No, your eyes do not deceive you: Desperados is back.
Desperados 3 takes us back to a simpler time: when tiny people walked around tiny towns
and baddies had giant green triangles bursting out of their eyes.
Even better, this new installment is in the hands of Mimimi, who gave us the outstanding
real-time stealth strategy of Shadow Tactics.
They're swapping ninjas for cowboys and it looks like an excellent fit.
Rock Paper Shotgun got to see a walkthrough of one of the new levels in an alpha build
- the final game is due in 2019 - so I'm going to pick out the ways it's keeping
the Desperados heritage alive, and the ways it is improving on it.
If you're enjoying this video as it goes along, please do think about subscribing - I'm
not going to hold you at gunpoint like an evil bandit if you don't.
Let's saddle up and head for the frontier...
If you're completely new to Desperados, the game is basically about getting cowboys
into places where cowboys aren't welcome.
This means sneaking and quietly stabbing nasty cowboys.
I'll go into that in a second.
The biggest change to the formula in Desperados 3 is the introduction of areas where our heroes
are welcome.
The team are calling these civil zones - these are large social areas where you're free
to explore and drink in the atmosphere without the fear of someone putting a tiny bullet
between your tiny eyes.
The thing it's most like is a Hitman level, in the way that you mingle with non-hostile
NPCs and hear snippets of dialogue that pad out the story or hint at ways that you might
achieve your goals...
"This is outrageous, you can't just tear down my house"
"Company orders, tracks gotta go through here."
The Hitman comparison is helped a tiny bit by the fact that the mission I saw is all
about assassinating a series of villains who are after one of the playable characters.
There's a brothel owner who is exploiting the girls and their customers, a group of
bootleggers who are making trouble at the church - never a good idea in a western - and
an evil foreman forcing his railroad tracks through the town.
Personally I would let him build his railroad, as it would mean fewer houses I'd have to
sneak into, but that's not really the mood of the game.
The areas you can't go are clearly marked by big red lines - but, as in Hitman, guards
will give you a polite warning before firing on you.
As long as you don't attack anyone or carry a body you're safe in the civil zone.
It's already a nice change of pace to walk about and drink in all the tiny details - it's
like being in a model village version of Westworld.
And the games creative director, Dominic Abe, says it offers more tactical depth, as you
can choose which angle to attack enemy compounds from.
He also tells me there's a later level set in a large city, which increases the scale
even beyond what you're currently see - if you like losing yourself in a map for hours
on end, I think you'll be very happy.
If the world feels a bit like a Hitman level, it kinda works like one, too.
You're free to tackle your hit list with knives and guns - or this massive axe if you
really hate the guy - but there are also environmental kills which are straight out of the Agent
47 playbook.
We're told that this local harasser likes to show off by riding his bull, and that his
bull can be manipulated to to ensure the rodeo is short lived.
Elsewhere in the town we hear a conversation about how a local man got killed by a falling
wall.
And wouldn't it be bad if that were to happen again.
I didn't say it was subtle.
For the purposes of this demo we're introduced to Wild Marge, who is safely tucked away in
a brothel.
If only there was a nearby NPC talking at the top of their voice.
"It's driving me crazy, I want to pack up and leave.
"I went through her drawer yesterday.
Do you know she keeps laudanum there?
"You better not get hooked."
"There's a doctor brings a bottle from his stash."
"No, really?!?"
So not only is there a regular delivery of poisonous laudanum, but Marge is also partial
to whisky from the cellar.
I don't need a bald head and a tie to work out where this is going…
Of course, getting the poison into her drinks supply still requires some fancy playing.
The doctor's medicine is hidden away inside the brothel and requires you to scale the
balcony before dealing with two guards at the same time.
Luckily for the demonstarter he knows the precise five second window to do it in.
Then you've got to get into the booze, which is better defended than anything in town.
It is booze after all.
But what I like about this is it offers quite a fun, cinematic approach, maybe one that
will appeal to people who are newer to the genre, and struggle more to formulate perfect
stealth plans.
It gives you a ready made western film plot for you to slot yourself into.
And if you don't want your hand held, you can ignore all that and systemically pick
off every guard one by one.
And even better: if you play on a higher difficulty mode there'll actually be more guards, making
the whole thing a whole lot tougher.
I should also add, not every mission in the game is based on assassinations - Dominic
mentions a level where you have to defend a location and another where you break out
of prison.
You'll still be getting a good mix of classic Western tropes.
If you've played any of the previous games you'll already recognise John Cooper, the
knife-flinging star of the series.
He's still heading up the gang here, but with a slightly tweaked set of moves.
You see, in Desperados, each character has weapons and abilities unique to them, and
his are still built around his trusty throwing knife.
He's really good at lobbing that thing.
I couldn't throw a tennis ball that far, let alone with enough speed to go through
someone's head.
I also really like the knife death animations, which have a touch of hammy acting to them.
And the oscar for most drawn out death goes to hoodlum number 5!
He's also gained a coin toss, which is another trick the game borrows from Hitman and it
works exactly as it did there, drawing guards from patrol routes or opening up new routes
to a nearby bush.
It's sad to lose the musical watch from the earlier games - that would let you set
a time on your distraction for extra tactical nuance - but no stealth hero in 2018 is complete
without a very noisy penny.
He's joined in this demo by a new character, Hector.
