QCF: Styx: Master of Shadows

emember when Assassin’s Creed was marketed towards the thrill of eliminating your foes from the shadows? Sneaking to every target, stealthily moving around as if you were invisible to the naked eye, allowing your enemies only a second of reaction to your presence before it was too late for them to do anything about it—yeah, after seven years running, that shit is practically gone now.

Honestly, aside from the exception of Ground Zeroes, third-person stealth affairs are barely even a thing in games now, but before all hope of finding that great new game of “killing them softly” was lost, along came a little title by the name of Styx: Master of Shadows.

Now, mind you, the last time I loaded in software that was developed by Cyanide Studio, it was that licensed Game of Thrones game back in 2012; so yeah, my hopes were significantly tempered at first impression. It wasn’t long until after I metastasized a gross little clone doppelganger of myself, only so that I could send it running off, distracting all the meddlesome guards in my way as a decoy, that I realized, second chances are real, and this Next-Gen stealth adventure is living proof.

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QCF: Republique-Episode 2: Metamorphosis

 This Review was Frelanced by Rob Rich; you can find his other work here.

 few months have passed since Hope first began her desperate escape from implied brainwashing at the hands of her rather nefarious captors. Or are they her protectors? Nothing is entirely clear or as it seems in the world of Republique, and Episode 2: Metamorphosis keeps things just as confusing.

This new episode takes Hope through The Library as she attempts to get in touch with the one person she’s relatively sure she can trust in this lavish prison. But can she get to him in time? Well, that’s for you to find out.

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QCF: Deus Ex: Human Revolution Augmented Edition

eus Ex is a series I've been hearing about all the time for something like 11 years. Since it was a PC-only thing for a very long time, it's no real wonder that I haven't exactly had the means to play these games, given that my first PC since the game came out was bought in 2007 (seriously) and I had kind of forgotten about the series by then. In 2011, Deus Ex finally made the jump to consoles from publisher Square-Enix with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. In addition to PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 owners were finally able to see what the fuss was about. Naturally, I still didn't get on board. Of course.

Maybe that was a wise decision, though, since there is now a whole new version of Human Revolution available that not only makes the graphics prettier, but also adds a ton of new elements to the game, as well as some better balancing of many of the mechanics in the game. Deus Ex: Human Revolution Augmented Edition attempts a daring double-dip for existing fans. With a heavy does of FPS and a liberal dash of RPG, it's definitely an interesting mix... but how is it if you're just getting warmed up?

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