Did Larian say why they removed Backstab advantage? Did they say if it will be a toggle-able feature in an options menu?
I'm rather disappointed backstab advantage was removed by height advantage was kept, of the 2 I would have prefered to keep backstab advantage.
To me backstab was their take on the optional Flanking rules for 5e, and personally I've never played a game of d&d that didn't have flanking incorporated into it to allow for more strategy and teamwork between players/characters.
While I'd rather see flanking give a +2 bonus to hit while flanking (allowing it to be the effective equivalent for offence as half-cover is defensively), not having any flanking mechanic in the game seems like a big loss tactically, and it removing it removes some of the threat lower level creatures and characters can have against high level creatures and characters.
For example by the time your in plate and have a shield you 20 AC is going to be nigh-unhittable for your average goblin warrior, but with flanking they can team up against someone and have a more likely chance to hit, and the same goes for the party fighting against threats they normally probably shouldn't be facing, it increases the overlap between threat levels which is a good thing, and gives the GM (in this case Larian) more mileage out of low CR creatures than they would otherwise have.
