Stealth Bastard Deluxe keeps the essence of Stealth Bastard – which has been described as a cross between Metal Gear Solid and Super Meat Boy – but builds upon it in almost every way.

Players must journey to the exit of each level by employing a mix of platforming, puzzle solving, hacking and stealth. Vicious robot drones are on constant patrol, poised to shoot on-sight. Security cameras perform constant sweeps, ready to execute anyone who falls within their field of vision. And fiendish traps lurk in every shadow, eager to lure careless agents into their clutches.

One false move and – zzzzk!, frrrrap! or gnnnnnnnnr! And sometimes spppppplrrrt!

The main game now boasts a brilliant new narrative which reveals the origin of the character, and why he’s trying to escape such a bastard-tough facility. With 80 levels spread across eight worlds, there’s even more hard-as-nails challenge – featuring all-new equipment, and lots and lots of new ways to die.

Stealth Bastard Deluxe will also come complete with an intuitive level editor, allowing players to become the titular bastard themselves. Levels can be shared and ranked by the Stealth Bastard community, with a comprehensive online leaderboard tracking and ranking progress – enabling players to boast when they are better bastards than their friends.

“We’ve learnt so much since we released the original prototype last year,” says Jonathan Biddle, design director, Curve Studios. “And it’s all been poured into Stealth Bastard Deluxe. The feedback from the community has given us the impetus to create a full version of the original idea – and we’re absolutely thrilled with how it’s shaping up. Seeing the game evolve from a single mechanic of “don’t be seen or you will get killed”, into a fully-fledged Steam release has been enormously rewarding – and we can’t wait to get the full version out there and see how the Steam community reacts.”

Key Features:

• All new equipment which we’ll be revealing soon!
• Hide in the shadows with a real-time shadowing system!
• Evade a wide range of eagle-eyed lethal robotic foes!
• Hack your way to the exit... and to the next challenge!
• Squeeze through doorways mere seconds before you're sliced into pieces!
• Die in a variety of gruesome, cruel ways!
• Create your own fiendish deathrooms and share them with the world - all in the game!
• Shave seconds off your playtimes and rule the global leaderboards!

Stealth Bastard Deluxe will be available exclusively on Steam ($9.99 / £6.99 / €8.99), while the free version will remain available on stealthbastard.com, but will no longer be updated. It is actually free, rather than “free to play”, which very often ends up not being.