Styx: Shards of Darkness

Many times while playing Styx did I find myself thinking “I could’ve done that better,” or “I wonder what would’ve happened if I dropped that chandelier on that guard.” Whether it be the need to discover where an alternate route of an intricate level could take me or the craving to nail a perfect run, Styx: Shards of Darkness’ sheer unpredictability constantly pushed me to attempt levels multiple times – even if it did result in varying results of satisfaction. Any game that actively makes you want to replay is surely doing something right. What it may lack in narrative development, Styx: Shar...

When Focus Home, Cyanide Games, and Spiders released Of Orcs and Men back in 2012, it was met with very mixed reviews. And when its prequel and spin-off Styx: Master of Shadows came out two years later, we saw it as an improvement over its predecessor due to its take on stealth and combat that differed from the other stealth games in the market. Styx: Shards of Darkness is the third game of the series and the sequel to Master of Shadows and akin to how Master of Shadows was an improvement over Of Orcs and Men, Shards of Darkness is an even bigger improvement from its predecessors.

Styx: Shards of Darkness is an excellent purist stealth game, which is let down by stupid AI.

Styx' latest stealth outing puts the 'gob' into goblin.

Styx: Shards of Darkness greatly resembles the earlier Styx: Master of Shadows from 2014, but Cyanide improved the gameplay this time around with the inclusion of craftable weapons, the lack of a lock-on in combat, and expanded abilities. It presents an interesting world to explore but wastes its potential by recycling environments from early missions late in the game. Co-op mode is fun, too, but only selectively as some stealth-only missions seem far more manageable on one's own.

Overwhelming in size and overflowing with freedom with which to tackle its sprawling campaign, Styx: Shards of Darkness is an unapologetically pure stealth title that might struggle to expand its hardcore appeal beyond the die-hard fans of the genre.

Styx kills again, sneaks around, turns invisible, and comes up with creative uses for his clones. However, he is not particularly interested in learning anything new. In short, Shards of Darkness is a solid sequel, but without the "wow" factor.

A fantastically designed stealth game that stumbles a bit with mediocre controls.

And really, pleasant surprises are what we’re talking about with Styx: Shards of Darkness. Don’t let the reduced price tag or the fact that Styx’s previous titles aren’t exactly household names fool you. Once you get past the slightly budget look of the UI and occasional control jank, there is a solid core of a pretty damn good stealth game here. Give him a chance, and Styx might just steal your heart (only to pawn it at a fraction of its value, the little bastard).

Styx to the formula.

There were several moments during my playthrough of Styx: Shards of Darkness that felt as if the game was going out of its way to frustrate me. At its core, Styx wants to be a pure stealth game akin to the old Thief series, with every level designed around sneaking from room to room, building to building, stealing gold, forging documents, and opening vaults without ever being seen or heard. You play as the titular Styx, a talking goblin thief with an addiction to magic-imbuing “amber” who has zero combat abilities, his talents instead focused on evasion, espionage, and burglary. To slink throu...

Styx: Shards of Darkness will provide stealth fans with a brief thrill, but wading through levels multiple times and dealing with poor attempts at variety will grate at even the most jaded of players by the time the campaign is through.