It may not have the identical form of ambition or bells and whistles as its contemporaries, however Styx holds a particular place in my coronary heart as one in all only a few pure stealth sport sequence we’ve got left. Will you discover the extremely creative situations of Hitman or the insane degree of polish and replayability of Dishonored? Nope. As an alternative Styx contents itself with merely being a dependable manner for stealth followers to get their repair, and Styx: Blades of Greed isn’t any exception. As a rule, the standard playbook of sneaking round, stealing and assassinating the whole lot in sight, is as enjoyable because it’s ever been, and this sequel makes some vital tweaks, like eradicating weak multiplayer mechanics to refocus on a solo stealth expertise and swapping smaller, mission-based maps for completely huge areas. Nevertheless it’s additionally saddled with fairly a couple of of the identical points it’s at all times had, finicky motion, efficiency points, and an unremarkable story, that are as disappointing as they’re fully anticipated.
Like its predecessor from 2017, Blades of Greed places you within the leather-based boots of an aged, grumpy goblin as you sneak into small areas, stab people, elves, and monsters of their mushy locations, and use an arsenal of devices and particular skills to beat the truth that getting noticed will get you killed in two seconds flat. There are some modest additions, like a few new devices and talents that allow you to do issues like thoughts management NPCs from afar or use a grappling hook to shut massive gaps in a brief time frame, however for essentially the most half there’s little or no that’s modified concerning the moment-to-moment gameplay. You’ll nonetheless discover, for instance, the ol’ dependable capability to show your self invisible for a brief time frame, and can nonetheless end up hiding inside closets and barrels earlier than coming out to slit the throat of some fool guard. Good occasions. As ever, stealth is totally the star of the present, and Blades of Greed has the identical prime quality sneaking round that you just’d hope it might.
The story in Styx has by no means been excellent, and Blades of Greed lives as much as these low expectations by having a very forgettable story regardless of the truth that its protagonist is inherently fascinating and distinctive. After growing a longing for magical skills granted to you by quartz crystals discovered all through the world, you start a repetitive journey to, properly, discover extra of it, and 90% of the marketing campaign is simply going from place-to-place stealing these glowing rocks to energy your self up with little in the best way of plot in between these scavenger hunts. You meet some characters alongside the best way, like a gadget-obsessed dwarf and an orc who turns into your religious information, however they don’t get sufficient display screen time to depart a lot of an impression and what they do get isn’t used successfully, with everybody spouting off explanations of telling you what it’s worthwhile to do subsequent and little else. You’re unlikely to have come to the Styx sequence on the lookout for an enticing story, however simply in case you had been hoping to be pleasantly stunned: I wouldn’t rely on that.
Although the overwhelming majority of Styx’s bones stay the identical, one main change is that as an alternative of treading (and typically retreading) by way of mission-specific ranges, Blades of Greed helps you to free in three extraordinarily massive maps full of each necessary and elective areas to discover, pilfer, and fall to your dying inside. It’s a neat thought that enables for considerably extra freedom over prior adventures, and it’s fairly straightforward to develop into distracted and assassinate your manner by way of a whole area earlier than realizing you didn’t even actually have any goal behind any of it, besides that it’s simply onerous to see a guard strolling by unaware and never take him down. These large ranges additionally can help you categorical creativity in the way you navigate the world and clear up the issue of getting round when each 10 ft there’s somebody who may kill you by respiration on you. While you’re observing an goal that’s a mountain’s distance above you, you’ll want to only creep round and check out issues to determine learn how to get there – possibly you’ll discover a good spot on the facet of a tower to make daring leaps whereas avoiding the discover of guards alongside the best way, or possibly you’ll discover a quieter path by way of a sewer system that leads you to the identical spot, however is infested with large bugs that can swarm you for those who get too shut.
That may be a very fascinating stealth problem to determine, however comes with some distinctive drawbacks as properly. For one, it may be exhausting to need to cross such a large space slowly sneaking alongside all of the whereas, and for those who attempt to simply dash previous the whole lot to get to the target, you ought to be ready to reload an entire bunch as you’re employed by way of the trial and error technique of doing so. That journey time feels considerably much less targeted and curated than the extra linear mannequin for degree design as properly, and oftentimes you’re kinda simply half-assedly sneaking by way of ruins and throughout rooftops with no actual obstacles alongside the best way till you get to the place that the target marker needs you to be, at which level issues begin to really feel rather more targeted. In different phrases, it’s an entire lot of fats earlier than you get to the meat of the principle aims. I really spent the overwhelming majority of the greater than 20 hours it took me to beat Blades of Greed making an attempt to determine the place precisely my subsequent goal was and learn how to get there, somewhat than really pulling off the heist in query.
The excellent news is that every of those maps is fairly superior throughout the board. The Wall is an absurdly cool vertical labyrinth of concrete castles and rickety slums, Turquoise Daybreak is a jungle of timber, swamps, and large, lethal roaches swarming in darkish areas, and the Akenash Ruins are a ruined, kingdom the place the whole lot floats within the air unnaturally and enemies are extraordinarily bizarre monsters, like one thing out of Elden Ring. Every go to to those locations all through the story unlocks new areas to discover, although you’ll additionally do fairly a little bit of backtracking by way of areas you’ve already been, which is a little bit of a drag. Nonetheless, these are a number of the extra fascinating areas I’ve stalked the halls of in a stealth sport and highlights the distinctive, unusual, and magically-infused world that this curmudgeonly goblin calls dwelling.
Although the large quantity of house these maps have could be fairly nice to discover, they generally really feel a bit too huge for the a lot smaller aims inside them. The story’s predominant aims are a lot smaller than a typical stealth mission, often simply requiring you to steal a key and open a locked door, or shut down a machine so you possibly can attain your goal – miniature quests that often solely take a pair minutes to finish, if that. When you’ve checked it off your checklist, you’re again to the principally uneventful touring stealth as you discover a technique to the following goal, usually requiring you to backtrack by way of a number of the similar spots within the course of, which is how I’ve spent the majority of the journey to this point. On the intense facet, this format means you’re principally simply locked into a relentless stream of pure, unadulterated stealth situations for hours on finish as you’re employed your manner by way of every set of missions, and since that’s Blades of Greed’s sturdy go well with, you’re getting precisely what the physician ordered.
When you’re aware of the shortcomings of the earlier Styx video games, then you definitely’ll in all probability be less-than-stoked to listen to that Blades of Greed doesn’t tackle most of those. Fight, which is a final resort, however typically required, is kind of sloppy and overly simplistic, and shifting round, particularly leaping onto ledges and the like could be finicky at occasions and precipitated me to fall to my dying or get caught out within the open dozens of occasions by this level. Worse than these although, are the standard efficiency points and technical challenges, like NPCs turning into invisible whereas speaking to them and frames dropping to horrifyingly low ranges after prolonged play classes. Framerate points are literally a good bit worse than I keep in mind them being in earlier video games, presumably because of the considerably bigger maps, and it may possibly get fairly unhealthy for lengthy stretches when there’s so much taking place on display screen. Most of those points are kind of baked into Styx by this level, however it’s nonetheless value shouting out that the majority of these items has principally gone unaddressed, seemingly.
