This stealth tactics hit with 96% positive reviews is under $4 on Steam

For many fans, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is the modern successor to the Commandos series. Instead of hand grenades and machine guns, however, the game takes players to Japan in 1615, where muskets and katanas are the weapons of choice. Players control a team of five specialists with distinct abilities, including a ninja, a samurai, a geisha, a sniper and a trap setter. Together, they infiltrate castles, temples and military camps, silently eliminate guards and uncover a conspiracy against the Shogun. Developed by German studio Mimimi Games, the title is 90% off on Steam until July 30, dropping from $39.99 to $3.99. According to SteamDB, this matches the game's previous all-time low, which was last seen during the Steam Summer Sale.

Players looking to brute-force their way through missions won't get very far. Blades of the Shogun rewards careful planning above all else. You'll study patrol routes, use shadows, disguises and distractions, and combine the unique abilities of your specialists. The game's Shadow Mode allows multiple actions to be queued up and executed simultaneously, making it possible to infiltrate even heavily guarded areas. Thanks to its large handcrafted missions and numerous alternative solutions, nearly every objective can be completed in several different ways.

German gaming magazine GameStar reviewed Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun at launch in late 2016, awarding it a strong 86 out of 100. The publication praised its outstanding level design, the freedom it gives players and its atmospheric depiction of feudal Japan. The diverse cast of characters also received high marks, with abilities that can be creatively combined to support different playstyles depending on the team's composition. On the downside, the reviewers criticized the rather functional story, stiff cutscenes and an occasionally frustrating trial-and-error gameplay loop.

On Metacritic, the game holds a Metascore of 85 and a User Score of 8.4. Even more impressive is its reception on Steam, where 96% of more than 38,000 user reviews are positive, making Blades of the Shogun one of the highest-rated games in its genre on the platform. Handheld players are well catered for too: on Steam Deck, the game is Steam Deck Verified, ensuring a smooth experience.

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