It won’t have the identical type of ambition or bells and whistles as its contemporaries, however Styx holds a particular place in my coronary heart as one of only a few pure stealth sport collection we now have left. Will you discover the extremely inventive situations of Hitman or the insane stage of polish and replayability of Dishonored? Nope. As an alternative Styx contents itself with merely being a dependable means for stealth followers to get their repair, and Styx: Blades of Greed is not any exception. Most of the time, the same old playbook of sneaking round, stealing and assassinating all the pieces in sight, is as enjoyable because it’s ever been, and this sequel makes some essential 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 just a few 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 smooth 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 pair of new devices and talents that allow you to do issues like thoughts management NPCs from afar or use a grappling hook to shut giant gaps in a brief interval of time, however for essentially the most half there’s little or no that’s modified in regards to the moment-to-moment gameplay. You’ll nonetheless discover, for instance, the ol’ dependable skill to show your self invisible for a brief interval of time, and can nonetheless end up hiding inside closets and barrels earlier than coming out to slit the throat of some fool guard. Good instances. As ever, stealth is totally the star of the present, and Blades of Greed has the identical top quality sneaking round that you just’d hope it could.
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 in spite of the truth that its protagonist is inherently fascinating and distinctive. After creating a longing for magical skills granted to you by quartz crystals discovered all through the world, you start a repetitive journey to, effectively, 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 non secular information, however they don’t get sufficient display 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 is advisable do subsequent and little else. You’re unlikely to have come to the Styx collection in search of an enticing story, however simply in case you have 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 a substitute of treading (and typically retreading) by mission-specific ranges, Blades of Greed allows you to unfastened in three extraordinarily giant maps full of each obligatory and non-compulsory areas to discover, pilfer, and fall to your loss of life inside. It’s a neat concept that permits for considerably extra freedom over prior adventures, and it’s fairly simple to grow to be distracted and assassinate your means by a complete area earlier than realizing you didn’t even actually have any goal behind any of it, besides that it’s simply arduous to see a guard strolling by unaware and never take him down. These big ranges additionally let you categorical creativity in the way you navigate the world and remedy the issue of getting round when each 10 ft there’s somebody who may kill you by respiration on you. If you’re watching an goal that’s a mountain’s distance above you, you’ll want to only creep round and check out issues to determine methods to get there – possibly you’ll discover a good spot on the aspect 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 through a sewer system that leads you to the identical spot, however is infested with large bugs that may swarm you in case you get too shut.
That may be a very fascinating stealth problem to determine, however comes with some distinctive drawbacks as effectively. For one, it may be exhausting to need to cross such an enormous space slowly sneaking alongside all of the whereas, and in case you attempt to simply dash previous all the pieces to get to the target, you need to be ready to reload an entire bunch as you’re employed by the trial and error course of of doing so. That journey time feels considerably much less centered and curated than the extra linear mannequin for stage design as effectively, and oftentimes you’re kinda simply half-assedly sneaking by ruins and throughout rooftops with no actual obstacles alongside the best way till you get to the place that the target marker desires you to be, at which level issues begin to really feel way more centered. In different phrases, it’s an entire lot of fats earlier than you get to the meat of the primary targets. 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 methods to get there, slightly than really pulling off the heist in query.
The excellent news is that every of these 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 bushes, swamps, and large, lethal roaches swarming in darkish areas, and the Akenash Ruins are a ruined, kingdom the place all the pieces 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 bit of backtracking by areas you’ve already been, which is a bit of a drag. Nonetheless, these are some 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 residence.
Although the massive quantity of area these maps have could be fairly nice to discover, they often really feel a bit too huge for the a lot smaller targets inside them. The story’s foremost targets are a lot smaller than a typical stealth mission, normally 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 normally solely take a pair minutes to finish, if that. When you’ve checked it off your checklist, you’re again to the largely uneventful touring stealth as you discover a technique to the subsequent goal, typically requiring you to backtrack by some of the identical spots within the course of, which is how I’ve spent the majority of the journey to date. On the intense aspect, 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 means by every set of missions, and since that’s Blades of Greed’s sturdy swimsuit, you’re getting precisely what the physician ordered.
Should you’re acquainted with the shortcomings of the earlier Styx video games, then you definately’ll in all probability be less-than-stoked to listen to that Blades of Greed doesn’t tackle most of these. Fight, which is a final resort, however typically required, is kind of sloppy and overly simplistic, and transferring round, particularly leaping onto ledges and the like could be finicky at instances and induced me to fall to my loss of life or get caught out within the open dozens of instances by this level. Worse than these although, are the same old efficiency points and technical challenges, like NPCs turning into invisible whereas speaking to them and frames dropping to horrifyingly low ranges after prolonged play periods. 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 well get fairly dangerous for lengthy stretches when there’s quite a bit occurring on display. Most of these points are type of baked into Styx by this level, however it’s nonetheless value shouting out that the majority of these things has largely gone unaddressed, seemingly.