History VideoGame / ShadowTacticsBladesOfTheShogun

* NatureTinkling: In ''Aiko's Choice'', at the temple where Lady Chiyo is giving instruction to future shrine maidens one of the guards will occasionally slip off to go pee over the side of a cliff.

* NatureTinkling: In the ''Aiko's Choice'' DLC, at the temple where Lady Chiyo is giving instruction to future shrine maidens one of the guards will occasionally slip off to go pee over the side of a cliff.

** In the first [=DLC=] mission in ''Aiko's Choice'', after rescuing Yuki and escaping Nagoya without encountering an ambush, Aiko comments: [[Memes/ThePhantomMenace "A surprise...but a welcome one."]], just a few words omitted from one of the memetic quotes spoken by Chancellor Palpatine in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''.

** Outright confirmed in the [=DLC=] ''Aiko's Choice'', [[spoiler:where Lady Chiyo reveals that she figures out Aiko is pregnant by the time of their final confrontation, and Aiko has a choice of killing her for real to prevent the possibility of Chiyo coming after her and her baby in the future.]]

** At least some of these apparent lack of skills are lampshaded in the [=DLC=] missions in ''Aiko's Choice'', where Hayato wonders why Aiko never learns how to use shurikens even though she was supposed to train in the art as a kunoichi. Aiko explains that she was quite clumsy when she practiced with shurikens, which is why she never took to using them in the present. Hayato then says that he was never really good with disguises either, which is why he couldn't disguise himself like Aiko could.

* StormingTheCastle: The first and ninth mission.

%%* {{Speedrun}}: Each level has a challenge badge for completing the mission under a given time. The timers are pretty tight, but made even tougher by the mission timer continuing to run between quickloads.

%%* DifficultySpike: The third mission, Imai Town, represents a dramatic increase in difficulty. The map is much larger, there are more enemies than ever, [[EliteMooks Samurai]] make their first appearance (unless you somehow raised an alert in the mission preceding it which CAN spawn a samurai), and the footprints you leave in the snow can compromise your stealth.

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: Only the ladies are capable bending down and dragging bodies along the ground to try to avoid being seen while doing it -- your physically-capable male assassins apparently will not stoop that low. Only Hayato can manage the esoteric feat of throwing rocks. Only Mugen can have the foresight to bring a bottle of sake to lure guards in with, et cetera...[[NecessaryWeasel look, it wouldn't be very fun or interesting if all of the characters barely had any differences for you to work around.]]

** At least some of these apparent lack of skills are lampshaded in the [=DLC=] missions in ''Aiko's Choice'', where Hayato wonders why Aiko never learns how to use shurikens even though she was supposed to train in the art as a kunoichi. Aiko explains that she was quite clumsy when she practiced with shurikens, which is why she never took to using them in the present. Hayato then says that he was nevre really good with disguises either, which is why he couldn't disguise himself like Aiko could.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Some voice actors in the English dub sound appreciably Japanese, but several others do not. ''VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide'' players might notice that Dan Mersh (voice of Markus Kruber) voices generic enemy samurai in this game...and still sounds ''very'' British.

** In the first [=DLC=] mission in ''Aiko's Choice'', after rescuing Yuki and escaping Nagoya without encountering an ambush, Aiko comments: [[Memes/ThePhantomMenace "A surprise...but a welcome one."]], just a few words omitted from one of the memetic quotes spoken the by Chancellor Palpatine in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''.

* ShoutOut: In Mission 12 there is a wall you can attack. [[spoiler:When you do, the illusory wall will disappear and reveal two messages written in red on the ground and a bonfire you can light, upon which an achievement called "Praise the shogun" is unlocked, which all in all is a good shoutout to the ''{{VideoGame/Dark Souls}}'' series of games.]]

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: Only the ladies are capable bending down and dragging bodies along the ground to try to avoid being seen while doing it -- your physically-capable male assassins apparently will not stoop that low. Only Hayato can manage the esoteric feat of throwing rocks. Only Mugen can have the foresight to bring a bottle of sake to lure guards in with, et cetera...[[NecessaryWeasel look, it wouldn't be very fun or interesting if all of the characters barely had any differences for you to work around.]]

* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: In the Epilogue of ''Aiko's Choice'', [[spoiler:Lady Chiyo - having faked her death at ''Hana Gakuen'' - reveals to Aiko that she is GoodAllAlong. However, the way she went about her gambit exposes Aiko and her friends to various dangers, and the fact that she knows about Aiko's pregnancy, means Aiko cannot fully trust her to be the teacher she once knew and won't come after the people she cares about later. Chiyo then presents her student the titular choice: either kill her right now or leave her alive and retire in peace. It's up to the player to decide the outcome.]]

* ItsPersonal: Every one of the protagonists [[spoiler:after Mugen's seppuku. The final mission has them declaring that they're doing this for Mugen or mentioning his spirit watching over them when ordered.]]

A standalone expansion, ''Aiko's Choice'', has been announced and is set to be released in late 2021.

* BadassMustache: Mugen is the most combat-capable character with his ability to kill multiple enemies in a single instance. And his mustache is long and magnificent!

** In the few missions where sniping a target is a main objective, Takuma keeps a single bullet for this purpose, preventing the mission from becoming UnwinnableByMistake if you use Takuma's rifle too much.

* AllAsiansWearConicalStrawHats: Actually, only the mid-tier {{Mook}} Straw Hats wear them.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[spoiler:After bringing Masaru to the Shogun, the Shogun allows him to ramble on about how Ryunosuke was murdered, and simply asks his nephew point blank: "And you know all this because you saw the murder happen?]]

* BreakingTheFellowship: After the group managed to [[spoiler:assassinate Lord Noboru/Kaga-sama and avenged Mugen's death, everyone decided to go their seperate ways, though they at least remain together for a while longer on the road back home.]]

* CombatPragmatist: The whole crew. That's standard procedure for ninjas, but not even Mugen is above crawling around in bushes and attacking enemies from behind.
* ContrivedCoincidence: You can [[spoiler:kill Noburu while he inspects his troops by putting sneezing powder on a named rifleman in the final mission. With matchlock firearms, this would be a horribly improbable situation as the user would have to be sneezing after he's already loaded the gun, lit the match and opened the firing pan in spite of how he's pointing his weapon at a target he should obviously not be firing at.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: [[spoiler:Mugen committing seppuku, which none of his friends attempt to actually dissuade him from doing aside from Yuki, who is a kid compared to the rest of them.]] They are saddened by it, but do not think they should stop him - even Hayato, with [[SamuraiInNinjaTown his slight disdain for the requirements of a samurai's honor]], never throws any sort of blame toward Mugen [[spoiler:for his suicide]].

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Accidental-looking deaths are advantageous since they won't cause guards to sound the alarm. [[spoiler:You can even do this to the main villain by way of sneezing powder on a specific rifleman.]]

* TapOnTheHead: A possible move for all characters.

* ContrivedCoincidence: You can [[spoiler:kill Noburu while he inspects his troops by putting sneezing powder on a named rifleman in the final mission. With matchlock firearms, this would be a horribly improbable situation as the user would have to be sneezing after he's already loaded the gun and lit the match in spite of how he's pointing his weapon a target he should obviously not be firing at.]]

* NonLethalKO: You can make your melee attacks non-lethal. Knocked-out enemies will wake up if found or after some time, but they won't raise the alarm if they can't find you. Outside of some badges, there's no real benefit to this.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Some voice actors in the English dub sound appreciably Japanese, but several others do not. ''VideoGame/TheEndTimesVermintide'' players might notice that Dan Mersh (voice of Markus Kruber) voices generic enemy samurai in this game... and still sounds ''very'' British.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: The rebellion led by Kage-sama is ruthless to its core, and its soldiers are frequently shown abusing if not outright murdering the people they conquer.

* SaveScumming: Subtly encouraged. The game will time how long it's been since you last saved, and it even records how often you had to reload a level.

* SwordAndGun: All Samurai carry a katana and flintlock pistol, making them deadly at any range. This also applies to Hayato and Mugen once Takuma fashions some firearms for them, the latter of whom is equipped with a HandCannon.

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: Only the ladies are capable bending down and dragging bodies along the ground to try to avoid being seen while doing it -- your physically-capable male assassins apparently will not stoop that low.