Real-time tactics/strategy is probably my least favourite game genre - i think because my brain works at a more turn-based speed (at least for strategy). I do like stealth games though, and mixing that in smoothed out the RTS to help it go down, as well as let me appreciate the genre a bit more

You play as (up to) five different characters, depending on the mission, each with their own tools for stealthy action. Characters (and their combinations) are introduced at a good pace, giving you time to toy around with them and the way they interact. The tools themselves are a nice mix of unique and overlapping abilities, which means you can lean on your favourite for most tasks, but will have to bring in the specialist every now and then

The view is top down isometric-ish (full rotation), so levels appear as a diorama, with an almost puzzle-box feel. They're intricately detailed, with various tasks to achieve, and multiple possible routes to success. The first few minutes of each mission was spent examining the area, planning a general route of attack, which often had to be adjusted and re-planned once i started executing it. I enjoyed this brain exercise, but found i couldn't maintain it for very long. A single mission was usually a good size before i felt the cooling fans start to struggle - a good snack break solves a lot though

Narratively, it's mostly what i'd expected: classic war-time espionage, following a team of dubious-but-loyal individuals, but this time in feudal Japan. A lot of time is spent with this team, which ends up being its strongest hook (like any good heist movie), but that left the overarching narrative feeling a bit straightforward. Having the team be the centre is to its advantage though, as that ties back to the characters (mechanically speaking) being the centre of the gameplay

I played this on Steam Deck, with the controller, and it was surprisingly intuitive and responsive. You control each character manually with the left-stick, which is a slight disadvantage because you can't queue up quick commands with the mouse, but you do have a "shadow mode" which lets you set up simultaneous actions. Perhaps this fact, combined with the slower pace of stealth, made the real-time skew more towards my preferred turn-based speed

This is the first game i've played from Mimimi (RIP in peace), but i've wishlisted Desperados 3 and Shadow Gambit, and i'm very interested to see how they evolve this formula going forward