One of the best real-time tactics games of the past decade is currently free to keep on the Epic Game Store, but you’ll have to rush to get Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun.
The samurai stealth title is one of this week’s Epic Games Store free games, along with Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, and both are yours to download and keep forever – but only if you grab them before November 24.
Samu-right up your alley
Since its debut in December 2016, Shadow Tactics has been heralded as one of the best strategy and tactics games around for its deft blend of storytelling, combat controls, and world-building.
Rooted in lawless Edo-period Japan, it features some of the best tactics-based gameplay in decades. You lead a squad of uniquely-talented ninjas through densely designed stealth machines, demanding you creep through enemy lines to complete objectives, take out targets, and hide the evidence to avoid detection.
You’ll play through a rotation of five key characters, each with special abilities and narratives to factor in as you progress through the game. Armed with shuriken and a grapple hook, Hyato is a great starting character, excellently mobile and sneaky, whilst unassuming elder Takuro is surprisingly deadly thanks to his sniper rifle that lets you take out targets across the map.
November is a great time for samurai antics, with Sony giving away Soulslike favorite Nioh 2 as part of the PS Plus free games lineup.
Epic Games is set to change the roster on November 17, so you’ll need to use those ninja skills and act swiftly before it vanishes from the free-to-keep section and gets replaced by horror title Evil Dead: The Game.
