Styx: Shards of Darkness Reviews
A mean-spirited character leads a big-hearted game; you’re unlikely to dwell on its lore but its features combine well to create a satisfying stealth experience.
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.
Many of the pieces that make up Styx feel dated, but they still come together to make a competent stealth-action experience.
A wisecracking goblin assassin may seem like an odd choice for a protagonist, but the titular character of Styx: Shards of Darkness is enjoyable to control.
Clearly, a lot of money and skill has gone into making Shards Of Darkness, which only makes the fact that you have to battle past this woeful characterisation to get to the strong stealth meat below all the more tragic.
A decent stealth experience, but the AI tends to sour the experience, as does the occasional camera angle issue.
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
Shards of Darkness could have been a big step forward for the series, giving you a more rounded set of gameplay possibilities, alongside the better looking environments and other areas. Alas it’s not as big an improvement as I’d hoped and is let down by bugs and inconsistencies. It’s a stealth game with one foot stuck in the past, and that remains both a blessing and a curse.
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).
It's safe to say Styx: Shards of Darkness is nothing short of a spectacular stealth game that brings the genre back to its roots and I can't wait to see where it goes from here.
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
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 improves on its predecessor significantly without having to steer away from its core attributes. Everything from its visuals and dialogue to its gameplay and story have been upgraded and polished to an impressive sheen. It’s still far from being perfect and its style of stealth and combat might not be for everyone, but it’s definitely a challenging and enjoyable experience that sometimes forces you to think hard first before acting. The foundation that Of Orcs and Men built set the perfect stage for both Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness and it can only get better and more interesting from here.
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.
All in all, Styx: Shards of Darkness is a game you won't want to miss.
Styx: Shards of Darkness is an enormous improvement over its predecessor. The gameplay has seen a large amount of refinement to the point where it's actually a fun game to play, and Styx himself steals the show with his charismatic performance. It's not without its own set of returning and new defects, but Styx's second adventure is something we can confidently recommend. This is everything the first game should have been.
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: Shards of Darkness never progresses beyond being a moderately functional game with low-fantasy aspirations.
Styx: Shards of Darkness is an interesting development of the ideas of the original game with an amusing humour and a charismatic main character that suffers from many errors, deficiencies and other problems that will be partly fixed with updates. But this is unlikely change our opinion about the game. I put a rating based on atmosphere, diversity and stealth, but you really have to love the genre to get pleasure from this game.
Review in Russian |
By no means a perfect game, Styx: Shards of Darkness is still an improvement on the first. As the series continues to progress we can hope to see some better storytelling, world building and crisper graphics and sound, but for now at least we have an enjoyable experience with some interesting ideas to experiment with