A while ago, computer developer Curve did a really strange thing, they gave away a game. What was extraordinary about this generosity was that it didn’t contain adverts, there was no need to buy extra content and it was good.

The game got good reviews and the developer gathered praise from the gaming community as well as a request to expand the basic premise. So, with Stealth Bastard, Deluxe Edition Curve has given in to public demand.

You play a begoggled, stumpy little clone with one mission, to get through each level without dying, well, without dying an awful lot, because die you will. That’s pretty much the story, but in a game like this any constructed back story would just be a distraction. You see, your character, is short and a mite cute and not someone who looks like a bastard, no it’s the game which is the bastard.

Essentially, this is a stripped down stealth game. There are no guns and apart from a few useful goggles and costumes, there is not much in the way of extras to help you along your way and there is only one rule, stay out of the light or die. There are no second chances in Stealth Bastard, no running back to cover while a detection protocol runs down, nope, get it wrong and various elements of the game will explode you where you stand.

Although the game does contain platforms for you to jump to, at its heart this is a puzzle game where you guide your clone through a retro feel environment. Thankfully, as the game involves a lot of dying and swearing, there are a generous amount of respawn points. Your goggles are not just for show and will change colour when your character is in danger as you navigate through the game's eighty levels.

Lasers will fry you, walls will squash and even when you think you have reached safety, there is nothing to say that the game won’t just drop a large weight on your head, the writing on the walls does warn you that this will not feel fair.

Unlike in real life, dying in this game is good, in the sense that often puzzles are solved by a suck it and see approach. Traversing rooms successfully, more than once gains you costumes for your clone which adds a number of useful abilities that you will need to complete some of the later rooms.

I do love a good puzzle game which annoys me, which might seem a little perverse, but annoying games are also challenging and this one will have you tearing your hair out.

If the original eighty levels are not enough for you to play with, the game also comes with a fully functional level editor for you to make your own; these can be shared on-line along with the large amount which already exists, so you can be an active participant in the growth of the games community. If you buy the game, which is very reasonably priced, through Steam, then you also get a bunch of achievements to gain.

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Charles Packer