Desperados 3: Beginner's Guide & Tips Desperados 3 guide, walkthrough
Last update: 22 February 2021
On this page of our guide to Desperados 3, you can find a set of starting tips. We have prepared tips and hints about the most important gameplay mechanics and those elements of the game that may be more difficult to understand. Our guide should be particularly helpful in completing the initial levels of the campaign.
Some topics described below have been discussed in more detail on separate pages of our guide. You will find detailed descriptions of specific scenes and objectives in our walkthrough.
- Choose a normal of high difficulty level if you play for the first time
- Rely on quick saves and manual save games
- Always activate the highlighting of objects and characters
- Use unlimited skills as often as possible
- Remember to often rotate the camera and zoom in the view
- The minimap can be enlarged
- Showdown Mode is very helpful in getting rid of inconvenient targets
- Take time to determine the walking paths of enemies
- Stunned opponents must be tied up quickly!
- Do not attack enemies who are in the field of view of other people
- Remember to hide enemy corpses
- You can avoid being detected by properly positioning your heroes
Choose a normal of high difficulty level if you play for the first time
Desperados III offers four difficulty levels - low, medium, high and very high (Desperado). In order to complete the game for the first time we recommend normal or high difficulty level. The normal difficulty level is a better choice if you have never played the previous parts of Desperados or other games made by Mimimi studios - Shadow Tactics. A high level of difficulty is advisable if you already have some experience with the Desperados series or the game genre it represents in general. It is worth noting that the game grants you a badge (challenge) for completing each mission at a high level of difficulty.
The Beginner difficulty level is, in our opinion, too easy for an initial playthrough. However, you can use it to unlock missed badges / challenges while replaying stages.
Desperado, the highest difficulty level, is reserved for those who already know the game well and have mastered the mechanics. We do not recommend choosing it for your first playthrough.
Rely on quick saves and manual save games
In the PC version of Desperados 3, you can create both manual and quick saves. Rely on all available types of saves to protect yourself from any possible loss. In Desperados III it's very easy to make a mistake or overlook something - you can be detected by an opponent you haven't noticed, detected while trespassing or moving a corpse, or even lead to the failure of some mission objective or challenge. We advise you to make quick saves on an ongoing basis, and make normal saves before or after important scenes.
By default, Save Reminder is enabled in the game options to remind you that a certain amount of time has passed since the last save. Moreover, you can adjust the frequency of reminder windows (the default is 1 minute). It is an excellent assistant, thanks to which you are less likely to lose a large part of your progress due to lack of "fresh" saves.
Always activate the highlighting of objects and characters
One of the most helpful features in Desperados III is the ability to highlight interactive objects and characters from the environment with a single key press. As the action of the game is shown in an isometric view and allows you to play even with a camera at a far distance, it is easy to miss something important.
We recommend to highlight objects from your surroundings at the beginning of the mission ( preview the whole map) and before entering any major location available on the map. Pay special attention to all opponents, climbing sites and interactive objects. The latter category is very important - interactive objects can be, for example, quest items that can be collected (such as poison) or constructions that allow you to arrange accidents to kill opponents (such as a piece of wall that can be knocked over).
Use unlimited skills as often as possible
Every hero of Desperados 3 has some standard skills and unlimited abilities. The first group includes various types of firearms. After the ammunition gets depleted, you must stop using your weapon or find an ammo container on the map (we have marked the locations of ammo containers on the maps of our world atlas).
Unfortunately, unlimited skills cannot be used without any limitations and you have to remember that the game may not allow you to use a particular skill due to the cooldown. There are two main types of restrictions (limitations) in the game. Some items of equipment have to be retrieved after they were used, such as knives thrown by Cooper, McCoy's doctor's bag, or bear trap set up on the ground by Hector. The second limitation is the cooldown - the ability may require some time to renew. So you can't, for example, use Hector's whistling every second, you just have to wait until the cooldown on the skill icon fills up so it can be activated again. In conclusion, even if you choose an unlimited skill, plan your timing well to use it to your maximum advantage.
Remember to often rotate the camera and zoom in the view
Despite the isometric projection, the maps in Desperados 3 are fully three-dimensional and can be viewed from any side. It is good to remember about this even from the initial missions, because rotating the camera (hold down ALT key and move the mouse - PC version) and zooming in or out the view (use the mouse scroll wheel - PC version) makes it very easy to perform many tasks.
Rotation of the camera is useful when large objects cover some part of the map - like a building or large rocks. This is especially important in locations densely occupied by opponents, because by changing the camera position you will be able to see an enemy that was previously invisible. Zooming in the camera view is useful indoors and when you are searching for small items, like quest items. Zoom will make it easier for you to complete the mission objectives in all kinds of cramped locations where your heroes have very limited freedom of movement.
The minimap can be enlarged
The default version of the mini-map in Desperados III is not very readable, but luckily, there are two different options for zooming the map. First of all, you can press the M key to display a slightly larger version of the mini-map, which will make it easier for you to determine the current location of your characters.
