Shadow Tactics: Blades Of The Shogun - Aiko's Choice - What We Know So Far

Strategy games are becoming more and more popular, with titles like "Project Triangle Strategy" being highly anticipated. "Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun" is a critically acclaimed strategy game that was released back in 2016 for PC and 2017 for PS4 and Xbox One. The game features a plethora of characters that go through some tough development as they learn to work together, which the Steam page says "seems impossible at first."

Now, the game is coming out with a standalone expansion called "Aiko's Choice," which will follow Aiko through a few new missions that are set in the middle of the main game. In fact, while the new game will be a standalone, meaning you don't need the original, it might be helpful to play that one first. The expansion's description recommends "to play at least the first few missions of the main game" in order to learn the characters better and understand how the game works.

For fans of "Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun," this new standalone will be great for further developing Aiko's character — it's also a way for new players to be pulled into the game's universe.

While there's no official date listed for "Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – Aiko's Choice," the Steam page for the game shows late 2021. The standalone title was announced in April 2021, which means a couple of things.

First, the game must be pretty close to done, if it's not already. Considering that "Aiko's Choice" looks the same and uses the same systems that the original game does, it definitely wouldn't have taken as long to develop as a brand-new game would. In fact, besides dialogue and some story planning, the development of the game was probably very simple.

Additionally, since we don't have a direct date just yet, it might come out very quickly once it's finished. There release window from the time of the announcement to the end of 2021 is only eight months, so once fans do get a date, it should be right around the corner!

While there is a trailer for "Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – Aiko's Choice," it doesn't really show much. In fact, it's less than a minute long. The trailer features a few lines of dialogue while slowly showing the title of the game, but that's all it shows.

The main dialogue is one character asking Aiko how she "act[s] like nothing happened." Aiko explains that she was forced to mask her emotions when she was young and then moves on. While it doesn't give fans too much information, it makes it understood that the game will center around Aiko, as the title and game description on Steam further prove. 

One interesting thing to note is that the trailer has English voice lines, whereas the trailer for the original game had primarily Japanese voice lines. "Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun" had English voice acting, but it seems like Daedalic Entertainment is highlighting it more with "Aiko's Choice."

"Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun – Aiko's Choice" is a tactical stealth game, so prepare to be sneaky. The gameplay is the same as the original game, which is why it's recommended to at least play a bit of the first title just to learn the mechanics. The original title's gameplay trailer shows off how the player can move around, avoiding light sources while also taking down targets in various ways.

Considering that the new game is about Aiko, it's safe to assume that her style of play will be font and center. Aiko is "a master of camouflage and distracts enemies disguised as a Geisha," which is shown off in the gameplay trailer for the original game. She works more up close and personal compared to the rest of the assassins on the team.

The gameplay is also top-down, meaning you've got a bird's-eye view of the battlefield. It's a pretty unique way to play a stealth game.