Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark – The Lost Clones Review
Curve Studios’ Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark is a charming little game, reborn from the original indie hit Stealth Bastard: Tactical Espionage Arsehole. The premise behind it is incredibly simple: you must guide a cute little clone through the brutal, blood-drenched corridors of PTI, a presumably militaristic corporation whose experiments seem to all focus on eviscerating little blonde dudes.
A handy pair of colour-coded goggles lets you know if you’re hidden or exposed as you hug the shadows, navigate traps and avoid robots and sentries to reach the exit of each stage. As you play you unlock different skills and abilities with which you can equip your clone – but you can only use one ability per stage and the game segregates these abilities by way of separate leaderboards to keep things fair. They include a cloaking device and a decoy clone, and work well to influence the way you approach the challenges of each stage.
Primarily, you’ll be looking for switches and terminals to alter the layout of a stage, opening up new paths and bypassing the deadly traps designed to turn you into squishy red paste. Presented side-on, any actual platforming is kept to a minimum as you duck under vision cones and jump over laser barriers to navigate each area. The learning curve is perfect, beginning with some incredibly easy challenges and progressing quickly to deliver some real head-scratchers. As each level is timed, you’re constantly aware of the clock ticking away and desperate to replay every level you’ve beaten to shave seconds off your time and climb every individual leaderboard.
The Lost Clones (the latest DLC) doesn’t really add much to the overall experience besides a block of 20 new levels, complete with new traps and challenges. The gameplay is much the same, but you can now find a hidden old clone in levels, part of the early test group who have (according to the back-story) been stuck wandering the gore-strewn basements of PTI for years.
Aside a barely noticeable palette shift (from green and orange-tinted levels to red-tinted levels), there’s little to differentiate The Lost Clones from A Clone in the Dark, and nothing that’s quite as inventive as we saw in The Teleporter Chambers DLC. It is noticeably harder though, presenting a decent challenge within the first stage and getting progressively tougher.
More than anything, The Lost Clones levels seem busier. You’ll often be evading sentry robots while jumping to avoid spinning blade traps, crushing blocks and powerful lasers all at the same time, and often it’ll feel more like luck than judgment when you make it through a level. Fluking your way through a tough spot is a great feeling though, as is heading back to the beginning of a particularly evil level and perfecting it so that you can pull off the entire run like one continuous trick-shot.
The wonderful humour remains intact, this time taking us through the sordid, secretive past of PTI. The silent, wall-based put-downs are as cutting as ever, and finding one of the old clones, bent and wizened and complete with walking stick, is always a great moment, even if you’re not always sure exactly why.
VERDICT: Those of you who finished Stealth Inc and immediately wanted more will get a lot from The Lost Clones. If you never got through the original game, however, then this DLC pack brings nothing to the table to make it any more worthwhile. More of the same, then, but that’ll be more than enough for some.
VERY GOOD. An 8/10 is only awarded to a game we consider truly worthy of your hard-earned cash. This game is only held back by a smattering of minor or middling issues and comes highly recommended.
Review code provided by publisher.
