Do you like pirates, stealth games, and a good challenge? Then I recommend you set sail with the undead crew of the Red Marley! Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew takes place during an alternate version of the golden age of piracy and sets you on an intriguing treasure hunt through an island chain known as the Lost Carribean. The game is on PC, Xbox, and Playstation 4 & 5, and is priced at $40 on all of these.
Shadow Gambits strongest selling point is its unique crew of 8 undead pirates and they’re ghost ship, The Red Marley. The Red Marley is by far the most important aspect of the game due to the ability to save a point in time to return to if a plan goes awry. The first character you meet is the navigator, Afia Manicato, who has a sword impaled in her chest, and when its pulled out she is able to traverse the area between time and space to instantly travel small distances, and freeze enemies in time for a few moments. After the tutorial you will have the option to revive one of two people, the ship cook Toya of Iga, or the ship doctor Suleidy.
Long story short, The Red Marley lost its captain to Ignacia, an inquisitor of the Order of the Holy Maiden, but the ship itself is saved by the newcomer Afia. The rest of the crew have been defeated, though only Suleidy and Toya were still on the ship when Afia freed her. Toya is a skeleton-ninja-chef-pirate who can place a talisman to teleport away from a risky situation, or place it on an enemy to take them out without being caught. He also has a whistle that will draw enemies’ attention to the origin of the sound luring them away from their posts. Suleidy is a dryad who can throw out bushes to form cover in areas that would otherwise be completely visible to enemies, she can also throw a potion at enemies to make them walk in a straight line away from her.
After choosing one of the two to revive, you are sent out to rescue the rest of the crew from being destroyed, and afterwards you get to revive one more crew member. Each has their own positives and negatives, and everyone will prefer different characters depending on their playstyle. My favorite choice for who to revive at this point is the skeletal shipwright John Mercury who is joined by his fish companion Sir Reginald. John wields an anchor that lets him open a portal into a realm called the “below”, which allows him to pass through walls, hide from guards, and hide guards that you have taken out. He can also use Sir Reginald to distract enemies, drawing their line of sight away from their normal watch for a few seconds. The ship’s quartermaster is a poltergeist by the name of Pinkus Von Presswald, he has the power to possess lower level enemies, allowing him to walk around enemy compounds unnoticed. The ship’s sharpshooter is Teresa La Ciega, a former member of the inquisition who, even though she is blind, is an expert markswoman who can always hit her target no matter the distance. The ship’s cannoness is Gaelle Le Bris, who uses a cannon to launch enemies at their friends to knock them out, or shooting her own allies to get them to areas they would otherwise not be able to reach. Finally the ship’s treasure hunter is a eccentric skeleton by the name of Quentin Aalbers, who uses a variety of cursed items, such as a magical fishing rod that he can use to pull allies away from danger, pull dead or unconscious enemies away from their allies sight, or activate environmental items such as cannons, without having to be caught. Quentin can also throw his own gold skull into an enemy’s sightline to lure them towards a more discreet location to take them out.
The core gameplay of Shadow Gambit revolves around sneaking through levels with three of the crew, making use of their unique abilities to make it through large amounts of inquisition members without being noticed. Shadow Gambit’s levels are better thought of as intricate puzzles with multiple solutions, as there are always numerous ways to enter and leave a mission. Shadow gambit also gives you all the information you need to succeed, meaning that when you are caught, it wasn’t because the game tricked you, but because you yourself made a mistake. If you do fail however, Shadow Gambits most unique feature comes into play, which is its memory save feature. With this the Red Marley is able to save a point in time within one of the ship’s memories, and then at your command she will release the memory, resetting you back to your previous save. This way you can keep resetting until you succeed. This feature might make the game sound boringly easy, but honestly it’s the one thing that makes the game fair. No matter how good you think you are at games like this, you will slip up at some point, and unless you want to redo an entire mission, this feature is a lifesaver. The game itself is incredibly difficult, and the shorter levels take around 30 minutes to complete, while longer ones can take up to two and a half hours.
All in all, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a difficult yet enjoyable game that rewards you for being creative and strategic. These types of games are always the kind of games I think help develop people’s problem solving skills, which is an essential skill for everyone to learn. There are quite a lot of moments that frustrated me because I was unable to see a solution to getting through an area, but after taking a break and looking at the problem from a different angle, I found a way through.