Styx: Master of Shadows

Styx is a decent stealth game that is very typical for the games of its genre and generation.  It has aspects of a thief, assassin, and general stealth type game.  One breath of fresh air is that it does not take itself seriously in the least.

Styx is a game about you playing as Styx, a master thief or assassin.  You explore well built and graphicly pleasing maps, with a myriad of challenges to face.  The game is interesting in that the tutorial area leads into the first map, so the actions you take in the tutorial / learning area will impact the general game.  The game also reacts to your decisions, so it does matter how you play and interact with the game.

Like many games Styx shows map and quest information on the loading screens before the map starts.  It does give some basic information that can effect how you will approach the game.  Some of the information is just plot and has little-to-no importance if you're focused on just the gameplay and not the story.  The story is interesting overall for those who care.  The story was interesting but it was generally forget-able, as it is par for the course for a generic stealth game.

Styx himself is a master thief or assassin in his world.  He is also a green goblin, which are seen as pests in general.  He does seem more intelligent than the average goblin though.  The intro area does a good job of teaching you the basic controls, of how to tell the light level and sound levels.  It does a good job of showing you how to interact with the NPCs and enemies as well.  Most of the basic aspects of the game are generally standard for this type of game.

Once you have finished the area it'll give you an overall rating / medal depending on how you did in the map.  Aspects of swiftness, stealth, and mercy are included, as well as if you picked up the macguffin tokens along the way.  Swiftness is for how fast you completed the map, stealth was how many times you were seen, and mercy is for how many enemies you killed.  Each matters depending on the achievements you're working toward.

You also have an option to upgrade different skills.  Skills involve crafting, alchemy, stealth, magic / clone abilities, and so forth.  You can see which abilities are dependent on other skills.  Skills is the main way to change your gameplay, whether you want to kill everything or be a shadow on the wind.

Crafting is an interesting aspect in the game.  You can find basic items in the map as you explore, but you will more than likely find raw materials that you'll use to craft the items you want / need.  There is a set number of items you can carry at once, so you may want to craft when you have the items since you may find more materials as you explore.  Different items may require similar materials so before you spend everything you may want to assess what you need versus what you have access to.

As you pass through various maps one constant is puzzles.  You will need to find different items, pass different trials, get to a specific place in the area, etcetera.  To pass a specific part you have to pass a myriad of trials.  Kill certain creatures, gather specific materials, pass a labyrinth, and so forth.  Certain areas require you to reach an area without being seen.  Or you have to read lore to open a chest to get certain gear. 

As seen below and above you can see that some of the challenges vary.  Above you have to get from one end to the other of the room without dying.  You can use the sigils on the pads on either end of the room to help figure out which pads are safe to step on.  Unless you want to brute force it and hope you can heal through the damage.  Below you see that you have to use lasers and mirrors to light specific items to open the doors.  The puzzles will require you to stretch your mind.

As mentioned above this game does not take itself seriously at all sometimes.  It does make fun of other assassin and stealth games, if you can catch the references.  The character will break the fourth wall and speak to the player, criticizing them due to the mistakes they make.  He will cuss at the player, demand financial compensation for money earned from streaming or videos, or remind the player about certain basic controls.  The game is serious at times, but very often pokes fun at itself and other games.

One of the great things about this game is the graphics.  Many of the maps are beautiful to look at.  You could spend a lot of time exploring and enjoying the environment.  You can see the love the developers put into this game as you explore different parts of each map.  As you explore you may find different paths that may help progress with each task.  Many paths will lead under the walkways, behind buildings, or along the cliff faces behind vegetation or along the outsides of ships.  You can explore back rooms and find more hidden chests and loot.  Exploration is key in this game.

Styx is a decent game.  It has fun points and challenging tasks.  The AI for the NPCs is fair, making the game seem balanced.  Higher tier enemies are harder to kill or avoid.  More dangerous areas have more enemies and make it harder to explore.  It's an ok game to give a try at least.

I would suggest picking up this game if it's on sale.  It's got little replay value and minor mistakes can cause you to have to replay major parts of the story.  Many parts of the story aren't explained very well so you have to explore and figure out where to go on your own.  I found myself lost on more than a couple occasions.  It's a forget-able game, which makes sense for the year it was made.  It's not my favorite game and playing through once is good enough for me.  Overall it's worth a try if it's on sale.