Shadow Tactics demo offers Commandos-y stealth
Going Commando
Psst. Psst! Over here, in the shadows. If you've been missing the top-down, squad-based stealth-o-action of games like Desperados and Commandos, have a gander at Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun [official site]. It's similar to that sort of real-time tactical game but set in Edo-period Japan, with classes like a ninja and marksman up to no good. It's due in a few weeks and a demo arrived today with a sneaking sample.
So there you are in feudal Japan, leading an eclectic team of specialists on missions to infiltrate, sabotage, assassinate, and all that. It's pretty obvious how your ninja might go about sneaking or your samurai might violently notsneak and a marksman is always handy, but more subtle approaches open up through characters like an urchin laying traps or a lady dressing as a geisha to distract people. Using their abilities will together will be key. As in the games which inspired it, you'll likely find many different approaches to missions.
You can download the demo through GOG and Steam. It contains two missions. If you need a little more persuasion first, check out this developer walkthrough from June:
Shadow Tactics is coming to Windows, Mac, and Linux on December 6th. It's made by Mimimi Productions and published by Daedalic.
And as I lured you into this shadowy corner of the cybernet, my colleague Pip snuck up behind you and jacked all your Bitcoins. Good cyberday to you.