Welcome aboard the Red Marley. Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is a masterpiece in the tactical stealth genre from Mimimi Games. The minds behind Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and Desperados III.
If you’re new to their unique brand of strategy, the game can feel as daunting as the open sea during a storm.
We’ve got your back, though. This guide will provide you with five essential tips to help you find your sea legs. So you can master your cursed crew’s supernatural abilities, and plunder the treasures of the Lost Caribbean.
Our top 5 tips to know before you start Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew
1. Quick-save is your best friend
This isn’t just a tip; it’s the golden rule of the genre.
Shadow Gambit is a game of trial, error, and glorious execution. You will make mistakes, a guard will spot you at the last second, and your perfect plan will crumble.
The developers know this, which is why the quick-save and quick-load functions are front and centre.
A helpful reminder will pop up on screen if you haven’t saved in a while. Heed its call.
- Before Action: About to try a risky manoeuvre? Quick-save.
- After Success: Just successfully eliminated a tricky guard? Quick-save.
Think of it less as “save scumming” and more as using your ghostly powers to glimpse into the future.
It allows you to experiment freely with different character abilities and ridiculous strategies without the frustration of replaying large sections.
2. Think in combos, not just characters
While each member of your cursed crew is a capable individual, their true power is unleashed when they work in tandem. Early on, the game encourages you to think about how one character’s ability can create an opening for another. This is the core of Shadow Gambit’s puzzle-like encounters.
For example:
- Use Doctor Suleidy’s “Cover Seeds” to sprout a magical bush, providing instant cover for another crewmate to perform a takedown.
- Have ship cook Toya teleport behind a guard, and then immediately use Gaëlle’s cannon to fire a distracting “Kanole” elsewhere, turning other guards’ heads so Toya can strike unseen.
Before you act, pause and look at your available skills.
The solution to a complex situation is rarely a single ability, but a synchronised chain of them.
The built-in “Shadow Mode” allows you to queue up one action for each crewmate, letting you execute these intricate plans with perfect timing.
It goes wrong a lot. But when you finally crack that tiny little nut, the satisfaction is unreal.
3. Patience is a pirate’s virtue: Observe everything
Rushing in is the fastest way to alert the entire Inquisition in Shadow Gambit. Before you move a single pirate, take a moment to be a ghost on the wall.
Pan the camera around and observe.
Pay close attention to:
- View Cones: Understand the difference between a guard’s solid green cone (where you’ll be spotted instantly) and the striped area (where you’ll be spotted if you’re not crouched or in cover).
- Patrol Routes: Watch guards’ complete walking paths. They often have moments where they turn their back or pause, creating the perfect window of opportunity.
- Linked Enemies: Some enemies, like the vigilant Acolytes, are tethered to others. If you take one out, the other will be instantly alerted, no matter where they are. You must devise a plan to eliminate them simultaneously.
Spending one minute observing can save you ten minutes of reloading.
4. Death is just a temporary setback
Unlike its predecessors, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew has a wonderfully forgiving revival mechanic.
When one of your crewmates falls in combat, they don’t truly die. Instead, they leave behind a “soul remnant.”
You can send another character to this location to absorb the remnant, and after a short cooldown, your fallen pirate will be back in the action, ready for revenge.
This system encourages bolder, more aggressive plays.
Don’t be afraid to occasionally make a sacrificial move to take out a high-value target. As long as another crew member is safe and can reach their soul remnant, a “death” is merely a tactical retreat.
Use this to your advantage to solve otherwise impossible enemy placements.
5. Choose your crew wisely
Before most missions in Shadow Gambit, you’ll be on the Red Marley and must choose which crew members to deploy.
Your choice can dramatically change how you approach the mission. Don’t just pick your favourites every time; consider the challenge ahead.
When you hover over a mission start point, you’ll often get a glimpse of the island’s layout.
- Lots of Verticality? An island with high cliffs and rooftops is perfect for characters with enhanced mobility, like Afia with her “Blink” teleport or Toya with his ability to place teleport markers.
- Clustered Enemies? When guards are grouped tightly, characters with area-of-effect skills or powerful distractions shine. Gaëlle’s cannon can take out a group, while Suleidy’s “Wander Dust” can misdirect them.
- Long Sightlines? A map with open spaces might call for the long-range takedown of the sharpshooter Teresa.
Building a balanced team with a mix of stealth, distraction, and offensive power will give you the flexibility to tackle any challenge the Inquisition throws at you.
Have fun!
It’s so easy to get lost in the serious strategic elements of Shadow Gambit. I love stealth games and a bit of strategy, so I regularly get drawn into the minutiae of one encounter.
Save, try, reload. Watch the perfect trial-and-error gameplay unfold and enjoy when it all works out.
The satisfaction reminds me so much of Hitman, albeit from a different perspective. Tied-in with supernatural abilities that remind me of Dishonored. Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew really scratches a lot of itches and is a masterpiece of stealth and tactics.
Just enjoy it! We won’t be getting another from the studio, as they unfortunately closed after the launch of this one.
For even more guides and helpful tips like this Shadow Gambit one, click right here.
