
It’s often impressively dynamic in how enemies will react in certain situations, too, such as how they’re able to see and follow footprints or see through a disguise if you act suspiciously. This mode can get frustrating, as it feels inconsistent in how many steps ahead it lets you plan for each character, but when it works, it’s powerful and thoroughly satisfying to watch. Some areas require this mode to kill multiple enemies at once, but many other times it’s another powerful option in your arsenal.

One way the game does this is through its Showdown Mode, which pauses time and lets you plan multiple actions at once.
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Assets like environmental kills and ammo boxes feel like they’re there to tell you how to play, but when I could take the time to look over every enemy’s patterns and ultimately pick them off one by one the way I thought best and without recommendations from the game, I felt like a fully in-control mastermind. Though times when you feel arbitrarily stuck are frustrating and somewhat common, the game’s best moments are when it makes you feel clever for organically allowing you to find your way forward using the tools it’s given you without having them feel contextual. It’s built around trying and failing, and it rewards you for finding whatever works, whether you’re able to make it through a level without raising any alarms or have to resort to hiding until they let their guard back down. While the constant saving is a fantastic safety net in times where things go awry, the few seconds it takes every time it saves and loads adds up over the course of hundreds of saves and retries, and the restriction to loading only the past three quicksaves makes for a system that rewards experimentation but punishes you for going too far on a plan that won’t work.īy creating a system that encourages you to attempt anything and everything, it draws a surprising comparison to fast-paced games like Hotline Miami. It’s a handy reminder in the heat of the moment, though its screen placement makes it frustratingly obtrusive. While there are no automatic checkpoints, default settings allow for infinite saves per level and a reminder for when you haven’t saved in more than a minute. One of the first things it tells you is that quicksaving is the name of the game. Having a bunch of different ways to kill enemies doesn’t mean that each one will always work, and Desperados 3 encourages you to try different approaches regardless of how likely they are to actually succeed.

" Desperados 3’s gameplay facilitates the ability to create standout moments within its complex and engaging gameplay, though its inconsistencies hold it back from being truly outstanding."

Every character’s abilities are varied to allow you to use the entire environment, though their differences in strengths force you to prepare for which character is best for a certain task. For example, you can whistle to alert an enemy and have him walk into a bear trap, or you can use Kate’s disguise to distract him. It’s much more advantageous to analyze the environments, scanning for enemy patterns and hiding spots, to let you plan on how to systematically take out a group of goons that vastly outnumbers you, whether it’s distracting them to walk out of another’s line of sight or sniping them from across the map. While it is possible to go in guns blazing, tactics and stealth are truly at the core of the gameplay. Each level allows you to take control of up to five characters, each of whom has a set of unique skills ranging from firearms to mind control, to sneak your way through progressively hostile and complex areas. In Desperados 3, your task in almost every level is one of two things: either kill some people or reach the end of an area, and you can complete these in any way you like. Desperados 3’s gameplay facilitates the ability to create standout moments within its complex and engaging gameplay, though its inconsistencies hold it back from being truly outstanding. Despite inconsistencies in level design and artificial restrictions in its structure, I found myself consistently engaged with creating my own strategies and perfecting my own plans. In practice, Mimimi Games has taken these aspects and formed something altogether unique, creating a game that rewards experimentation, analysis, and careful planning.

Playing through Desperados 3, my first impressions were that it looks at a glance like a real-time tactics version of a spaghetti western, infused with XCOM’s strategy and resource management and Hitman’s freedom of choice.
