This Summer Trailer invites us to follow Styx, the two-century old Goblin whose main occupation is thievery and assassination, as he begins infiltrating the huge Tower of Akenash. It is in this immense tower that is jealously kept hidden by elves, humans and other fantasy creature, the World-Tree and its Heart, source of the precious Amber. This is the final objective of Styx, who today demonstrates a few of his skills and special powers, that will be of great help to make a silent way to his goal.
Akenash dwellers #2 – Fighters
To continue with our Akenash dwellers,
Let’s go to the Fighters!
The spectrum of fighters go from basic workers, fighting with primitive tools, to the elite guards with their deadly weapons. As well as dockers, vile experimenters and sly smugglers, to mention some more.
Be wary of fighters. You stand a small chance against one and even less against more.
Try it and you’ll see…
Stay tuned for more info on Akenash dwellers!
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Guillaume
Project Manager
Styx: Master of Shadows was revealed in great detail at E3 in Los Angeles.
But for those who were unable to see us in Los Angeles, here’s the gameplay trailer for Styx: Master of Shadows that shows a continuous 15-minute game sequence, unedited, and with commentary by the developers.
This is an exciting opportunity to discover the gameplay options available in Styx: Master of Shadows. Infiltration, the special talents and skills of the goblin character you play and all the game mechanics will allow you to scale the dizzying heights of the vast Tower of Akenash that contains your ultimate objective: the heart of the World Tree, the source of the amber, immense power and fabulous riches; because let’s not forget that Styx is essentially a master thief!
The goblin scales the heights in screenshots!
We’re happy to unveil a series of exclusive images in the run-up to E3 in Los Angeles, where Styx: Master of Shadows will be presented at Focus Home Interactive’s booth (West Hall Booth 5512)!
Styx, the goblin assassin, is climbing his way up the Tower of Akenash.
From the murky, oppressive depths of the tower to the opulent and magnificent summits where the elite guards and the citizens of the tower reside, Styx will have to work hard to reach his objective: The Tree, the source of the Amber, the promise of infinite riches he would like to possess. Master assassin and part-time thief, Styx will be able to remove any objects hampering his progress: but don’t leave any clues behind that could betray your presence to the guards… like a lifeless body in a walkway!
But not only humans and elves inhabit the Tower of Akenash; other fantastic creatures also roam the gloomy halls and passages of this immense tower, and it’s generally wise to avoid them. if you don’t want to end up as dinner for a hungry Orc!
Stay tuned on the devblog, more details about the game are coming!
Question of the week #5
Today we will answer a question from “Jamari Laphouine” posted on Facebook: A modern stealth game… HARD?
Hi Jamari,
If you mean that “modern” stealth games don’t offer sufficient challenge to the player, then we agree with you! Challenge and tension are some of the ingredients we want to bring back to the stealth genre. The choice of a goblin as the main character is a clear signal to the player that he cannot rush headlong into the fray; such tactics will not see him survive for long in the Tower of Akenash! “Styx: Master of Shadows” may well be considered a very difficult game: guards will hunt you down and kill you in a few attacks (when they don’t kill you instantly). Even more dangerous are the monsters that lurk in the tower or the traps can crush you or cut you to pieces in the bat of an eyelid. That said, we don’t want the player to feel that he is unfairly matched so we have worked hard to make sure that there is enough information available for reasoned choices to be made when it comes to selecting a path or an action. You will also have powerful tools at your disposal and using them wisely can make your journey a lot easier.
If you have a question about the game that you would like to put to the team, please post it below this thread or on our Facebook page! We’ll be happy to answer you in the next Question of the week.
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Guillaume
Project Manager
Character introduction #1 – Styx
Today, we’re going to talk about the central figure of our adventure… Yes you may have guessed, it’s Styx. :)
First graphic research on Styx after OoaM…
250 years old, our hero Styx is the first known goblin. Physically, he is what you expect of this people: green and small, 1m28 (4’ 2").