His deal is laying down massive bear traps and then whistling to draw helpless guards
into their jaws.
It's a very bloody death.
His whistle works much like the audio distractions in the earlier games, in that you have to
carefully position the sound bubble to only reach the ears you want to lure in.
He's also much stronger than Cooper, which lets him carry two bodies at once - much like
Sanchez in the first game - and he can also enter into melee combat with these new elite
brute units.
These giant men have armour which means Cooper's knife attacks tend to end like this…
So it's better to wade in with Hector's axe instead.
Outside of Hector and Cooper I'm intrigued to see which old faces return - I'd like
to see Doc McCoy with his balloon-lifted gas bombs - but Dominic does hint at one all-new
character who brings what he calls "a big leap in the rules, and will act like a cool
layer of gameplay."
I hope it's a playable tumbleweed.
I'd love to just roll around all day.
A man can dream, right?
Whatever characters are yet to come, you'll never have more than five in play, and Mimimi
are keen to push the idea of mixing their skills in interesting combinations to find
new solutions to problems.
Character skills are meant to complement each other - the obvious example is using Hector's
whistle to lure enemies in front of Cooper's throwing knife.
These synchronised moves were possible in the original Desperados, too, thanks to Quick
Actions that let you 'program' one move in advance into each hero, something Mimimi
used themselves in Shadow Tactics' Shadow Mode.
In Desperados 3 it'll be known as Showdown Mode, and although we aren't shown it in
action, Dominic says it'll be more advanced than their previous system.
It'll be interesting to see if that means we can add multiple moves per character, or
maybe include an element of timing so you can set up more elaborate chains of events.
Dominic does say you shouldn't expect to automate everything - this is a real-time
tactics game, after all, and reacting to events and executing your plans are part of the skill
of playing.
Here's a question: how to you make guns stealthy?
The series has always struggled a bit to work out where noisy weapons fit into sneaking
action - in the past they were a bit of a last resort, and could feel messy and unsatisfying.
I remember hiding at the top of ladders in the first game and shooting people as they
climbed up, but it was either that or go down in a hail of bullets.
But Dominic feels guns have a role to play in Desperados 3's sneaky action - he says
it still counts as stealth if everyone's dead at the end.
Which is a fair point.
But if you are going to start pulling the trigger, do make sure everyone's dead at
the end.
And so each gun has a really distinct feel and performance, to make sure you know exactly
how it'll operate as a tool.
Cooper's pistol has a double shot, letting him tackle two targets.
Hector's Shotgun, on the other hand, has spread, and will kill anyone inside its targeting
area - what the team jokingly refer to as the cone of death.
As you can see here, it has a role to play in stealth in the way it wipes out two guards
that would otherwise need splitting up.
The challenge is managing the sound, but even here the rules are really clean and simple,
with the interface clearly showing the range of the sound beyond the range of the bullets.
You have to be careful where and when to use these big noisy weapons, then, but don't
think they are just here for when the horse manure hits the fan.
All the larger changes I've talked about are supported by a level of polish and expertise
that comes with the passing of time.
It's been nearly 10 years since we last joined John Cooper and friends, that was in
2009's Helldorado - which was sort of a sequel and sort of not very good.
Things have changed since them - for one, Mimimi gave real-time tactics a brilliant
facelift in Shadow Tactics, and much of that learning is applied here.
If you've spent any time guiding their microscopic ninjas towards exposed throats you'll recognise
the basics of the interface, and how smoothly it communicates everything.
As in the older Desperados it's still about sneaking around enemy cones of vision and
placing distractions, but the cones are easier to read - you'll get spotted in the bright
segment, but can safely crouch in the darker zone.
Stand in the darker zone and it fills up, eventually triggering an alarm - how much
time to have to quickly drop to safety is decided by what difficulty you play on.
Then there are little things you take for granted - like having a full 360 degrees of
camera control, meaning you aren't trying to navigate the static art of the original
game.
Okay, you could do it in Desperados 2, but the art is is much more attractive and impressive
to spin and poke at here.
Then there's the amount of dialogue - the characters are constantly joking with each
other and offering commentary on the events they find.
"This place reminds me of the one in deadwood" "There's lots of whorehouses in deadwood"
The original Desperados was a very characterful game - a friendlier version of the military
gruffness of Commandos Behind Enemy Lines.
That talkative side is a lot richer and fuller here.
And even though this particular level is quite traditional western fare - all dusty streets
and saloons - Dominic says they have tried to fold in a more contemporary Western style
too, where there's more greenery and it's more livable.
I like my spaghetti westerns, but it'll be good to have some vegetables to go with
the pasta.
That's my quick tour of Desperados 3, a game that has already shot up my most wanted
list - a bit annoying, as it is still a year away from release.
It's such a good match of studio and series - Shadow Tactics was a love letter to real-time
tactical stealth, and it's great to see all that love poured into a series that needs
a bit of care and attention.
If you have any more questions about what I saw in the demo, ask away in the comments.
And if you liked this preview, why not subscribe to the channel so you don't miss our future
Desperados videos - and we will be doing as many as we can.
If you do subscribe, please activate the notification bell so that our new videos actually get to
you - otherwise it's like entering a quick draw with an empty gun.
No good will come of it.
Thanks for watching Rock Paper Shotgun and hopefully see you soon.
Bye for now.
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