My first mistake was rushing in. Shogun showdown is a game about planning and patience. Things can go from worst to death in just a few rounds. If you don’t take a step back and try to see the bigger picture, it can feel like an overly simplistic and unnecessarily punishing experience. My first, short sessions with Shogun showdown Spread over several evenings, it felt like homework and I started to feel more and more comfortable too old for this shit. But I stuck with it and eventually got to grips with the elegant mechanics. When Shogun showdown Finally it clicks into place, it’s excellent.
The game came from Early Access and released last month on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC small indie developer Roboatino and it’s an incredibly clever mashup of the best genres like Kill the tower And Into the breach (I played for 4-5 hours on the Nintendo handheld where it’s fast and lively). Your goal is to defeat the evil Shogun, but to achieve this you must overcome a series of increasingly difficult stages that feature turn-based combat on a tiny, side-scrolling 2D battlefield of less than a dozen squares. Enemies come at you in waves and once you complete each battle you will move on to the next hub on the world map.
The action depends on unique skills, items and cards that you collect throughout the journey. Using basic sword cards, you can deal damage to anything in front of you. With a bow you can hit a target from a long distance. More sophisticated maps include lightning bolts, which only hit the last enemy in line, or forward dashes, which allow you to move behind enemy lines. A small pharmacy with healing potions, magical shields and other consumables gives you additional options for strategy development. After successful battles and at rest stops, you can buy more things or upgrade the things you already have.
But the real thing that makes Shogun showdown The feeling of being so unique and fun is the way it forces you to manage the space and plan ahead by telegraphing what’s coming. The Wanderer starting class (additional classes with different starting cards and benefits unlock the more you play) can move past an opponent every four rounds. When an enemy prepares to attack, you can rush past them and avoid the movement entirely before killing them behind you. Toward the end of a run, a combination of forward leaps, backsteps, and other maneuvers that double as attacks allow you to control the battlefield like a master swordsman, both deadly and untouchable.
Where games like Kill the tower Have you tried making builds that maximize damage output? Into the breach rewards you for elaborate planning, Shogun showdown combines these incentives in a way that feels simple yet varied and challenging. I also like the lack of RNG. Your attacks never miss and you don’t have to worry about drawing the wrong card in the worst case scenario. The result is a satisfying mix of player empowerment and mechanical limitations. There’s nothing like putting together the perfect moves and then watching the dominoes fall and clear the battlefield in a single turn.
I’ve only played through the game once so far and immediately wanted to go back and explore new classes and deck strategies. Beyond that, I can’t speak to long-term replayability when it comes to the roguelike nature of unlocks, hidden secrets, or potential additional challenges. The bones of Shogun showdown however, are great and even easier to recommend thanks to the nifty pixel art animations Rock-infused chiptune soundtrack. And right now there are many more cards that I want to discover and experiment with.
