Same here. It’s as someone else noted, the models don’t match the hitbox. That’s how some mobs even aggro as you’re sneaking right behind them out of sight range.
The only time I can get backstabs is when I stagger an enemy and can run behind them.
I’m +1/upping this thread, because I reported this same bug on the Discord server by posting a video that shows that no matter how I try to position myself perfectly behind the enemy, the skull icon never pops up and thus I can’t backstab - if I press X on the gamepad, a normal attack is executed.
Since I can’t upload clips directly on this forum, I’ll leave here the link to the Discord message with the video: Discord
I’d like to point it that this happens more often than not, roughly 4 out of 5 times, I tried to see if there was any common pattern to it but to no avail.
Moreover, it seems that this “no backstab available” bug happens even during combat, tried to stagger enemies and position myself perfectly behind, but nope, no backstab.
I can’t count the number of times I have sneaked up behind an unaware enemy and either there was no skull, or when the skull does show I get a regular attack instead. It feels completely random when I actually do get a backstab (pretty much only by accident) and it feels unrealistically unfair when I’m hidden behind an enemy and still can’t do it.
I only started playing on the free weekend and bought the game almost immediately, so I have no idea how the backstab used to work, but if this was a deliberate nerf why would you even leave the mechanic in the game? It’s not fair to tell players they can do something if you actually make it impossible. Unless it’s a weird desynch issue, and the enemy is standing idle at a different angle than they appear? I can’t think of any reason why sneaking up on an enemy should not result in a backstab.