Styx: Master of Shadows

 PC
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 336 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 192 out of 336
  2. Mixed: 87 out of 336
  3. Negative: 57 out of 336

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  1. Lupa999
    May 11, 2015
    7
    Styx master of shadows is not for the casual gamer. Hell even veteran stealth gamers will have a hard time on the first level. The maps in each level are HUGE. With many guards and hidden guards you will feel at times you are backed into a corner because of a lack of abilities and supplies, which is what makes the game feel so good.There is a surprising amount of ways to handle missions.Styx master of shadows is not for the casual gamer. Hell even veteran stealth gamers will have a hard time on the first level. The maps in each level are HUGE. With many guards and hidden guards you will feel at times you are backed into a corner because of a lack of abilities and supplies, which is what makes the game feel so good.There is a surprising amount of ways to handle missions. Many places to to hide are scattered around the area. like his name, Styx uses the shadows to stay hidden, taking out torches and using balls of sand to take them out from a distance if needed.Many hidden collectibles and really cool "amber powers" . Many items like balls of sand, bottles of acid, throwing knives and more to give you more options in your environment.Satisfying stealth, great setting and soundtrack and sound effects with interesting visuals and odd but bad ass goblin protagonist makes this game feel unique.

    At least that's what it tries to be. One huge flaw the this game suffers from is its no different from anything you've probably played. It doesn't try to be unique of different, at all. Game play is exactly as what you would expect from a stealth game. The game also pretty much makes you have to go stealthy if you want to feel the full experience from the game. The combat is terrible. when you fight a guard the camera auto locks onto him, which means you cant turn the camera away unless you roll away, which leaves you open to attack from other guards. There's no blocking, just keep pressing the right button at the right time to parry then kill him when he stumbles. Hit detection is horrible as well so good luck on either of you landing a hit. AI is retarded unless you play on the hardest difficulty. Many abilities like overhead assassinations or cover kills and locked away abilities unless you buy them with SP that you earn when you beat a mission. And Some of the cute scenes are drawn by hand and repeat as well which is an odd choice since the game had a strong opening cut scene. A lack of variety in enemies as well until far into the game. Overall this is a good but unremarkable stealth game that just aims for the bare minimum. Its $30 price tag is nice, since most "next gen" games ask for $60.    … Expand
  2. deathweeper
    Oct 10, 2014
    5
    The game is pretty good as a stealth game but thats about it. The combat isn't fun as everyone has already said but if your good at hitting the right button at the right time then you can just exploit it. The levels are not very visually impressive, the graphics are not bad but your just mostly walking trough brownish grey hallways the whole time. The story is the definition of "meh". ItThe game is pretty good as a stealth game but thats about it. The combat isn't fun as everyone has already said but if your good at hitting the right button at the right time then you can just exploit it. The levels are not very visually impressive, the graphics are not bad but your just mostly walking trough brownish grey hallways the whole time. The story is the definition of "meh". It has one but who you wont care. Overall as a game its fine but it has nothing thats fun or that stands out.… Expand
  3. rodericrinehart
    Jul 8, 2015
    5
    Really found it tedious and boring. It is old-school stealth, which I knew going in, but I guess I just enjoy modern action-stealth far more - like Shadow of Mordor and Dishonored. My god are the graphics bad, even for a "half price" game. The textures look like they are a decade old and there is SO much darkness and lack of color in the game it is just pretty ugly to look at. The controlsReally found it tedious and boring. It is old-school stealth, which I knew going in, but I guess I just enjoy modern action-stealth far more - like Shadow of Mordor and Dishonored. My god are the graphics bad, even for a "half price" game. The textures look like they are a decade old and there is SO much darkness and lack of color in the game it is just pretty ugly to look at. The controls are not great and it is difficult to get him to do what you want every time, which is paramount in a game where you can get insta-killed.… Expand
  4. AthanasiosT
    Nov 18, 2014
    6
    Styx was great in "Orcs and men", but not so good on his own.... Story, sound, graphics were pretty good, but the game was too repeatable and sometimes hard for me. Lots of reloads, again and again, in order to get some extra skill points, or avoid raising an alarm spoiled the gaming continuity.
  5. rev
    May 29, 2020
    7
    My introduction to the stealth genre, quite satisfying at that.
    Unusual protagonist, charismatic in his own way. Plot as a whole is strange, didn't quite comprehend it :)
    Technically the game is adequate, graphics are good, music is great (watch the launch trailer again!). You have to F5-F9 all the time, not that it's too burdensome. Reusing levels in the late game makes it a bit too    My introduction to the stealth genre, quite satisfying at that.
    Unusual protagonist, charismatic in his own way. Plot as a whole is strange, didn't quite comprehend it :)
