If it is absolutely not necessary to have played Master of Shadows to be able to appreciate this Shards of Darkness, we advise you all the same to rush on the first adventures of Styx if you do not know them yet. Not so much out of a spirit of completion as simply to enjoy an excellent, proven stealth game. It must be said that our cunning goblin knows his classics and does not forget any important mechanics of the genre. A friend of darkness, he goes more easily unnoticed in shaded areas and can also extinguish the torches attached to the walls to better sneak around. Adept at hide and seek, he does not hesitate to dive into a barrel or under a table to escape the guards, his small size giving him access to this kind of shelter. But trunks and other cupboards, which are also used to hide the corpses of enemies, also do the trick. Stealing from guards stealthily with a stealth approach from behind is also a classic ability, as is assassinating them quickly but loudly, or quietly but slowly. In addition, the goblin nature of our hero entitles him to powers that will never reach neither Sam Fisher, nor Agent 47, nor Solid Snake. We think in particular of the possibility of throwing up a clone, in order to access certain specific areas, to do reconnaissance or even to distract guards. Styx is also able to turn invisible for a few seconds or observe the surroundings through amber vision, which graphically highlights interesting and interactive areas of the setting. All of this laid the groundwork for great stealth gameplay in Master of Shadows, but the developers were actually still keeping some to spare. Indeed, Shards of Darkness is not stingy with novelties and our favorite goblin is more skilled and competent than ever!
STYX ANALOG
He thus responds to some criticisms that had been made to him during the first episode. For example, it is now possible to go around corners while hanging from a railing. This avoids having to betray our presence via an additional and unnecessary jump. Jumps from hook point to hook point are also facilitated, while new small interactions are born. We can thus push certain barrels so that they come crashing down on an enemy located below, or even throw glass objects away to create a diversion and encourage a guard to leave his post. Even better, Styx is now comfortable with the strings. It can move, even slip, on those that are stretched horizontally. But also climb vertical ropes, and even use it as a vine using a swing. The skill system has been boosted, since it is now divided into five branches (stealth, assassination, alchemy, cloning, perception), each of which houses seven skills plus an ultimate skill giving the choice between two specializations distinct. Each type of player will therefore be able to adapt the gameplay to their taste and many new abilities are appearing. Invisibility of Styx which spreads to enemy corpses, possibility of teleporting in a clone or even making acid traps are some examples of these new skills. On the other hand, the department of novelties also presents us with a crafting system, which allows you to create darts, potions and other hooks. Less anecdotal than in action-oriented games, the presence of this craft encourages the player to pick up the various elements scattered throughout the levels, and therefore to go through them from top to bottom. Otherwise, we would be a little too tempted to rush as quickly as possible towards the main objective and to systematically take the safest routes, especially those located high up and the low tunnels dug into the walls. Because the developers of Cyanide once again offer us a brilliant, vast, vertical level design with multiple paths.
It's a real pleasure to deal with such in-depth levels, which ensure by their richness a very great replayability.
It's a real pleasure to deal with such in-depth levels, which ensure by their richness a very great replayability. This replayability is also reinforced by the distribution of skill points if you manage to win the Celerity emblems (level completed in a short time), Shadow (no alert triggered), Mercy (no enemy killed) or Thief (harvest of all level tokens). Small subtlety compared to the previous episode: these emblems are available in gold, silver and bronze, which leaves a certain latitude in terms of slowness, missteps or inattention. Finally, impossible not to note the arrival of a cooperative mode. It's quite surprising for a stealth game, but necessarily good to take. Two Styxes are better than one, especially if you let yourself be seduced by the dark side of the force and decide to slay the guards present in the levels. The experience is obviously less interesting if it is just a question of following each other in single file from hiding place to hiding place and from shortcut to shortcut. But it is time to now address the shadow points of the game, which narrowly misses the status of essential. We can, for example, blame him for a somewhat dated technique, especially with regard to certain animations that are a bit too stiff, or the fact that Styx's monologues are sometimes superimposed on the dialogues of the enemies. Or even regret the relative weakness of the scenario, which obviously does not have the strength of that of Master of Shadows, since the latter revealed to us the very origin of the goblins. Note that this new episode still has the good taste to introduce the dwarf race in addition to the humans, elves and orcs of the previous episode.
UHU STYX
But what irritated us the most in Shards of Darkness comes from the propensity of the developers to want to be humorous at all costs, even if it means scuttling their own work. From the first level, we can thus hear Styx remark that the architecture of the place is not credible and that it seems to have been made so that he can sneak in everywhere. Later, he announces that he wants to complain to the screenwriter. And just in the first two hours of play, we get stuck with references to Toy Story, Assassin's Creed (three times moreover), Terminator 2, Thief and Dishonored. Infiltration requires, the last two could still be justified if they were isolated, but drowned in the middle of the others, they automatically lose all subtlety. It is still very surprising that developers break the foundation to create a rich universe, a detailed scenario and credible characters to, in the end, regularly bring down this fragile building with the blow of an anti-immersion hammer. We know that some would kill father and mother for a good word, and obviously some studios are ready to sacrifice their baby for a bad one. The worst is reached with the small sequences which follow the many Game Over. They cheerfully and voluntarily break the fourth wall, via a Styx who speaks directly to the player to offer him to take the controller in his place, to threaten him to reveal what he did to an apple pie (via a sub - heard totally incongruous sexual) or even to ask him if he has put the controller in his pocket or if he is happy to see it… These repetitive, muddy and appalling jokes absolutely do not fit the dark fantasy universe of the game Those responsible for their presence deserve to be hung upside down for a few days, so that they can regain their senses and their common sense!
