the long way to their objective, won't jump down paths, instead of just walking right to the nearby spot might climb a wall for no reason than take a ladder to it, or get confused when obstacles are partially blocking a path they can still fit through.

Skill Combinations Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pat3dvjq_oA

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/1280394290242281472

one of the most rewarding games i've ever ever played.

i first took note of this when i saw it on kirk hamilton's GOTY list. then i peeped it at an EB games for $10 (with an added 2 for 1 deal, which i took advantage of by obtaining a copy of Borderlands 3 for fun). i thought, well i have no burning desire to play this any time soon, but for that price i had to buy it. went for a nice bike ride on a sunny day off work to pick it up. it was a good day. played it for a moment, liked it. put it down for a month with the intention of returning eventually. finally made the jump and spent two work weeks and a weekend coming home, then sitting alone in my room, binging Seinfeld re-runs and working on a level (or two) of this a night (taking up about 1 hour of game time and 4 hours of my real time to complete).

i am new to tactics/strategy games. outside of Hades, i am sort of new to isometric game. this accomplishes s much visually though, in outdoor settings, that it may have completely changed my entire outlook on gaming. i spent the first real night of playing this thinking "all i want to do now is play disco elysium and divinity original sin 2" knowing they're utterly different games but finally having a come to jesus moment of my own thinking how this absurd stealth take on the western genre is slowly opening up my mind to broader things.

i'll probably cherish my time with this game until i die or just forget about games. my experience with this game reminds me of the night i stayed up until 4 am watching Drive and staring out my living room window listening to nightcall afterwards. like Drive, Desperados 3 is mostly a shallow revenge story. but i think it captures something inside of me through its style. being a diorama game with an isometric camera means every scene is also pretty reminiscent of the shot of the Los Angeles skyline from Drive's opening credits. there's something about the depth of the frame from angle that just sparks something inside of me. it's hard to explain. but i think there's now a clear pre and post desperados 3 line separating my gaming life in to more pieces.

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun had prerelease marketing that consisted almost entirely of “Did you like Desperados and Commandos? Then play this!”. It’s a pretty bold strategy when both of those series had been dead for a decade and weren’t the kind of mainstream hits that most people would recognize. Even so, the move paid off, and Shadow Tactics was praised as a great iteration on the isometric stealth gameplay those series were known for. Then, the Shadow Tactics team actually got to use the Desperados IP for their next game, and iterated upon their iteration of iterative franchises. Suffice to say, Desperados 3 doesn’t shake up the formula at all, it’s just another layer of refinement on a stealth system that works. Stealth where you can see every guard and every view cone is so fundamentally solid that all the game really needed was a polished interface, fun abilities, and interesting scenarios to use them in, and all three goals were met. At first, the characters seemed too similar to the ones from Shadow Tactics, but enough changes and powerful new abilities were included to make it fresh. The final character in particular allows for so much creativity that the game becomes something new entirely, and I played for hours just testing out all the possibilities. The variety in missions actually gives you a reason to take your time experimenting in this way, and it’s not just sneaking around plain bandit camps. However, one of my few criticisms of Desperados 3 is that you may feel like you’re always surrounded by bandits anyway, since you’re repetitiously sneaking up behind guys, killing them, and dragging them into bushes instead of slipping by without a trace. The variety in the other aspects is enough to keep things fresh, but I would certainly like to see some thought put into the ghost playstyle when the next game adds another layer of polish. It still might not be at the point where I would suggest this to people who aren’t stealth fans, but it comes extremely close. If you are a fan, it’s an unqualified recommendation.