14 DAY TRIAL // Styx: Master of Shadows is coming out today, and developer Cyanide Studios has released the game's launch trailer, offering a bit more information about the game's plot.
The game follows the adventures of a tiny character which fans of Cyanide's previous action-oriented role-playing game, Of Orcs and Men, will no doubt recognize: Styx, the goblin.
The non-standard protagonist is a refreshing change, portraying man as the opponent, in contrast to the standard way of doing things in fantasy games. The small stature of the protagonist and his frail nature translate into an interesting gameplay premise, as you cannot brawl against countless opponents but instead rely on cunning, stealth and a bit of magic in order to have things go your way.
How to train your goblin
The storyline follows Styx as he seeks to find a mysterious artifact that sits atop the mighty Tower of Akenash, in the hope of finding out more about his cloudy origins.
The stealth-based action-adventure video game already has some pretty stiff competition in the form of the recently released Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and there are also several entries in the Assassin's Creed series that seem to be doing a splendid job of offering fans of sneaking and, occasionally, swashbuckling, the chance to do so.
However, Styx: Master of Shadows does a few things differently, and is set to offer an experience that is well worth trying even for Assassin's Creed veterans.
Not your vanilla stealth game
First of all, Styx can't really fight much, instead relying on stealth takedowns and a bunch of other tricks when he's discovered. In many stealth-based video games, you would do as much of the mission as possible undetected, but then something would go wrong and you would finish everything with a massive brawl.
This is not the case with Styx, as you will have to carefully plan your way across the levels and employ cunning tricks such as a body double that can assist you in laying out traps for guards. You'll mostly be making your wait silently, through the background, climbing the vertical levels to the best of your abilities and only occasionally engage in quick scuffles with unsuspecting guards.
In addition to this, you can also cloak yourself, use your amber-fueled vision in order to detect hidden enemies and areas, and other magical abilities that help distract your opponents or create a diversion.
Styx: Master of Shadow is available on Windows PC, on the Xbox One home console from Microsoft, and on the PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system from Sony, as of today, October 7.
