Desperados III

Video games set in the Wild West are popular—not despite the clichés associated with them, but because the characters, settings, and stories are so familiar to us. That’s why we immediately feel at home in the world of Desperados III: In a classic isometric view, you guide up to four heroes through lovingly and meticulously designed dioramas, featuring frontier towns, ranches, railroad construction sites, and Mexican adobe huts.

Each of these large sandbox levels consists of overlapping systems, primarily patrol routes and enemies’ fields of view, which we must exploit to successfully—and quietly!—carry out our murderous deeds. The story takes a back seat here, because the real joy comes from figuring things out, but above all from successfully executing the plan. Few things are more satisfying than clearing out an entire saloon full of villains in a single, perfectly choreographed second.

This revival of a series—which began in 2001 and was already heavily inspired by the stealth genre’s best, Commandos—is a success and even pushes the genre further in some respects. The gameplay is tight, the audio design is highly nuanced, and the illustrative art style is enchanting. Desperados III offers a detailed, mechanically complex, and both aurally and visually captivating game world.

The DCP Jury 2021