In the fifth gameplay video shown today, we take another look at the dynamism and flow of Styx’s treacherous ascent, having discovered clones, tactics, skills, and styles. Using all of these to his advantage, Styx manages to poison guards, blind them with his clone, climb vast heights, and reach his objective unseen – the way a goblin should!

As discussed in the gameplay making of video, being a 200 year old goblin, Styx is unique in that his nimble frame and athleticism lets him dance around his environment, relatively quietly with deadly speed and agility. However, while he is fast, agile, and cunning, he is also small, weak, and at constant risk of being surrounded should he knock over a vase, or land noisily, attracting the attention of the guards.

With release rapidly approaching, in what style will you infiltrate The Tower of Akenash?

Commented by Julien Desourteaux (Game Director & Level Designer), Guillaume Blanchard (Project Manager) et Mathias Chataignier (Game Designer), this 5 minutes video lets us learn more about the game, its mechanics, its level design, as well as the intentions of the developers when they designed its infiltration gameplay.

We learn how they created the mechanics to make of Styx: Master of Shadows a challenging game, back to the source of infiltration games. The playable character – a fragile but resourceful goblin – played a huge role in this task, as much as the level design, which is both open and highlights the vertical perspective, and prompts players to experiment to reach their objectives in very different ways.

This is only one video among a series of 4. The 3 other videos, that you can watch on the links below, are focusing on the sound design, the music designed by Game Audio Factory, and on the team. They will let you know even more about the game, waiting for its release on October 7!

Making-of : The Sound Design:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsjy_…

Making-of : The Music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBPGs…

Making-of : The Team:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxr6q…

Akenash dwellers #4 - Elves

Now let’s talk a bit about one of the other humanoid species that lives in the Tower of Akenash: the elves.

Living as close as possible to the Tree, the elves are allowed in the Tower thanks to a treaty made between their ambassador and the Akenash governor. But only because they are uniquely able to collect the amber as the sap of the Tree can push to insanity any human who touches it in its purest form.

Even if most elves will chase you on sight, their ambassador is more likely to hear you out.

But, a life spent close to the amber leaves traces… They can feel the amber near them and communicate with every amber creature. What a pity that our character is the addict type. You would definitetly not want to be detected by one of those. They may be thin but they are good hunters.

The player will need to adapt his playing style if he wants to get past them.

The elves appearance was controversial and we needed a lot of different concept before choosing one.

Dev team just wanna have fun !

Final version of the elves

–
Eléonore
Associate Producer

STYX: MASTER OF SHADOWS - ATTACK OF THE CLONE

Styx’ clone is one of the four Amber-fuelled powers that serve as Styx’ base skills (along with 7 skill trees). Creating a clone opens new potential strategic and tactical opportunities, such as distraction, the ability to blind multiple targets, and lure them to a desired location before tumbling objects onto them. As with all of Styx’ amber-fuelled skills, this uses the rare amber… and you will need to act swiftly, as clones aren’t exactly “stable” and will deteriorate quickly before imploding!

Having unlocked all of the skills from the 7 available skill trees in Styx: Master of Shadows, we’ve previously seen the nimble Styx overcome some of the weaker enemies in the game susceptible to his stealth abilities and dagger… but skills come at a cost, and the Amber to use them is scarce throughout the Tower of Akenash. For example, Styx’ Invisibility skill drains quickly, and uses half your maximum reserve of Amber: you’ll be required to rely primarily on your ability to sneak, plan and time your approach.

Carefully scour the area from above, or watch from the shadows for the perfect moment to deploy your clone – a controllable hunk of flesh able to distract and blind the enemy, hiding in crates to pull them to living deathtraps, or access areas closed to Styx and open new pathways. Styx’ clone is the ultimate ephemeral companion, and the right mix of distraction and skill will open hundreds of opportunities to exploit games in the guards’ patrols. Styx can always rely on his clone – but unable to defend itself, get caught in the light, and the entire Tower will descend upon him.

Join us next week when we introduce another exciting element of Styx: Master of Shadows with a new gameplay video!

Building the Game #1 - Handling NPC

« Look, if you make this guard run toward here, we can push him down this cliff. And when he’ll splatter the lower floor, and the other npc runs toward his body, THEN you can unsrew this crane’s load and kill every single one of them ! »

The level designers sure are a weird bunch. They quite enjoy giving new, exotic ways for a player to kill people. Or be killed, it mostly depends on their mood.

Kismet, the script system in the Unreal Engine, is pretty powerful.
It allows you to create complex patrols.

Your basic guard will just stand there, sleeping…

… but by adding another pathnode, and telling him not to sleep, you could make him go look left and right…

… add yet another pathnode, throw in an animation, and he can go drink some (poisonable!) water…

… and you could add a bit of script so whenever his friend in the background leaves his spot, your first guard will notice and go investigate…

Oops. Oh well.

—
Jonathan
Level Designer

Specialize your Amber powers, with the skill-trees!

Today we’re going to discover more in details the powers that Styx can acquire from the magical Amber substance.

During a mission you will gain XP that can be used to unlock numerous skills. These skills are arranged into 6 skill-trees: Stealth, Agility, Clone, Amber vision, Equipment and Assassination.

With this skill-tree, it is all about being discreet! Styx can develop his capabilities to get heart palpitation when an enemy gets close, and avoid any surprises. He can also improve his invisibility skill and make it more efficient.

Moving with agility is very important when you don’t want to be detected. In this skill-tree, Styx can choose to fall without any sound or to be able to throw his projectiles twice the distance.

Styx’s best friend also has a skill-tree dedicated to him! You can give him some diversion skills or even offensive abilities.

Amber is the source of Styx’s magical powers. He manipulates its magical properties and improves the way he uses it. For example, the amber vision, which gives Styx a special perception of the environment, can last twice longer.

Apart from his powers, Styx also has some tools at his disposal, as his knives for example. You will be able to enlarge your capacity of carry theses weapons or amber phials using this skill-tree.

This skill-tree will help you to improve your assassination techniques to be more efficient. So you’ll be able to kill someone while hanging from an edge or even assassinate an enemy even when you are under cover.

…That’s not all! There’s a seventh mysterious skill-tree that you’ll be able to unlock only under certain conditions… But we will let you discover it while playing the game!

Use your skills wisely and at the right time, and they will be your best weapons towards victory in Styx: Master of Shadows!

–
Camille ‘Jolly Roger’
Communication & Community Manager

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.

—
Guillaume
Project 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!

–
Guillaume
Project Manager

Styx’s DevBlog is now open!

Hi everybody!

We are really happy and proud to be able to share the development of our game “Styx: Master of Shadows” with you on this DevBlog.

This game is our homage to the stealth genre: We want to provide all the ingredients that make a game a great stealth game.

In “Styx: Master of Shadows”, you will play a goblin: fragile, but resourceful thanks to his agility, his assassin skills and his magical powers. Your goal will be to steal the heart of the world-Tree, an infinite source of power: amber. But things are not as easy as they seem… ^^

In this DevBlog we will introduce to you some aspects of gameplay, some of the locations and inhabitants of the Akenash tower as well as the people who are working hard to bring you the best game possible. And as you can see, all the team is on a war footing for the job!