Let me put it this way – Styx smells so bad that you can accidentally blow your cover by getting too close to certain NPCs. However, the ol’ hide in a haystack trick isn’t going to cut it. In these times, stealth isn’t a choice it’s a way of life. Being the posterchild for a universally hated race means that the only way to stay safe is as Styx is by sticking to the shadows, and that’s the main difference between Shards of Darkness and most modern games that are touted as “stealth” titles – if you get caught with your pants down here, you’re dead. This isn’t a game where you saunter through town camouflaged only by nearby nobles and prostitutes.
It’s a bit like the power disparity between Master Chief and a regular Marine, and much like Halo: ODST, it’s a surprisingly nice change of pace. Falling what would otherwise be an acceptable distance for a larger creature takes a sixth of your health bar.
You’ll be knocked aside, your only option in open combat is to pray that you can get a counterattack off, and you’ll perish if you so much as get clipped by some spiked terrain. The humanoid races are the bad guys here, and while you have performance-enhancing substances on your side (amber), their considerable size difference and the fact that most navigable terrain was built for them poses a continual challenge. The fact that Styx is a goblin requires players to recalibrate how they would ordinarily view combat, movement, and risk-taking in a game. If you’re a newcomer to the franchise, then prepare to be in for a world of hurt. It’s a simple fact – Shards of Darkness is an entirely different beast when it comes to modern stealth games. This isn’t a stealth game pissing contest. However, if you’re a diehard fan of any of the above games then let me be the first to say that to tar Styx with the same brush would be a mistake. I don’t blame you the game looks like the lovechild of Assassin’s Creed and Shadow of Mordor, and it appears to have the elaborately staged assassinations that were a crowd favourite in Dishonored. If you’ve watched the launch trailer for Styx: Shards of Darkness then you’re probably drawing some enlightened (or unfortunate) parallels between the titular protagonist and Deadpool. Despite the myriad of in-game puns about sticks up the ass, it shows none of that pretentiousness in presentation. It seems like a miracle, but Styx: Shards of Darkness is a uniquely grotesque and refreshingly self-aware offering from Cyanide Studios. Hell, not even my best friend wants to hear about how I spent my weekend walking a mile in the shoes of an ugly goblin who shanks people to death in dark alleyways and swears more than a Gold Coast bogan. It’s definitely difficult to explain on a date. It’s hard to explain the Styx franchise to someone in polite conversation.
0 kommentar(er)
