Styx, the titular wise cracking protagonist Goblin. He stalks slowly like Garrett, serves up great one liners like James Bond, and is almost as efficient in killing his prey as (modern) Sam Fisher. Styx doesn't only hate dying, he berates you for it too, "You know you don't need to play with your feet right?" Even going so far as to ask for pizza. I mean... PIZZA! How does a Goblin know about the food of the heavens? Well Styx does, and while Styx himself isn't all that serious, he does have his moments.
Styx: Shards of Darkness is set in a dingy decaying fantasy world, where Elves are not mystical perfection, but just as flawed (if not more so) than humans. But no matter how interesting the lore of Styx can be, and no matter how much I wanted to learn about. I just forget most of it. Which, is not an issue in a game like Styx.
"Wheeeeeeee! What? You didn't see nothing right?" - Styx (not an actual quote)
Stealth isn't hidden at all
When you think 'stealth' the first thing that comes to mind is not being seen right? You are right, and Styx keeps that that promise and then some. You, as a tiny sneaky sarky Goblin, must always keep to the shadows. Styx: Shards of Darkness is a stealth game for the purist, you get spotted and you are all but dead. There is however, a way out, you are able to counter attackers, putting guards into a stunned like state allowing you to 'remove' them. However, where there's one guard, there are more within ear shot. And guards have excellent selective hearing when their buddies are killed, or attacked.
In fact, the AI, along with the forgettable lore are the only things which let Styx down. Similar issues to the first game then.
"I'm on fire fellas!" - Styx (not an actual quote)
To AI or not to AI? That is the question
Picture this, while walking up stairs, there a box a little ways in front of you, and a guard past it. When you pop out from the cover of the stairs, you get spotted. Fine so far. But you manage run past the guard, who just charged at you, and you crouch behind the box before they can turn around.
Poof. You vanish.
The guards walks back the way they came looking for an intruder, while their friends join them. You wait behind the box for a short while longer, and all the guards do is stand there. They don't check past the box. The guards then turn around like nothing happened and wander off. Styx slinks his way back around the back of box while the guard who originally spotted you walks around the front of the box. You are back in stealth... um business. But what just happened there? How did you escape? By using the tried and true method of "ring around the rosie." And I didn't just evade once by doing that, it was multiple times. It's like the AI has a barrier they can't cross at times.
"Good lads, you spotted me. Now the fun begins." - Styx (not an actual quote)
It spoils an otherwise good, if tried and true, detection system. Where there is three stages of alert. Eh, what is that, and die motherfucker. Getting between these stages is shown by a circle of awareness above everyone's head (when there is no awareness there is no circle). A circle filling with grey is the first stage, when it fills, the circle then goes yellow. This stage is when guards are curious about what's up. They start to search around, and break from their normal routine. The final stage is when the circle fills up with red, and it does this seemingly quicker than the other stages. Once full, you have been seen and now must hide. This simple detection system has been used in countless games, be it stealth or not. We all know it, and are used to it but it's just done well in Styx: Shards of Darkness (other than the AI's ability to actually search is rather... limited).
You said fantacy, where be magic?
The magic in Styx is explained with the "it's magic" cop out. But, a much more interesting is how it's used. With a substance called Amber, Styx is able to turn invisible, create a 'clone' of himself, and a heap of other things I will let you discover. Amber basically acts as the mana system in Styx, allowing you "do the magic" so to speak.
Creating a clone makes for so many funny moments. There have been times when I've almost been spotted, created a clone and tried to kill everyone full Rambo style. I've distracted the guards on almost the whole level, and kited them to the start giving Styx actual an easier time.
Little things make Styx a solid game
There little details found in Styx are what makes it a great game. Things like your dagger being the stealth meter, showing exactly how hidden you are. To the simple climbing system, which involves just jump towards a ledge, and Styx will grab it for you. Even through to the death screens, which are taken right out for the Batman Arkham games, but instead of the villains taunting you it's Styx himself. Even down the the upgrade tree being very clear what each upgrade is going to help. There are no silly names, just basic good old clear words, things like stealth, potions, cloning. These are all amazing touches which just show a level of care on the part of Cyanide Studios for the gameplay.
Wait, an upgrade tree? I don't want to grind to level up
Here we get to where we really see the care put into Styx: Shards of Darkness, especially in the skills, and upgrade tree. You don't need to level up ranks, to get points to assign to some skills. You just need to complete missions -- and secondary objectives to get the most points -- in order to get points which you can spend. On just playing the first 2 missions, I could buy 4 skills, and I didn't even complete the side objectives.
The skills start out as things like being able to drop kill from higher up, clones not using up as much Amber, or being harder to detect. And they escalate to becoming a truly efficient thieving Goblin.
Styx: Shards of Darkness is a hurrah for stealth games of old
Playing Styx I couldn't shake the feeling of games like Thief, Hitman, or even the stealth in games the new style of Deus Ex -- no I'm not saying Styx better than these games, but Styx sits right next to them. A game for fans of classic purist stealth.
No, it's not as special (seeing as it uses these as inspirations) nor the world as interesting, but it will appeal to fans of classic stealth games.
Unfortunately, Styx doesn't have a non-lethal takedown, and so the only way to play a no kills playthrough is the hard way -- by not taking anyone out, but who wants to be nice to the bad guys? Styx doesn't!
The biggest nod to Thief comes from the 'water arrows', in the form of sand. Yes, you lob sand at torches to put them out, but you can't do that for all forms of light, so sand isn't a super weapon -- that would be your brain.
Styx is a game which makes you think before acting, you study your terrain, the guards, and then execute. Getting it right feels amazing, and luckily the quick save system involves pressing a button, loosing 1 frame (sometimes), and done. With only a few let downs with the AI, and me personally finding the lore rather forgettable, Styx: Shards of Darkness is as masterfully crafted as the titular Styx. Capable of so much more than his size suggests.
Note: a copy of the game was given for the purposes of this review.
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