Desperados III | |
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Developer(s) | Mimimi Games |
Publisher(s) | THQ Nordic |
Director(s) | Dominik Abé |
Artist(s) | Bianca Dörr |
Writer(s) | Martin Hamberger |
Composer(s) | Filippo Beck Peccoz |
Series | Desperados |
Engine | Unity |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One MacOS Linux |
Release | 16 June 2020 |
Genre(s) | Real-time tactics |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Stronghold 3 is a full version game only available for Windows, that is part of the category PC games with subcategory Strategy. More about Stronghold 3. Since we added this game to our catalog in 2016, it has obtained 52 downloads, and last week it achieved 19 downloads. El Paso, a typical Wild West town in the southwestern United States near the Mexican border. It is the year 1881. For the last few months, the trains belonging to the famous railroad company, Twinnings & Co have been the target of a whole series of hold-ups and ambushes. Desperados III is a story-driven, hardcore tactical stealth game, set in a ruthless Wild West scenario. Play smart if you want to succeed. A good plan can make the difference between survival and finding yourself at the business end of a pistol. More about Desperados: Wanted Dead Or Alive Since we added this game to our catalog in 2011, it has reached 123,501 downloads, and last week it achieved 63 downloads. Desperados: Wanted Dead Or Alive is a light game that requires less storage than many games in the section PC games.
Desperados III is a real-time tacticsvideo game developed by Mimimi Games and published by THQ Nordic. The first installment in the Desperados series since the 2007 spin-off title Helldorado, it was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, MacOS, Linux.[1][2]
Desperados III is a real-time tactics stealth video game. The game features five playable characters, with each having access to unique weapons and abilities. Players can play the game as a stealth game, in which they can assassinate enemies silently or disguise kills as accidental deaths. It is possible for players to complete missions without killing anyone by knocking out and tying up enemies. Bodies of incapacitated enemies need to be hidden or else other enemies patrolling the area will discover them and trigger an alarm that calls for reinforcement.[3] The cones of vision of all enemies are displayed, allowing players to navigate the map without alerting them.[4]
Players can also play the game as an action game and utilize the showdown mode to temporarily stop the game, allowing players to coordinate and chain up the actions of the player's squad. In showdown mode, players can issue commands to each of the character in the party. When the player exits showdown mode, the characters will execute the commands issued by the player simultaneously.[5]
The story is a prequel to Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive, the first game in the series, and explores the origin of the series' protagonist John Cooper.[6] The game is set in the Wild West in the 1870s and features various locations including Colorado, Louisiana and Mexico. In addition to John Cooper, the game also includes Hector Mendoza, Doc McCoy, Isabelle Moreau, and Kate O'Hara as playable characters.
The story follows bounty hunter John Cooper as he pursues Frank, a notorious bandit leader responsible for killing John's father, James Cooper. Along the way, Cooper meets Doctor McCoy, who was hired by the DeVitt Company, a wealthy corporation, to defend the train Cooper was taking on his way to the town of Flagstone. Once in Flagstone, Cooper learns from his friend Hector Mendoza that Frank is at the mansion of the soon-to-be-married local mayor. In the meantime, the mayor's prospective bride, Kate O'Hara, finds out that her betrothed has sold her family's ranch to DeVitt. In the escalating altercation, O'Hara shoots the mayor as John Cooper walks in, seeking Frank. The newly met pair promptly escape the mansion and head for the O'Hara ranch to defend it from the attacking DeVitt company men. The defense is successful, but Kate's uncle Ian perishes in the battle.
The group eventually gets captured on their way to New Orleans, where Frank, who is working for DeVitt, is located. A Voodoo practitioner called Isabelle Moreau rescues them. Together, they set out to find her partner, Marshall Wayne, who disappeared while investigating DeVitt. Frank's gang have imprisoned many people out in the Louisiana wetlands, to be shipped off to work in DeVitt's mines. Once they rescue Wayne, the group sets fire to the old riverboat that functions as a headquarters for Frank's people. This act puts Frank on alert, and he locks down the city. Having sneaked past the roadblocks and guards, Cooper asserts that he wants to face Frank alone, to which Kate and Hector object. At Hector's mention of James Cooper's fate, John snaps and shoots Hector in the arm. Alone, he proceeds onto a docked freight ship, where he and Frank duel. Cooper is outdrawn and wounded.
The entire group gets captured again and sent to DeVitt's mines as slaves. They eventually escape after a week, but McCoy cuts his losses and abandons them. The others undertake Wayne's commission to abduct DeVitt himself from a lavish party at this mansion. They manage to spirit DeVitt out, but at the last moment their captive outwits them and hold them at gunpoint, only to be disabled by the returning McCoy. With the group back together, they hunt down Frank at the Devil's Canyon, where James Cooper and a young John pursued Frank years ago. Frank and John have another stand-off, watched over by Frank's lieutenants. The rest of the group overpowers Frank's posse, while John outdraws and finishes off Frank.
The game was developed by German studio Mimimi Games, the developer of Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, whose gameplay mechanics were similar to this game. THQ Nordic, which acquired the rights to the franchise from Atari in 2013, served as the game's publisher.[7] Since the last game in the series was released more than a decade ago, the team made Desperados III a prequel story so that it can be accessible to new players who are new to the franchise or new to the genre. To achieve this, the team ensured that the game features an adequate tutorial system that teaches the player the gameplay foundation, and implemented gamepad controls for players who use a controller to play.[8][6] The game's showdown mode, which allows players to pause time completely, was created after receiving players' feedback about the limitations of Shadow Tactics's 'shadow mode'. Unlike Shadow Tactics, the game features a more playful tone, with characters bantering with each other more frequently.[9]
The game was officially announced by THQ Nordic in August 2018.[10] Initially set to be released in 2019, the game was released on 16 June 2020 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[11]
Since July 2020, Mimimi and THQ Nordic started supplying free updates for the game, which include additional mission scenarios. The first updates entail a loose frame story, titled The Baron's Challenge, in which the main characters get hired by an enigmatic figure, who is simply known as the Baron, to undertake certain missions for the entertainment of his patrons. Each mission can be unlocked with the successful completion of one or several levels in the main game. While the settings are basically the same as in the main story, each of the 14 new missions includes a different objective, sometimes with the characters having their in-play options restricted. In one example the player is required to eliminate certain enemies using environmental kills only, meaning that their other weapons are locked down for the scenario's duration.[12][13]
Between September and November 2020, Mimimi and THQ Nordic also began publishing a purchasable three-part DLC story expansion, titled 'Money for the Vultures'. The plot is set three months after the events in the main game; Rosie, an NPC previously met in Baton Rouge (Mission 7), hires Cooper's group to hunt for the hidden wealth of Vincent DeVitt.[14][15]
In December 2020, two new updates were provided: The 'Veteran Bounty Hunter Mode', which allows the player to optionally add the other protagonists to a level where any of them were originally not available (this option does not exist for the Baron's Challenges), and the 'Level Editor Light', a cheat which allows (in the PC version only) the complete rearrangement of a mission map's characters and items.[16][17]
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | (PC) 86/100[18] (PS4) 82/100[19] (XONE) 85/100[20] |
Publication | Score |
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GameSpot | 9/10[21] |
GameStar | 88/100[22] |
Hardcore Gamer | 4.5/5[23] |
IGN | 8/10[24] |
PC Gamer (US) | 86/100[26] |
PC Games | 9/10[25] |
Push Square | [27] |
Desperados III received 'generally favorable' reviews, according to review aggregatorMetacritic.[18][19][20]
It was nominated for the category of Best Sim/Strategy game at The Game Awards 2020.[28]