Styx: Shards of Darkness Reviews
Cyanide Studios returns after three years with Shards of Darkness to offer us a new adventure of Styx. A game with a weak plot and full of light and dark sides, where the absence of light will accompany us throughout the adventure along with fantastic game mechanics and a good cooperative mode although with some flaws.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Styx is a solid game with polished mechanics that simply fails to justify its higher asking price. Combine that with its release date being sandwiched between so many 'must-have' titles and it doesn't even fill a void of having nothing to play. Still, it is a solid stealth game, and one that provides plenty of entertainment in its solid campaign. I just cannot justify the steeper price for what still feels like a lower-budget title.
Styx: Shards Of Darkness is a unique beast. In a time where every game seems to be committed to diversifying their gameplay as much as possible, and appealing to as wide an audience as possible, Styx: Shards Of Darkness is unconventionally pure in its approach.
Depending on what you're looking for in your next third person stealth game, Styx may fit the bill. It gets a lot right and is a noticeable improvement from the first game, which itself was pretty good to begin with. It may not carry the history or prestige of some of stealth's bigger franchises, but if you like the genre at all, Cyanide Studios' latest effort deserves your attention.
Everything comes together to create a really great stealth gameplay experience.
Styx: Shards of Darkness is a solid, enjoyable game, but a number of flaws hold it back from being anything more.
In some ways, Styx: Shards of Darkness felt as Stockholm-Syndrome-inducingly difficult as Dark Souls, with the frequent deaths, taunts, and preference for evasion over confrontation. But that made me like it even more.
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.
A notable improvement over Master of Shadows only held back by some uninspired mechanics and skill tree.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Styx: Shards of Drakness is developing the predecessor's ideas, but there is no breakthrough here. We are returning at one's old place in a slightly better, nicer and more friendly way. The game perfectly implements characteristics of stealth games, but because of bugs it misses AAA games quality.
Review in Polish | Read full review
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
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
Styx Shards of Darkness is a good evolution of Styx's Universe, and it offers a lot of improvements. Better graphics, better gameplay mechanics... and always this sneaky and funny goblin! A good stealth experience, that still suffers some technical and AI issues.
Review in French | Read full review
Despite being so similar compared to Master of Shadows in terms of gameplay, Shards of Darkness improves in visuals and level desing, but still has deficiencies in terms of AI and narrative.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
A mechanically strong stealth title with some of the most eye-rollingly awful dialogue I have ever been subjected to. Styx as a character is obnoxious, unlikable, and immersion breaking, but he does wield some of the most impressive and well-designed infiltration abilities in the genre. I just wish he would shut the hell up.
Shards of Darkness is a fine sequel to the unexpected and great Master of Shadows. It's more ambitious, but this results in some other aspects not feeling as polished as they should.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
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 an incredibly fun game - provided you are ok with slowing down the pace and willing to put up with uncompromising stealth. If you are looking for an action heavy stealth experience, this isn’t really your cup of tea. However, if you’re like me (though I’m terrible at stealth on the whole) and want a great, difficult challenge, Styx: Shards of Darkness might be right up your alley.
A stealth game in the true sense of the word you should keep an eye on, even if the enemies AI is still not that great.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.