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

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.