The true Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun begins here. You’re free to tackle your objective and take down enemies however you want after the tutorial is complete, and Mission 1: The Siege of Osaka can be a pretty daunting job for the unexperienced.
Learn how to destroy the main gate of Osaka Castle with all three heroes; Hayato the Shinobi, Mugen the Samurai, and Takuma the Marksman. They’ll have to work together to silently dismantle Osaka Castle’s defenses. Takuma can snipe with pinpoint accuracy from his tower, but his ammunition is limited. Mugen can slash multiple enemies at once using his Sword Wind technique, and Hayato is your average ninja — able to climb walls with a hook and throw shuriken to kill at long range.
Find our full, step-by-step walkthrough for Mission 1 below, or browse the Table of Contents for more Shadow Tactics guides on Gameranx.
Table of Contents – Shadow Tactics Walkthrough
- Tutorial
- Mission 2: Trouble on the Nakasendo
- Mission 3: The Thieves of Imai
- Mission 4: Escape from Mount Tsuru
- Mission 5: Killing Lord Yabu
- Mission 6: Spies In Hida Village
- Mission 7: Suganuma Rescue
- Mission 8: Attack on Kanazawa
- Mission 9: The Death of Kage-sama
- Mission 10: Betrayal at Mount Tsuru
- Mission 11: Matsuyama City
- Mission 12: A Fateful Meeting
- Mission 13: The Death of Noboru
Walkthrough | Mission 1: The Siege of Osaka
Step #1: Find Explosives
Now that the tutorial is over, Hayato and Mugen can work together to destroy the main gate of Osaka Castle. Your goal is to reach the explosive barrels at the top of the map without being seen – if you’re spotted, a group of new guards will appear and begin hunting your party. That means you’re dead unless you hide somewhere safe.
To avoid detection, you’ll also need to hide dead guards. Use Hayato to climb the hook on the building to the right of the cannon and enter a small courtyard with two more guards – ignore the patrolling guard, you need to get the guard waiting by the house (by the well) first. Wait for the patrolling goon to leave, then kill the sentry and hide his body. Now you can safely kill the patroller.
To rejoin Mugen, you’ll need to open the gate, but there are two problems – a guard in a balcony, and another sitting right in front of the gate. Use the hooks on the side of the two story building and jump-kill the balcony guard with Hayato. Avoid the pair of patrolling guards – only Mugen can take care of two bad guys at once. When the balcony soldier is dead, you can kill (and hide) the sitting guard, then unlock the gate.
When the gate is free of sitting guards, hide in the bush with Mugen and use Sword Wind to kill the two patrollers. It helps to kill the guard up the nearby stairs so you don’t get spotted using Sword Wind. Use Sword Wind to clear the officer and soldier looking at the battle plans desk too.
The gate to the next large courtyard is tricky. Start with the guard on the upper left using Hayato, then use a shuriken on the patrolling guard if you need to kill him fast. There’s a bush that’s perfect for concealing bodies. Kill them and grab the tutorial scroll before entering the large courtyard.
NOTE: Shadow Mode is how you execute multiple actions. Here’s how it works, press [D-Pad Up] to activate Shadow Mode. You can save up to one Action per character. Once all the actions are saved, press [Triangle / Y] to execute.
Use Shadow Mode to defeat both guards. They’re both looking at each other, so the only way to stealth them is with Shadow Mode. Hide the bodies, and you’ll find a new enemy at the next gate – Straw Hats. Straw Hats never leave their posts, and they are immune to distractions like stones or sake bottles.
Basically, you need to kill everyone else before you can deal with these two. Lure the patrolling guard with a sake bottle, then stay low and sneak around to the right of the Straw Hats. Stay in their dark view cones and stay crouched, then unleash Sword Wind to clear the path. We’re almost to the barrels now.
Go through the door to meet Takuma. He’s a sniper, and he’ll take the head off the guard and explain something you might not know – Takuma reveals that you only need one explosive barrel to destroy the main gate, but walking there is suicide. Only Mugen has the strength to lift the explosive barrel and throw it onto the rooftops.
To reach the barrels, use Takuma to snipe the three guards at the barricade. Up top, use a sake bottle to lure the guard standing in place, or use a shuriken then stab the soldier running back and forth near the explosive barrels. Use Shadow Mode to make it easier – and use Sword Wind to wipe out the two shooting Straw Hats at the walls.
Step #2: Destroy the Yagura Mon
Now you can collect the barrel with Mugen. The trick is clearing the officer meeting near the gate – swap to Hayato and jump across the roof to the triage area, then up to the meeting where the two officers are watching.
To kill the officers, sneak up onto the roof of the Yagura Mon (use Hayato’s stone to district the officers) and interact with the crane lever to drop a plank on both of them. Quickly deal with the runner (you can use Shadow Mode to snipe him easily with Takuma!) or wait for the runner and crush all three. You can also just shoot the crane.
Before crossing the courtyard, shoot the soldier and the Straw Hat in the tower with Takuma. Make sure you save at least one bullet for the Yagura Mon! Throw the barrel up to the rooftops, then toss it down onto the gate. Blast the barrel with Takuma, and you’ll complete your very first mission. Welcome to the deadly world of Shadow Tactics.
