Styx: Shards of Darkness

 PC
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 38 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 38
  3. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Mar 14, 2017
    Too often, I plunged to my death purely because Styx did not leap to the handhold he either either appeared to be reaching for or was the only logical place to go. It’s not quite so unreliable as to make the game consistently frustrating, but something there is seriously in need of a fix. I learned to speculatively quicksave my way around it, which isn’t ideal but was enough to let me keep thinking that this is a solid pure-breed stealth game.

Awards & Rankings

94
#94 Most Discussed PC Game of 2017
6
#6 Most Shared PC Game of 2017

User Reviews

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User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 127 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 83 out of 127
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 127
  3. Negative: 14 out of 127
  1. SuperkenGaming
    Mar 14, 2017
    7
    Styx Shards of Darkness
    More of a Half Step than a Sequel
    Shards of Darkness is the Sequel to Master of Shadows… But with its own self    Styx Shards of Darkness
    More of a Half Step than a Sequel
    Shards of Darkness is the Sequel to Master of Shadows…
    But with its own self contained story, so you don’t need to play any of the past games to be able to hop right in…
    This is more of Master of Shadows, but at the same time almost completely different…
    Theres are 9 missions total here.. but these missions are half the length of the first game..
    Taking me anywhere from an hr to an hr and a half to complete… the game took me about 12 hours to complete…
    But its much less about mastering the shadows here…
    All of the basic assassinations you had to unlock in the past game are unlocked from the start with a new set of skills to master…
    And while Shards of Darkness Improves in many areas Master of Shadows struggled… It also fails in areas Master of Shadows had down perfect…
    Much like the last game, Shards of Darkness puts you in an open level with a dagger and some potions, and its up to you to make to the different task locations and then make it back to your hide out…
    But things are much more casual and straight forward this time…
    You still have your sand to throw at torches, but they never felt useful here…
    You now also have to gather materials to craft items and potions instead of refill at base..
    Sounds like a good idea… but materials are way to rare here.. really testing your stealth skills..
    Im horrible at stealth, so I found it to be a bit annoying…
    And you can call in a clone, but gone are the clone puzzles and distracting.. and because of that the clone turns into a consumable skill like turning invisable…
    This time however youre able to create or become a perfect clone in an online co op mode…
    As a perfect clone you have all of your skills and items, but you cant pary in combat and you die in one hit… and if either you or your partner dies you can brign the other back to life by sacrificing half of your health….
    And speaking of combat, they somehow managed to make it worse…
    They got rid of the auto locking which is great.. youre free to run which was the thing that held the original games experience down so much… but because of this.. .parrying can be awakward, as youll a lot of the time be too close to parry while the enemy can still damage you…pretty annoying…
    But don’t worry.. besides the first few levels.. pretty much every enemy is invulnerable….
    So youre not gonna be needing those darggers too much…
    The game over all and the levels here at first feel polished and a nice change of pace…
    But by level 3 you realze they all look and feel the same…
    They feel like a broom closet compared to the shoe closet master of shadows was…
    Theyre small and compact and feel copy and paste rather than hand crafted and grand …
    They even went as far as reusing levels for 3 of the final missions.
    A massive disappointment, as the level design was one of my favorite things about this series…
    Its still fun though.. sneaking through vents..
    Dealing with new annoying enemies like dwarves that can smell you.. making hiding useless…
    Plus theyre invulnerable… even worse…
    And some of your favorite annoying enemies making a return like the beatles that spit at you.. thankfully youre able to kill them like regular guards this time…
    And the mission structure has improved greatly… they’ll have you retracing your steps as youre running around to sabotage or assassinate a target…
    it isn’t just getting from point a to b..
    there are even some boss battles in here.. that if youre wondering if theyre as bad as the maste of shadows ends boss..im pleased to say that these 2 boss battles were 2 of the most memorable moments in the game…
    And of coruse the jokes and game rfereences are all over here both in game and at your death screen…
    Which is another improvmement.. load times… they still need work but are miles better than they were…
    Sahrds of Darkness is a mixed bag of emotions.. I love the change in combat, the fact that we have real skills available from the start, improved mission structure, less grindy story,faster load times, better bosses, but the forced do not get detected sections of the game, the lack of materials to actually craft with the crafting system, the amount of invulnerable enemeies, the tiny repetitive maps…
    it stops this game from surpassing the first…
    It felt more of a rush through stealth game than a calculating, pick your targets, take them out one by one, im goblin batman, like I came to love from the original game…
    I was doing more avoiding enemies and the world than I was engaging with it…
    I give Styx: Shards of Darkness
    a 7/10    … Full Review »
  2. GameCritic121
    Mar 17, 2017
    10
    Don't be scared off by less-than-stellar reviews, it's a pure stealth game; scrubs are going to rate it poorly just because they're bad at it.Don't be scared off by less-than-stellar reviews, it's a pure stealth game; scrubs are going to rate it poorly just because they're bad at it. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one. Some of the powers carry over, some didn't, and there are new ones as well, including a crafting system. If you're a stealth fan, buy both Styx games.… Full Review »
  3. Seekersilver
    Dec 10, 2017
    8
    The main con of this game to me is the penalty when players kill any enemies at all. If I stealthily assassinate 20 enemies using all theThe main con of this game to me is the penalty when players kill any enemies at all. If I stealthily assassinate 20 enemies using all the varieties of kill methods that was provided and cleverly designed, it ought to be an achievement, and not something that brings about penalty. So many kinds of fun and interesting traps and kill methods (complemented with body-hiding places) are scattered in all the levels for the players to use, so why should players be penalised for utilising all of the fun arsenal of features?

    Players' exploration and utilisation of the game's interesting features ought to be rewarded, not penalised.

    That said, missing just 'Mercy' insignia has minimal impact on SP gained. Players can also just redo the missions to focus on it afterwards, but it really becomes a chore.    … Full Review »
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