Styx: Master of Shadows

 PlayStation 4
User Score
6.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 137 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 137
  2. Mixed: 50 out of 137
  3. Negative: 30 out of 137

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  1. fandango89
    May 31, 2016
    3
    Cyanide is known for making poorly designed and implemented games, and they don't disappoint. This is a "hardcore" stealth game that expects you to do all of this stealthing perfectly, yet gives you none of the right tools or mechanics to do so. In this game if you get found out you usually die. This is because of some terribly implemented and designed combat. For some reason if someoneCyanide is known for making poorly designed and implemented games, and they don't disappoint. This is a "hardcore" stealth game that expects you to do all of this stealthing perfectly, yet gives you none of the right tools or mechanics to do so. In this game if you get found out you usually die. This is because of some terribly implemented and designed combat. For some reason if someone engages you in combat, you are drawn in like a tractor beam and must fight, and are unable to run away, which makes literally no sense. Then theres the actual combat. You can parry and roll. You must have multiple parries before you can attack the person. The parry system is horribly implemented and it is impossible to tell when to parry. If you dodge out of the way of an attack, like behind the guy, you aren't able to attack him even though you are behind and he has just missed an attack. Instead you must wait and just parry enough times to be able to kill him. Don't ask me why.

    There has been a lot said about the levels. Yet they are big with multiple paths, but its usually just a facade. I would find myself going up and down, only to usually reach a dead end of a ledge that had nothing to jump onto or down to. Many things are not climbable, like ropes and chains that are hanging down. Jumping up wooden towers also isnt possible. The platforming is terrible. You will constantly die because you thought you could make a jump and cant. He jumps very rigidly and theres no flow to platforming. You cant even drop down to hanging on a ledge when standing on it. You have to instead run off it and hope he grabs on. You also can only jump up and down grips on walls if you look down or up and the triggerable action for jumping to that specific place is over the grip. Its not organic at all.

    Then theres the stealth. It is super finicky, and has no rhyme or reason to it. I would sometimes be spotted in a completely dark area. You never know when you are in cover of darkness or not. I would be spotted from guys around corners or pillars that I couldn't see. Sometimes i would drop down off something 2 feet off ground and be heard from a guy, sometimes i wouldnt. Sometimes i would climb up object behind a guy and be heard, sometimes i wouldnt.

    Then theres health. Theres basically none to be found in any of the levels, meaning if you get far and have none and get found out, you're screwed. Then theres the very well designed checkpoints, which are usually every 15-20 minutes and have no logic around them. Entering new areas or having the objective waypoint change when you reach an area doesn't trigger them, meaning you never know when they will occur. One well done level has you auto fail if you get detected at all. I killed an archer on a ledge with a silent kill and instead of letting him fall backwards, my guy basically pushes him off the ledge onto the ground below in an area populated by guys. They didn't see me as I was high up above them and in the cover of darkness, but nonetheless I instant failed the level. And even though I had passed multiple doors and areas, and had the waypoint change multiple times, I had to restart the entire 15-20 min level at the start. That is what this game is. It is about dying 90% due to the poorly designed stealth mechanics/platforming mechanics/level design and having to redo the 10-15 min part bc of the terrible checkpoint system. One of the most, if not THE most, poorly designed stealth games I have ever played. Another failure for Cyanide Studios.
    P.S. Graphics aren't bad and levels are big and vertical.    … Expand
  2. Tsubaki
    Aug 8, 2015
    4
    i got styx for free with ps plus and i can tell you the game is a bit mediocre to be honest it looks like a really fun adventure game but it is actually quite boring and annoying

    PROS
    - single player can be fun at times

    CONS
    - really boring a lot of the times
    - can be annoying
    - boring adventure

