The clone ability, however, turns out to be more than just another decoy. The former is too short-lived to be relied on or used too often, but will get Styx past a pack of guards or out of hot water when used sparingly.

Drinking phials of magic amber grants the ability to turn invisible or spawn a clone. What’s more, he brings his own spin to the genre. Related: Middle Earth: Shadow of War – Everything we know He might not have Sam Fisher’s close-combat skills and acrobatic special moves, but he’s also deadly in the shadows. Styx is an agile little devil, capable of creeping through narrow spaces, under the furniture and up into the beams and rafters, and he’s pretty handy with a blade when attacking from above or behind. In truth, there’s not a lot here that you wouldn’t have come across in, say, 2004 with Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow or Thief: Deadly Shadows, but the fundamental hide, sneak and stealth-kill gameplay hasn’t lost its appeal. There’s a fine line between being old-school and being dated, but Shards of Darkness manages to stay on the right side of it, just. It’s a game of sneaking, watching movements and staying out of sight, with a nice sideline in assassination, arranging ‘accidents’ and deploying lethal traps. Your cheerfully mean and murderous goblin antihero has to steal something and/or escape from somewhere, navigating each level’s challenges and obstacles, hiding from patrolling guards and slaughtering anyone you can’t avoid in a range of nasty ways. Like 2014’s Master of Shadows, Shards of Darkness is an old-fashioned stealth game in the mould of Thief, Splinter Cell and Hitman.

The goblin thief won’t ever be one of gaming’s A-Listers – in action movie terms, he’s more of a John Cena than a Jason Statham – but he’s steadily developing a fanbase and a franchise that might just have some legs.

Available on Xbox One, PS4, PC (version tested)Īnd so Styx returns for a second outing.

Styx shards of darkness xbox download