    Technically the game is adequate, graphics are good, music is great (watch the launch trailer again!).
    You have to F5-F9 all the time, not that it's too burdensome. Reusing levels in the late game makes it a bit too longer than it should be without adding much new content. Solid game overall.    … Expand
  6. FGM
    Dec 19, 2016
    7
    Thief 1 without a bow and with a wimpy goblin. Huge levels reminded me of Blades of Darkness, still it gets old after few hours at best, and minimalistic RPG elements, together with Relics Collection (1 relic each level) are hardly enough to keep you going. Plays alright on a gamepad but is lacking a tiny bit in edge detection department. Gameplay is slow and repetitive, with a slow, dullThief 1 without a bow and with a wimpy goblin. Huge levels reminded me of Blades of Darkness, still it gets old after few hours at best, and minimalistic RPG elements, together with Relics Collection (1 relic each level) are hardly enough to keep you going. Plays alright on a gamepad but is lacking a tiny bit in edge detection department. Gameplay is slow and repetitive, with a slow, dull story, fights consist mostly from dodging and parrying as you can't really attack the big stupid humans. Character are alright, but definitely not from a catwalk.The best part of this game is the level design and some scenery from time to time. I'll give it 7 but it's 6.5 really. Especially that it came out recently and not around 2005-10. I couldn't bring myself to complete the whole story.… Expand
  7. SuperkenGaming
    Feb 13, 2017
    7
    Styx Master of Shadows
    Hardcore Stealth
    In Master of Shadows you’re on your own, no more giant orc by your side... You’re Styx after the heart of the world tree If this is your introduction to Styx He’s a stealthy goblin and easily the best part of Of Orcs and Men Despite your initial thoughts that this game is just assassins creed with a goblin… it’s much more on the hitman meets    Styx Master of Shadows
    Hardcore Stealth
    In Master of Shadows you’re on your own, no more giant orc by your side...
    You’re Styx after the heart of the world tree
    If this is your introduction to Styx He’s a stealthy goblin and easily the best part of Of Orcs and Men
    Despite your initial thoughts that this game is just assassins creed with a goblin… it’s much more on the hitman meets dishonored side with the verticality of assassins creed and is easily the hardest stealth game I’ve ever played…
    |As the name suggests you have to master the shadows…
    Enemies can still see and detect you as you move through the shadows and they’ll even check hiding spots…
    it’s your job to find the best route through the 8 missions of this game..
    Each mission lasting easily 2-3 hours each because of how difficulty the stealth gameplay is…
    You have at your disposal, 2 throwing knifes, throwable sand to put out torches and the ability to create a clone of yourself... getting to your objective is reliant on your ability to sneak past guards and distract them
    You can get into hand to hand combat, but it’s hardly ever worth it as areas are crawling with enemies that will surround you and kill you while you’re locked into a garbage combat system parrying 1-5 times to be able to kill your enemy…
    The being locked in part is the worst…
    you’re able to roll away if you try hard enough.. But the camera stays locked on your alerted enemy trying to kill you... making it almost impossible to run most of the time…
    Unfortunately the game also spoon feeds you abilities…
    As you complete missions and side objectives within mission you’re awarded skill points to buff your agility, stealth, and combat to name a few to be able to hold more items and do new assassinations…
    You have to earn your way up to an air assassination which is annoying… but it’s the games way of teaching you the shadows... so slightly forgivable...
    The game also constantly introduces new enemies with new rules...
    some of them feel cheap though, to prevent spoilers ill just say by the end you’ll be using your clone more than the shadows to distract and lure instead of just as a switch thrower like you’ve been doing…
    I wasn’t a fan of the exploding skills or annoying beetles… but I did appreciate the fact that they were always changing the gameplay making the game just as hard throughout your journey as it is from the start… it never gets easy.. You never feel like you’re a master assassin...
    constant vulnerability... which makes for very tense moments…
    Completing these mission are genuinely satisfying because of this…
    But sadly the 2nd half of the game is really just doing the first half of the game backwards this time with harder enemies which is a bit of a disappointment… it felt like the game was dragging itself out just for the sake of it.. there’s no shame in a game being 10 hours long…
    Doubling your length be reusing levels just feels lazy
    And the game drags on for so long that your start to see massive flaws in the ai..
    They don’t act natural... they seemingly always know where you are, just waiting for you to get into their line of sight to make you restart from a checkpoint…
    you can’t confuse them which breaks immersion and kind of makes you feel like you’re getting lucky at times instead of outsmarting them…
    Which brings me to the biggest issue this game has…
    Its checkpoints and load times..
    You can save this game at any time... do it... don’t rely on the games auto save because it’s horrible and even corrupted on me in the final boss fight…
    When you feel you’ve made progress, save the game…
