Mimimi Productions and Daedalic Entertainment announced that a free playable demo of Shadow Tactics has arrived ahead of the game’s December 6th release on PC next month.

The demo is a short slice of the main game, which is being hailed by some hardcore RTS fans as a historical, spiritual successor to the age-old Commandos series. This time around, however, things take place during the Edo period of Japan, as players take on the roles of rogue mercenaries composed of a rag-tag group of unique individuals with their own abilities and traits.

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun features real-time stealth and action gameplay, with players having to navigate the maps and use deception and theatricality to subdue and overcome enemy forces.

One of the hooks for the game is that players will need to infiltrate various heavily fortified locations, such as castles, mountain monasteries, military encampments, forest outposts and even patrols in the city. The objective is oftentimes to avoid being seen while taking out as many foes as possible.

In total, players will have five different characters to control, various challenges to overcome and lots of areas to explore.

For gamers who enjoyed titles like Desperados and Commandos, this game hearkens back to that age-old philosophy of putting gamers in a sandbox and allowing them to decide their own fate by giving them the tools and controls to manipulate the conditions in order to secure a victory.

You can get a short look at how the game plays out with a quick developer gameplay walkthrough showcasing real-time gameplay and strategy in effect.

The free demo is an excellent gesture to help give gamers something to sink their teeth into and some tangible form of gameplay that they can latch onto in order to get a full understanding of what the game is like.

You can download the demo right now by clicking the “Download Demo” button from over on the Steam store page. You can look for Shadow Tactics to launch for the PC starting December 6th.