Desperados 3 review - sneaking around the Wild West

Desperados III

Desperados III is a story-driven, hardcore tactical stealth game, set in a ruthless Wild West scenario. Play smart if you want to succeed. A good plan can make the difference between survival and finding yourself at the business end of a pistol.

It's technically a prequel to the original Desperados, but Desperados III is also the spiritual successor to Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. If you played Mimimi Productions' previous stealth-action game, then you are far more prepared for this Spaghetti Western romp than you would be by knowing about the future adventures of protagonist John Cooper.

You'd also probably have your expectations set pretty high, considering Shadow Tactics was a landmark entry into a genre that's become more and more niche through the passing of time. But rest assured: Desperados III is a worthy successor to Mimimi's classic.

Desperados III is a stealth strategy or tactics game, but it also resembles more a crossword or sudoku puzzle to me. When your party is tucked in a bush, watching guards trot in predictable yet tightly regimented patrols, assessing the battlefield feels like scanning rows or columns for one stray number to betray the rest of the cipher. These moments can linger as you take account of every guard's view-cone, possible noise trigger, or environmental objects that could give a leg-up.

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