Styx: Shards of Darkness Reviews
Styx: Shards of Darkness is polished and expanded Styx: Master of Shadows. It uses same mechanics, which makes it feels familiar, but somehow better. It's the essence of stealth game where you can either leave a trail of blood behind you, or a few empty purses. Styx feels like THIEF and is acquired taste, but everyone should at least try it.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Everything comes together to create a really great stealth gameplay experience.
I see a lot of reviews slammed the game for its poor combat system really?! This is a stealth base game, not a hack and slash game combat is not an option. You aren’t supposed to be facing enemies head on. Another issue reviewers seem to have is the fact that Styx breaks the 4th wall like Deadpool. And that his sense of humor is a bit much for these reviewers who clearly lost theirs a long time ago. And yes I am aware humor/comedy is subjective but to me, Styx is a welcome change of pace as protagonist. He is a character, snarky, scheming and yes he makes the occasional quips and dated pop-culture references. That alone gives him a definable personality. Styx: Shards of Darkness is a solid stealth game with plenty of humor and style. And it harks back to the old-school hardcore stealth games of the past.
Unlike the original game, this version now has a quick save function by pressing right on the d-pad. This makes the game a lot more forgiving than the original and the level design has been improved with multiple routes though the levels giving the player choice how to approach each situation. The A.I. is hit and miss, when it's good it's fantastic, but this is spoilt when you see the guards glitching out.
It may not have quite the level of polish of a AAA title, but it’s more than worth your time.
Styx: Shards of Darkness is a pleasant stealth game. Just be aware that it's not a AAA title. It looks fine on the surface, but some mechanics are a bit too old-fashioned. However, if you like stealth games or the previous Styx game, you'll not make a mistake picking this title.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Styx: Shards of Darkness improves from Master of Shadows on many fronts and introduced a lot of new features that adds more depth to the franchise. But the failure to completely address control issues from the previous game prevents me from enjoying the game to its fullest.
Styx: Shards of Darkness puts its own unique spin on the stealth genre by giving us an unconventional hero that’s not only incredibly powerful, but very crude too. What’s most important though is that it’s fun to play throughout, offering an adventure that constantly entertains and offers plenty of things for the player to do. It has its flaws with some shoddy climbing controls, poor AI, and lack of diversity with its visual design, but none of these issues trump what Styx: Shards of Darkness does right. If you’re looking for an enjoyable stealth adventure that offers plenty of freedom to the player, it’s certainly worth checking Styx: Shards of Darkness out.
Styx is a mostly enjoyable ride from start to finish
A notable improvement over Master of Shadows only held back by some uninspired mechanics and skill tree.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Styx may not be the most anticipated stealth adventure of the year, but it’s definitely one you should be checking out If you’re a fan of the genre. Gameplay can unfortunately start to feel repetitive after a string of deaths, but those happy to take their time will find an adventure to enjoy.
In the end Styx: Shards of Darkness isn’t a terrible game. Sadly several elements stop it from reaching the greatness it could have had, like bad platforming, AI getting stuck during patrols, a story that doesn’t engage and wobbly voice acting all keep Styx in the firmly good section
Styx: Shards of Darkness is an enjoyable easy to pick stealth game. It has all the tools to set a solid footing among the best in the genre like amazing variety in levels, likeable character, very well designed open levels, and addictive stealth mechanics, but sadly it stumbles and fails to do so, chalk it to the sense of incompleteness that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. I highly recommend it to the fans, if you liked Master of Shadows, you well like this game even more, I recommend a buy but in a later time with a budget price.
Styx: Shards of Darkness does well with its detailed level design and humorous main character, but the inconsistency in its gameplay mechanics and a forgettable storyline stand in the way of its prominence as a stealth action game. Entertaining, to say the least, but far from a must-play.
In short, Styx: Shards of Darkness, is a massive improvement, not only upon its predecessor, but also the AA category as a whole. It is a title which offers the variety of gameplay which even some AAA games lack these days, and the inclusion of the co-op mode only further promotes it up the ladder of desirability. However, despite its strong technical and artistic foundation, Styx: Shards of Darkness, is not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination. And what prevents it from reaching the upper echelons of the grading scale, is the fact that at its core, Styx: Shards of Darkness, is a title which suffers deeply from its mechanical shortcomings, which are so brazen at times, that they take all the joy away from the title
Ultimately, Styx: Shards of Darkness is a great game however, it is a STEALTH game, with no misconceptions of anything else thrown in, that must be understood. Sure, the satirical nature of the world might not get fleshed out quite as much as I'd have liked but the refreshing tone is more than enough as-is. The gameplay is fun and the options provide great replayability to each level. Not to mention, of course, Styx himself, who provides comedy and wit galore. If you're looking for a stealth title that will have you creeping cautiously through vast levels while trying not to laugh your head off, then Styx: Shards of Darkness is definitely the game for you
Styx: Shards of Darkness is a promising stealth experience with massive stages and an interesting blend of genres.
Cyanide continues to build its own dark fantasy world, step by step. And Shards of Darkness is a step in a right direction. Story is richer, gameplay is better than in its predecessor. And we only hope developers will stay on track for a few games more.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Styx: Shards of Darkness One of the few titles that provided stealth in a great form, all the elements were designed to serve the player in his adventure away from action and direct clashes as much as possible, but on other hand you feel the limited budget the game have or it's safe more to say it didn't have much time in development especially at second half of the game, which represents weak story and limited graphical level.
Review in Arabic | Read full review