Whether you are new to Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew or are a veteran, the DLCs have much to offer. By bringing two new characters after you have adjusted to the game’s mechanics, you have plenty of opportunities to use them. Diving into their stories helps you learn more about them, just like the crew tales on your ship. You also get the new members early on, helping you out with the main story.
The new characters provide new avenues of strategy that are fun to investigate. Their combinations with other characters or even solo performances are great to see. Playing their stories also helps you grasp their background while utilising their new abilities. Using these characters does have a high learning curve because their skills and abilities aren’t like anything you know. But the DLC feels like the perfect add-on and it’s hard to find something better to close out the series.
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew Yuki’s Wish & Zagan’s Ritual is available on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S both available for 14.99 USD.
Story – Perfecting A Ritual & Finding Wishes
The new characters you recruit are Yuki and Zagan. Zagan is a brand new character while Yuki is from Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. Zagan’s missions involve him trying to perfect a ritual with the knowledge of the Inquisition. Yuki’s story involves finding an island to find a being that grants riches. Both find their way onto your ship and agree to help you benefit in exchange for your cooperation.
You don’t get these characters right away; you must unlock the DLC by reviving three characters as part of the story. Their stories open up immediately, letting you pursue their stories or leave them alone. Getting the characters early on helps you integrate them into your strategies. But if you want to wait until later to recruit them, that works too.
These new characters have interesting backstories.
The DLC stories are about the same quality as the main game’s story. It expands upon the world and helps you understand your new allies. If you enjoyed sailing across the seas finding Mordechai’s treasure, the DLC stories are a shorter adventure. There are six missions per character which gives you enough time for an adventure.
None of the stories overstay their welcome too much and you can put them on hold if you aren’t interested. Apart from providing extra level-up opportunities to upgrade your crew’s abilities early, there is no real upside in starting immediately.
On one hand, it’s great that you get an early advantage since Yuki and Zagan play well. On the other, it does feel slightly disappointing that there’s no story advantage to the DLC. It does even the playing field and reinforces the point that Yuki and Zagan are just additional characters. Their stories won’t give you any game-breaking advantages or change how the main story ultimately plays out.
Gameplay – Traps & Grabs
While Yuki and Zagan aren’t game-breaking characters, they have abilities that bring significant advantages to your operations. Yuki’s ability to set up traps and lure multiple characters at a time helps overturn numerical disadvantages. Zagan’s ability to choke enemies through walls and recharge through melee grabs can bring down even the toughest enemies. Even if Zagan is facing powerful enemies, he holds his own instead of getting ambushed.
Both DLC characters add enough variety to the existing gameplay to make it exciting. Their skills can make a big difference during the main story, especially if your crew is still starting out. They aren’t overpowered to the point where missions become easy, instead allowing you to perform actions that were previously too risky.
New abilities significantly expand your strategic options.
Yuki is great for more aggressive gameplay similar to John, setting up multiple traps to take down enemies. Zagan is more strategic; taking down enemies behind walls and turning the tables on enemies when caught. They can fit in almost any crew combination and provide advantages on tougher maps.
It’s fun to integrate Yuki & Zagan into your existing strategies or try them out during their storylines. With six missions for each character, there are plenty of opportunities to practice your skills or try new team combinations. The only downside is that Yuki and Zagan don’t confer any additional bonuses and completing their stories doesn’t offer a big reward.
Additional Content – Nice But Not Game-Changing
There’s nothing wrong with the DLC content and it’s a great add-on. But unlocking Yuki and Zagan doesn’t immediately make you better nor does it confer unique advantages. While both characters have unique abilities and stories, it doesn’t add anything to the game that you haven’t seen before. It’s a way to extend your experience and add some variety to Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, nothing more.
Apart from new strategies & maps, there isn’t much new content.
For new players, this isn’t an issue because Yuki and Zagan are great additions to any team. For veterans, you must enjoy the base game and desire more content to get the full value from the DLC. Both characters represent new strategies and their missions are extra content to extend the game length. If that doesn’t appeal to you, then the DLC won’t be much value.
Audio & Visuals – The Same Cursed
The DLC has the same audio and visuals of the base game. There are new characters that get voices but there’s almost no difference. The DLC doesn’t break any new ground because it’s just an extension of the base game. New locations look fantastic but it has similar designs to the rest of the main game. You are still sailing around the seas, traveling to different islands, and fighting enemies in the same world.
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- Try new strategies that would previously be too dangerous.
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- Characters fit in just right in the world of the Lost Caribbean.
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- You can use the new characters shortly after recruiting them.
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- Every conversation sheds insight into the new character.
Both Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew DLCs were reviewed on Steam with codes provided by Mimimi Games.
