Styx: Shards of Darkness demo sneaks out

Fantasy stealth game Styx: Shards of Darkness [official site] has released a free demo, letting all and sundry try sneaking around as a little goblin with gross magic powers. Our Alec's review in March was not fond of Styx himself, the unfunny protagonist, but he did say that "The stealth game underneath this miserable skin is solid." That's got to be worth a crack, especially as the full game is on sale now too.

The Styx: Shards of Darkness demo is a 3.8GB download from Steam (look for the Download Demo button on the right) and contains the game's tutorial level. You'll learn the ins and outs of being a goblin assassin: sneaking, hiding, climbing, stealing, and stabbing.

Some more of Alec's words:

"Personally, I prefer the option for improv more than I do fealty to pure hide-or-die stealth, but it's clear that this has put the work into making its sneaking work. Though generally saddled with a muddy aesthetic, it makes a reasonable fist of varied environments and scattering optional, harder sub-goals across them. It'll keep you busy and, particularly if you're playing non-lethal, demands careful planning and thought."

If you dig the demo, hey, Styx is on sale right now for keepsies. A 40% discount on Steam brings it down to £20.99/23,99€/$23.99 until Monday.