Styx: Shards of Darkness gameplay trailer features four minutes of murder

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Back in October, Cyanide Studios pushed the stealth-assassination game Styx: Shards of Darkness from its originally-scheduled 2016 release to "early 2017," thanks to the demands of a transition from Unreal Engine 3 to 4. That release date has now been nailed down to March 14, 2017, and in the tradition of such things we've got a new trailer featuring four minutes of scrawny, green-skinned murderizin'.

The video focuses on some of Styx's new abilities and tools, including a crossbow that can fire multiple types of bolts, and "Rebirth," which gives him the ability to teleport directly to his clone—killing it in the process, I'm sad to say. (And yes, Styx can create clones. They can be a handy distraction.) He can also craft and place acid traps, which Cyanide said are "particularly useful against enemies whose armor cannot be penetrated by Styx’s dagger, and enemies whose body is too heavy to carry." They work awfully fast, too.

The character of Styx actually came to life as the supporting half of the buddy duo in Cyanide's 2012 release Of Orcs and Men. He got his own game, Master of Shadows, in 2014, and it was actually quite good. Cyanide says Shards of Darkness "builds upon the foundations" of that game, "with more fluid movement and climbing abilities, a richer story told with cinematics including an enhanced bestiary, side-missions to complete, as well as new and improved sneaking and assassination skills." It's available for preorder now on Steam, for ten percent off the regular price of $40/£35.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.