    But since this game is so difficulty and since stealth games are so much about trial and error.. it’s inexcusable to have load times as long as these are…
    I’m convinced half of my time was spent waiting for the game to load after messing up and dying…
    Master of Shadows
    Is a really good and a really challenging stealth game…
    But its clock in combat systems, magnet headed ai, repeat levels, and painfully long load times stop it from reaching the status of greatness…
    But if you’re a stealth fan definitely still play it.
    I give Styx:    … Expand
  8. Mehrshad_MB
    Apr 10, 2021
    6
    Styx Master of Shadows. A decent stealth game with cool story in a great environment.
    I'm not much of a stealth type person. So as a result, I died hundreds of times on each mission, saved the game every second (This is the type of game that will teach you to save the game manually!). But I still enjoyed the game and it was a good (and pretty difficult!) experience for me.
    There were    Styx Master of Shadows. A decent stealth game with cool story in a great environment.
    I'm not much of a stealth type person. So as a result, I died hundreds of times on each mission, saved the game every second (This is the type of game that will teach you to save the game manually!). But I still enjoyed the game and it was a good (and pretty difficult!) experience for me.
    There were multiple ways to progress the missions and find shortcuts which was good.
    Combat system was awful, but it is reasonable because it is a stealth game after all.
    Even though the game is released in 2014 but somehow it looks much older in my opinion. Also there were some serious problems with enemies' AI, which is an unforgivable problem in stealth games. Thus, I have to give a 6 for this game.
    (April 2021)    … Expand
  9. DiMoura
    Apr 4, 2020
    6
    O jogo tem uma mecânica única, de início é difícil de se acostumar, mas depois que se acostuma até que é legal de se jogar, a história do jogo é super arrastada, gira em torno do Styx em conseguir o coração, e contado por meio de algumas cut scenes, da metade do jogo pra frente acontece um plot twist, nesse momento achei que a história ia engatar... porra nenhuma. Se o problema do jogoO jogo tem uma mecânica única, de início é difícil de se acostumar, mas depois que se acostuma até que é legal de se jogar, a história do jogo é super arrastada, gira em torno do Styx em conseguir o coração, e contado por meio de algumas cut scenes, da metade do jogo pra frente acontece um plot twist, nesse momento achei que a história ia engatar... porra nenhuma. Se o problema do jogo fosse só a história tava de boa, o problema é que ele é ridiculamente longo e difícil (não que isso seja obrigatoriamente ruim, mas em styx é). A repetição de cenários também é um saco, da a sensação que só existe uns 5 cenários no jogo, várias fazem usam o mesmo cenário só que passando por caminhos diferentes, parece que os desenvolvedores ficaram com preguiça de criar cenários. O ponto positivo é que o jogo realmente explora o Stealth, você só vai conseguir zerar se você jogar em Stealth, não é como um Assassin's Creed da vida que se vende como Stealth mas se você quiser pode empilhar um trilhão de corpos. Minha experiência com Styx foi um pouco frustrante, se o jogo tivesse metade da duração que tem e repetisse menos os cenários com certeza seria melhor.… Expand
  10. Nekellor_Met
    Aug 7, 2020
    6
    Конечно следующая часть во всем лучше, но эта, тоже может предоставить свои плюс. Она имеет более внятный и интересный сюжет. Однако игра, прям, зачастую, нечестно сложная. Последний этапы пробегаются в невидимости, ибо с эльфами в стелс не поиграешь.Конечно следующая часть во всем лучше, но эта, тоже может предоставить свои плюс. Она имеет более внятный и интересный сюжет. Однако игра, прям, зачастую, нечестно сложная. Последний этапы пробегаются в невидимости, ибо с эльфами в стелс не поиграешь.
  11. Borz5
    May 2, 2021
    7
    A pure stealth game with many nice ideas. The AI was not bad, but not too good at all. There were some annoying bugs and some unfair situation but overall it was fun. The game should had more testers. Play this for a good stealth experience, but be forgiving of its bugs.
  12. Tabbou
    May 2, 2021
    6
    The game isn't bad, I mean graphics and musics are correct, there is a good ambiance and story.
    But the stealth is omnipresent and killing the fun, you have to focus on your discretion all the time plus most of the time you can't chose to kill ennemies or they'll all rush on you and then you die, and restart again and again, until you find the right path
  13. Nick7000
    Mar 7, 2023
    7
    Ух, припотел я знатно. Но вообще игра занятная, не совсем в моем вкусе, но это, во всяком случае, хотя бы попытка сделать что-то свежее.

Awards & Rankings

74
#74 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
34
#34 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Mar 18, 2015
    81
    Styx: Master of Shadows is quite good as a stealth based game. Fighting sucks, but I think that is intentional, so that stealth is the main point. [Feb 2015]
  2. CD-Action
    Feb 7, 2015
    70
    Cyanide Studios surprised me by making a game that’s genuinely worth recommending. What kept me from giving it a higher rating were some technical issues that I encountered. [01/2015, p.58]
  3. Riot Pixels
    Nov 11, 2014
    58
    Misfortune follows Styx everywhere in his travels around Akenash. If you somehow managed to complete the campaign without using F5/F9 even once, congratulations – you have an iron will. Most of you, though, will be loading the last quicksave every couple of minutes, because Styx can be so clumsy, especially when it comes to jumping.
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