Stealth games exist on a broad spectrum of settings and heroes and motifs. It’s a storied genre with icons like Agent 47 and Solid Snake and Corvo Attano. All those characters are deadly serious, unlike Styx. Deadly? Sure. Serious? Not so much. And his wry, snarky takedowns of the fourth wall help Styx stand out among a field already crowded with excellent games and memorable heroes. Styx: Shards of Darkness is shaping up to be every bit as capable as its predecessor, and the polished mechanics and deep level design should help propel it from cult status into the mainstream.
I got my hands on Styx: Shards of Darkness at What’s Next de Focus in Paris and, after about an hour, barely finished the intro level of the game. The objective is pure Styx: sneak into a tavern and steal the payroll from a group of abusive, anti-goblin human guards. The conflict will be familiar to fans of the first game, or fans of the source material Of Orcs And Men . It’s a simple goblins = bad and humans = good trope, but the prejudice feels sinister enough to put you on the side of the goblins almost immediately. Styx is unique in the goblin world, too, in that he is the only one who can speak like humans do. For a game with a fantasy setting, the device has some real-world weight. Watching guards torment a goblin who they assume doesn’t speak the language, all the while knowing that Styx totally understands the cruelty of the taunts, adds another layer of motivation to your pilfering. These jerks deserve it, as do jerks everywhere.
Serving up the revenge means sneaking through a series of buildings set on stilts inside a rocky cove with treacherous waves crashing below. Fortunately, a crisp, sticky climbing mechanic makes traversing the environs of Styx: Shards of Darkness a genuine thrill. It’s fun just shimmying up ropes and inching along as you hang from a ledge. It’s a nice open-world feel without being too voluminous. Of course, I only experienced the intro level, so it's quite possible that some of the maps get much bigger.
This isn’t to say the map is small. It’s more dense than anything, with lots of small windows and crawlspaces to shimmy through. There seemed to be multiple approaches for getting through or around the huts and houses along the way to the tavern, and the tavern itself is incredibly porous while also staying secure. Styx has a number of magical powers that aid in his efforts, including a vision buff that reveals guards and their lines of sight. You’ll need to check twice before hopping through a window or popping open a door. It also reveals handholds for scaling walls and highlights active objects in the environment. You’ll need them.
Unlike many other stealth games, Styx does not incorporate a “oops you caught me let’s fight it out” side to things. There is no standing your ground against every guard in the place. There’s a parry move, meant mostly to buy you a second chance from the first attack that comes your way. Styx isn’t about the brawl, he’s about the crawl. You’ll need to scurry away when detected and eventually learn to take things low and slow when there’s multiple guards roaming around. You can kill guards with silent takedowns and by poisoning food and drink though, so you’re not helpless. But the gameplay lends itself to observation and critical thinking and not stealth-until-it's-inconvenient.
My hands-on with Styx: Shards of Darkness introduced me to a franchise I had heard a lot about but never experienced, and did so in a way that left me wanting more. I expect that fans who fell in love with the first game will find plenty of the same charm and vibe throughout Styx: Shards of Darkness , but there’s a lot here for new fans too. It’s an accessible, fun stealth experience that provides a nice alternative to other titles in the genre that take things a bit too seriously. If you’re not already on the Switch bandwagon or dying to play Mass Effect: Andromeda , then look for Styx: Shards of Darkness to give you something to do next month when it releases on PC, PS4 and Xbox One on March 14.
