Mimimi Games didn't set out to make a trilogy of stealth strategy games. But when the studio closed its doors in December, after the release of the latest DLC pack and content update for Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crewa trilogy of stealth strategy games is the prevailing legacy it left behind.
“If I had the chance to continue, I think we would have tried to do something different,” Moritz Wagner, Mimimi's creative director, told me during a video call. “Because I think this team is really good, and we might as well have made something else, whatever it is.”
The German studio existed on top of a razor for most of its life. In 2016, with a mobile game and a “university project that became a kid-friendly adventure” on the resume, Mimimi released Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. Billed as a real-time tactics game, Shadow tactics took clear inspiration from Pyro Studios' Commandos series, replacing the latter's World War II setting with that of feudal Japan. Shadow tactics was well received – Polygon's review was favorable – but it brought Mimimi “dangerously close bankruptcy.” Despite the ingenious isometric level design and clever squad-based stealth missions, it was still a niche project inspired by a niche series.
Image: Mimimi Games
However, it was enough to get the attention of THQ Nordic. The publisher had acquired the rights to the Desperados series, the stealth games from Spellbound Entertainment, and gave Mimimi the nod to Desperadoes 3. The series' cachet and the studio's talent combined for yet another great reception (along with more players, judging by Steam Charts), which paves the way for Mimimi to work on a brand new IP: this year's one Shadow Gambita stealth strategy game about undead pirates with supernatural abilities, set in a Caribbean archipelago.
“I think when we did that Shadow tacticsthe goal was to create the old kind of Commandos vibes and of course give it a new setting – one that makes more sense,” Wagner said. “Desperadoes (3) was adding more story and more detail into every aspect of the format. It was really just 'more and better.' But it was the same core idea. Of Shadow Gambit, we wanted to put a big emphasis on changing the structure: character choice, location choice. We wanted to highlight the idea that our games are multi-solutions.”
In contrast to the linear nature of Shadow tactics And Desperadoes 3which guides you through discrete missions with preset characters, Shadow Gambit gives you free rein to travel the archipelago (aboard a sentient ghost ship that gives you the ability to “reload memories” with the F5 key, no less). You can also revive your undead crewmates in any order you like; Aside from a few missions that require the ship's navigator and main character Afia to be present, you can also mix and match your team for different synergies during each outing.
Image: Mimimi Games
Shadow Gambit is by far the biggest leap in Mimimi's design evolution to date. My colleague Alice Newcome-Beill called it a “surprising mix of intelligent mechanics and creative level design.” It earned the number 18 spot on Polygon's top 50 games of 2023. I consider it the studio's magnum opus and one of the best games I've played in years.
Unfortunately, shortly after release, Mimimi announced that it would close before the end of 2023. In a year full of studio closures and layoffs, the German studio is a bit of an outlier because it made the decision itself. “Devoting the past fifteen years of our lives to increasingly ambitious games has taken a heavy personal toll on us and our families,” said one Blog post from August read. “After the release of Shadow Gambit we decided this was the right time to prioritize our well-being and put on the brakes instead of signing up for a new multi-year production cycle.”
For Wagner, the burnout confirmed a nagging suspicion: Stealth games, no matter how well made, don't have a large enough audience to be sustainable. Mimimi then changed the Steam genre label 'real-time tactics' to 'stealth strategy' Desperadoes 3 (in an attempt to better describe Mimimi's type of play as described in another blog post), but the developer couldn't escape the fact that it made brilliant games in a niche genre.
Image: Mimimi Games
“Everyone who has played our games loves them,” Wagner said. “People love it on Metacritic and Steam. But many people don't even do that attempt It – even if there is a free demo. “It's too stealthy, it's too tactical, I see vision cones (in screenshots).” Maybe the old-school stealth games have ruined it for some people: you get discovered, you fail. Sadly, I wish the modern form of open-ended stealth were viable anyway, but I just don't think it is.
It's an absolute shame because… Shadow GambitMimimi's recent and only DLC packs show Mimimi at the height of his craft. Zagan's Ritual gives you a new island to explore, a new set of missions to complete, and, most importantly, the powerful new character. As a former member of the Inquisition – the main enemy faction in Shadow Gambit — Zagan uses the same abilities as some of the opponents I feared the most during my first playthrough. He can take out enemy guards without line of sight at the cost of his own health, and also put enemies into a form of stasis, sacrificing his own movement. It acts as a smart test for the seasoned Shadow Gambit players: I know how to defeat these types of enemies; How can I control it now?
Image: Mimimi Games
Yuki's Wish, on the other hand, is as pure and joyful a victory lap as I can imagine for the former studio. Shadow tactics players will recognize the returning character's name, as well as that of her pet Tanuki, Kuma. The pair can lure enemies into deadly tripwires as they journey to Dragon's Dream, an island based on a Japanese aesthetic from the Edo period. Playing as Yuki (both she and Zagan integrate seamlessly into the base game after a certain point), I'm reminded of the first time I encountered Shadow tacticsfell in love with it, told everyone I knew to play it, then waited restlessly Desperadoes 3 and then, Shadow Gambit – all because I tried something out of my wheelhouse.
“It's like, Ah! I want to get that recognition,” Wagner said. “I want people to see what we do and enjoy it. And it just doesn't happen for a reason completely beyond my control. It's just ingrained in the fact that it's this kind of game, and there's nothing we can do about it.
“We have really scraped the ceiling of our genre. One of the greatest goals with Shadow Gambit was to expand the audience. But we actually worked within two niches. There's a lot of positivity, a lot of hype in a smaller group – the people who played our games – and that's great to see. I am grateful for that. But of course you want more.”
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, in my mind, has become different things. It's a bittersweet farewell to one of my favorite studios of all time. It's as compelling a blend of level, character, and mission design as I've seen since, well… Desperadoes 3. And it's a stark reminder that genre labels do matter – both because of what they promise, but also because of what they may hide.