One of the best things about going to game conventions is seeing games that really surprise you. For the second time in a row Styx, Master of Shadows has done just that. If you are a fan of stealth style RPGs where charging in is not recommended, then you will love Styx. The goblin that hides, poisons water by puking, and cuts foes down with leaping death from the rafters has shown us two solid demos now. We can only wait until the game launches later this year.
If you have played the game Of Orcs and Men from Cyanide you will be familiar with Styx as the sidekick in that game. Now he gets his own adventure in a vertical environment populated by men, elves, and orcs. The massive dungeon and huge chapels make for plenty of areas to hide, jump, and create total havoc as the sneaky goblin. There are also some fun mechanics for hiding bodies and confusing guards.
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Just to highlight the story, amber is an all powerful source in this world. It is craved and horded by elves, used by men for power, and wanted by the savage races as well. Styx is sneaking around the massive Atrium of men trying to help free some allies and cause trouble. The team does not want to give away the story which is fine with us. The game really shines plenty in its smooth stealth mechanics.
Styx has got all the moves, from an RPG standpoint there are several trees to level up your goblin. He can specialize in assassinations, clones, and using various types of equipment. Your gear plays a big part and we are not talking about armor and weapons here. Styx uses smoke bombs, acid, throwing weapons, and all types of creative nasties to get rid of foes. If your gear fails, just puke in the water supply... they will all die of horrible goblin poison.
The other character in the game which is not mentioned is the environment. Styx gives the player tons of options to jump and climb. Walls, rafters, rooftops, all of them are child’s play to the spider-like goblin. You can jump from on high to kill opponents. Or wait them out in one of the many hiding places in the game. If you dispatch a knight or even just a worker, you can quickly hide the body or disintegrate it with acid. Just as in other stealth games the key is to stay hidden. There are a lot of alerts for the NPCs in the game. Even the sound you make can give you away. Foes are linked to each other as well, so if one gets alerted to you others will soon follow if they are in the area. Environments can also be used to set traps. There are plenty of ways to drop some heavy things on guards heads or use smoke to scatter them from a target.
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Cyanide and Focus were happy to announce that Styx will be on the Ps4, XBox One, and PC later in the year. It will be a great way to pass a few nights trying to finish all the missions. You can also go back in and enter challenge modes to see how well you can complete levels. If you were disappointed by other recent stealth games, we are happy to report that the demos of Styx looked really solid. We hope the launched game will do justice to what the team has shown us. After all who doesn’t want to play a goblin?
