Trying to Decide Between Gambit and Desperados

[Smaug]

I really enjoyed Shadow Tactics and I'm looking to grab Gambit or Desperados, anyone care to weigh in on the choice between the two? I will eventually get both, but I'm looking for one or the other to play immediately. I liked ST and it looks to my eye that D3 is *more* similar to ST than Gambit is to ST. However, I'm also into the more colorful look and humorous tone that I'm seeing with Gambit.

Thanks for any input.

[GuffBall]

The core gameplay is pretty much the same so if you enjoyed ST it's very likely you'll enjoy both D3 OR SG. To me the real difference is the setting so which do you prefer the wild west or hammed up supernatural pirates.

Personally I think SG is the better game because of the setting and the characters available to you. One thing to consider is whereas D3 is the same as ST in that it's here's a level, complete it and move onto to the next one. SG uses a number of large islands which has quests you choose. What this does mean it that you can end up doing part of an island you've already done before which pretty much the same layout of enemies.

One of D3 draws though you can pick up a Steam key very cheaply.

[Bertie]

From a purely financial standpoint if you're not sure then I'd get Desperados III on sale - it's 75% off on GOG at the moment.

[Wormerine]

I would say both are decent choice.

Desp3 is more story driven as linear structure allows for tighter progression of the narrative.

SG leans more into systemic sandbox of Mimimi design, with more characters, and more freeform nature.

By now you should be able to get Desp3 on a deep discount, so I would say that should be it's biggest advantage.

Personally I enjoyed both ST and Desp3 more than SG. SG is still great, but missions feel more samey.

[Hollow]

Desperados is the tougher challenge because you don't have abilities to teleport all over the place or other forms of great mobility and the view cones are still long in that title compared to the shorter ones in Shadow Gambit. Imo that view cone change was needed, because a lot of times when I got accidentally spotted it was from outside the screen with the old, long range view cones.

As Shadow Gambit is the last title it got some improvements the others don't have, like drawing the path your characters are going to take on the ground while in the previous titles you could be surprised by the paths that pathfinding chose.

And as a reminder: Aiko's Choice exists for Shadow Tactics as well.

Edit:
Furthermore, unless you're tired of a WW2 scenario, Commandos 2 is also a great title, but plays a lot different in certain aspects, like having structure interiors, vehicles to drive an inventory, items to loot that could prove useful and more variety in character abilities, also thanks to the inventory that allows to give someone else an item to use, provided said character is not restricted from doing so. Just don't get the HQ version, which is a modernized remake that was gutted of features that the original game had, censored and still has more technical problems. Absolute garbage.

[Smaug]

Thanks for the input everyone! I think I'm going to grab Desperados now and Gambit after

[Smaug]

Originally posted by Hollow:

Commandos 2 is also a great title

Oh man, I played Commandos 2 back in the day! I think it's what brought me back to the genre and how I found ST