The most helpful is the large map displayed on the pause screen. It allows you to easily understand the situation and to discover the exact location of your opponents. It can also make it easier to plan the routes and paths of your characters. It's a good idea to check out the larger version of the map every time you pause the game in order to save your progress.
Showdown Mode is very helpful in getting rid of inconvenient targets
Let's remind that the Showdown Mode in Desperados III allows you to plan and setup an action (like throwing a knife) of a particular hero and activate it by pressing one key. Showdown Mode can be used to plan the action of a single hero, but it works best when 2 or more playable characters are involved.
Showdown Mode strongly rewards high creativeness. You can, for example, get rid of two opponents watching each other at the same time, divert the attention of a group of opponents so that the other hero can quickly sneak behind their backs, or decide to "combine" the skills of different heroes (use the whistle of hero 1 and the weapon of hero 2 to murder an enemy who reacted to the noise).
We have included many good applications of Showdown Mode in our walkthrough of the main campaign. Don't be afraid to experiment on your own to make the gameplay easier or more enjoyable.
Take time to determine the walking paths of enemies
Enemies in Desperados 3 can be divided into those who do not move at all and those who walk around the vicinity. Depending on the opponent, he may be busy patrolling a particular location or doing work by moving bags from location A to location B.
We advise you to always stop for a moment in every new place and observe the marching routes of moving opponents. Observe your enemy to determine between which locations he wanders around and whether there are any spots where he stays for longer (for example, to have a chat with a friend). Do the above action to avoid being detected. Even if you are in a safe location at the moment, an opponent may appear there in just a few seconds. Later in the game, tracking patrol routes also helps you to plan combined attacks by using the Showdown Mode and use the area of effect skills (for instance, attack enemies with an area of effect attack only when they are standing close to each other).
In the game there is an option to speed up the time (press the X key). It can make your mission more enjoyable, because you don't have to wait until your opponent completes the entire patrol route at normal speed.
Stunned opponents must be tied up quickly!
Leaving a stunned opponent alone is a common mistake in Desperados III. Enemies are able to wake up and trigger an alarm. After an opponent is stunned, stars will appear above his head. An exhausting round yellow bar indicates when your opponent will regain his senses.
If you're planning on stunning many characters during the game, then make a habit of tying up stunned enemies (note - not every playable character has this skill). This is the only guarantee that the opponent will not manage to free himself and alert other enemies. Of course, you can also move tied enemies and hide them in the bushes. If you don't mind killing people, you can assassinate a stunned enemy before he wakes up. Use a melee weapon to kill a stunned enemy or drop an unconscious opponent into the abyss.
Do not attack enemies who are in the field of view of other people
One of the most important mechanics in Desperados III are the cones that symbolize the characters' fields of view. You can check them without any restrictions after selecting an opponent or a civilian (click the RMB on a selected the character). A full color indicates a 100% detection risk, and a dashed color means that your character can be detected only if he's not crouching. Before you attack someone, check the fields of view of other people in the area. There is a high chance that they may overlap and then an attack on such a person will lead to an almost immediate alarm. You can solve this problem by distracting your opponents or using Showdown Mode to get rid of them at the same time.
Another interesting function is the possibility of placing markers with an eye icon. They allow you to identify all enemies looking at a particular spot. It is an excellent technique to make sure that the execution of some "forbidden action" in a specific location is fully safe.
Remember that civilians can also trigger an alarm if they notice a moment of attack on an enemy. Don't ignore them and also check their fields of view.
Remember to hide enemy corpses
One of the most common reasons for triggering an unintentional alarm in Desperados 3 is when someone finds a body of a tied or murdered person. This can happen with a delay, for example, if the body was discovered by a person patrolling an area, or if new characters appeared on the map or the old ones have split up as a result of occurring events.
Always hide the bodies of eliminated or stunned people. The easiest way to do this is to hide them in the bushes or in the hay - such a body will "disappear" and cannot be detected later even if one of the enemies enters the bushes. Methods of throwing bodies into wells and dropping them into the abyss are also very effective. Hide enemy bodies behind large obstacles only if you have no other choice, for example, if the area is heavily guarded and there are no bushes or other options. Also try to explore this type of places more carefully so that no one suddenly appears in the place where the body lies.
Useful note - Hector is the strongest of the characters and can carry two bodies simultaneously. If possible, use his abilities to get rid of attacked people faster.
You can avoid being detected by properly positioning your heroes
One of the interesting mechanics in Desperados 3 is the fact that when you're above your opponents you can avoid being detected and get closer to them more easily. This doesn't mean that while being over the enemy, the controlled character suddenly becomes invisible to the opponent. You can still be detected, but only if your character stands upright. Luckily, you just have to crouch to neutralize this potential threat.
You can find yourself above your opponents by finding various types of ladders, ivy walls or building entrances to reach the upper floor. Some buildings also allow you to enter their external balconies. It is worth noting that high ledges and roofs can be used not only to avoid detection and sneaking past enemies, but also to efficiently eliminate all opponents. Your characters can jump down onto enemies standing underneath them and this eliminates the need to sneak up on opponent by relying on classic methods.