He is very agile, solitary and devious. Yet, he has not always been so bitter…
Before being changed into a small creature, Styx was an orc shaman, respected by all, a powerful mage, erudite and passionate about life’s forces. This passion will push him to study Amber, a magic and highly addictive substance, which will unfortunately seal his fate.
Both a blessing and curse, Amber possesses significant powers that Styx will put to full use during his adventures. Alas, these powers come at a significant cost…
In addition to his change of appearance, Styx’s addiction to Amber brings with it unending mental torment, causing him to sink slowly into madness.
Despite his metamorphosis, he retains some orc characteristics, such as pride, his taciturn nature as well as the body language and attitudes of this people.
Styx facial 3D shoots
To put an end to his suffering, our goblin tries to steal the heart of the World Tree, the inexhaustible source of the accursed substance which caused his mutation. His risky plan is to enter that place of damnation, the Atrium of Akenash.
The magnitude of the task will turn out to be more difficult than he had imagined and he will have to brave much hardship in order to finally free himself from torment.
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Camille ‘Jolly Roger’
Communication & Community Manager
Question of the week #4
Today we will answer a question from “Jesper Vas Broer” posted on Facebook: Will you use the same voice actor? I loved his voice.
Hi Jesper,
Yes! Saul Jephcott is back to lend his voice to Styx.
We just recorded the voices with him last week, so you can listen, without waiting any further, some samples:
If you have any question you would like to ask to the team about the game, please post it below this thread or on our Facebook page! We’ll be happy to answer you in the next Question of the week.
—
Guillaume
Project Manager
Akenash dwellers #1 – No-Fighters
Hello everybody,
In the next series of updates, we are going to discuss the different creatures that populate the Tower of Akenash.
Let’s start with the more humble human dwellers that we like to call the “No-Fighters”: ambassadors, librarians, and servants.
They don’t represent a direct threat to Styx as they prefer not to cross paths with the wily goblin. However… watch out! Non-Fighters may appear harmless, but if they see you, they can round up dangerous allies who are not afraid of tracking you down and killing you. And those carrying lighting sticks can ignite the torches, removing the shadows that Styx calls home.
Stay tuned for more info on Akenash dwellers!
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Guillaume
Project Manager
Question of the week #3
Today we will answer a question from “Орхан Османов”: Will we able to customize our Hud? Turn off quest marker maybe?
Hi Orkhan,
Yes, you will have some Hud’s customization in “Styx: Master of Shadows”. Additionally to be able to hide subtitles, it will be also possible to hide quest markers and AI detection’s icons.
In “normal” game mode, it is up to you to deactivate or not those options, but we have a spacial hardcore mode, you can unlock after finishing the game, where those options are always deactivated. There is some other challenges in this special mode we will tell you later.
If you have any question you would like to ask to the team about the game, please post it below this thread or on our Facebook page! We’ll be happy to answer you in the next Question of the week.
—
Guillaume
Project Manager
Staff Presentation #1: Concept Artists
Hello,
Today, we will open up a new facet of the development of “Styx: Master of Shadows” and take a special interest in the area of the game art, namely concept art.
Before beginning to create a 3D world, we the concept artists, have the job of putting down on paper, in both image and text form, our vision of the game universe.
Working with game designers and writers, we strive to produce an overview of the graphic universe of the game for the whole development team.
So a lot of preparatory work goes into creating a general outline, with “painting” and “drawing” being the vectors that bring the environment to life. We supply the “blueprints” to help our “blacksmiths” shape the distinctive world of Styx.
One of the most interesting environments that we had to design for Akenash are its “bowels” where dark creatures have their lair and where Styx finds the shadows of which he is so fond.
So we produced a variety of artwork to outline the location:
These images set the atmosphere of the location. After that, we move onto a more specific design of the elements that will make up the environment. This will help the 3D artists when it comes to modeling the Akenash tower, with such things as the pipes and roots of the Tree as they crisscross the various volumes.
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Concept team : Cyril, Paradis, Tom and Mathieu