    overall: 4.1/10 :{ i really did not enjoy this game
  3. Cooncrate
    May 22, 2016
    4
    This game has nothing good to offer. Horrible stealth, terrible combat and a climbing mechanic that doesn't even work . The story is also very bad. There are plenty of indie and triple A games that have much better stealth than this game. Do yourself a favor and avoid this game.
  4. yvz5
    Jul 23, 2015
    0
    it takes at least 1 minute to load the game everytime you die. so annoying. not playable. i dont recommend it for people who has no patience to wait a game just to teleport you to the last saved point.
  5. Mannar
    Jun 27, 2016
    0
    Broken game. Climb, jump, cover is really annoying and does not work as it should. First level was somewhat fun, but as more you progress, less annoying it gets. Would not recommend it to anyone.
  6. Broyax
    Jan 16, 2017
    1
    Styx repompe des mécaniques de furtivité déjà vues ici et là mais les applique très maladroitement ; il en est de même pour l'architecture des niveaux, décidément maladroite elle aussi et mal foutue, en plus de se répéter à l'infini. Pareil pour les graphismes grosso merdo "marrons" sans inspiration ni la moindre touche artistique.

    Techniquement parlant, c'est bien moche pour un veux    Styx repompe des mécaniques de furtivité déjà vues ici et là mais les applique très maladroitement ; il en est de même pour l'architecture des niveaux, décidément maladroite elle aussi et mal foutue, en plus de se répéter à l'infini. Pareil pour les graphismes grosso merdo "marrons" sans inspiration ni la moindre touche artistique.

    Techniquement parlant, c'est bien moche pour un veux moteur Unreal. Pour ne rien arranger, les temps de chargement sont longs pour des niveaux aussi restreints (environ 36 secondes !). En vérité tout est à l'avenant dans Styx et rien ne fonctionne proprement ; prenons par exemple les combats au corps-à-corps d'un ridicule consternant ! à ce tarif-là, autant les supprimer. On a là un sous-Splinter, un ersatz de jeu bâclé dans tous les domaines.

    Les voix ne sont qu'en anglais et l'univers, l'histoire, le personnage lui-même sont d'une pauvreté qui fait pitié. On ne cherche pas plus avant à perdre davantage de temps dans ce jeu programmé par des nains et des incapables qui n'ont absolument aucune idée de ce que signifient "game design" et "jouabilité".    … Expand
  7. VaultDwellerNV
    Jul 14, 2015
    1
    I made a Metacritic account just to leave this review; do NOT buy this game. This is one of the worst games I have ever played. The horrendous attempt of "comedy" in the form of fart jokes and so on is so pitiful, I would rather stab myself in the ear with a fork than listen to that garbage. The AI in this game is about as intelligent as Call of Duty Ghost's Fish AI, spinning in circles,I made a Metacritic account just to leave this review; do NOT buy this game. This is one of the worst games I have ever played. The horrendous attempt of "comedy" in the form of fart jokes and so on is so pitiful, I would rather stab myself in the ear with a fork than listen to that garbage. The AI in this game is about as intelligent as Call of Duty Ghost's Fish AI, spinning in circles, grabbing and seeing your character through walls, and being utter dip****s. The animations in this game look like they were devised by a 10 year old with a learning disorder and this mixed with the atrocious AI make this game look like it was created in the late 90's. The graphics are sub par, 2D painted with a paintbrush that has been through the garbage disposal. Also, this game has the loading times of GTA V on roids, meaning that every time you die, you have to wait an eternity for the torture to load again. This is specifically annoying on the harder difficulties, where you can expect to be grabbed through walls and curbstomped several times over. The voice acting in this game sounds like it was done by someone who Focus Home Interactive hired off the street, and was in the process of devouring the microphone as he recorded his lines. Might as well add that this game is louder than my screaming 2 year old niece, and starts blaring audio the second you start the game, so if you make the unwise and unfortunate decision to purchase this absolute garbage excuse for a game, make sure you turn down the volume as soon as possible.… Expand
  8. VaerGreyloc
    Jul 10, 2015
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. So I've just started this game and there's already flaws in it, So I was excited for this game and whilst the visuals are pretty good and the concept is pretty good, it already lacks good gameplay and has bad design... Say for instance you're running through a level then you come to a ledge you spot what looks like a good route to take and you think "yeah I've found a way!" then you try it and die... you're thinking "what the heck" then it turns out there's already a linear path you MUST take... Then you come to a section which you think is safe as it's part of the intro then you suddenly have guards slashing you in the face and the only way to fight back is to PARRY attacks (they tried to do a bit of an assassin's creed style and failed) which you have to get pretty spot on and it's tough because they're attacking you so fast that you lose so much health from one duel which you're also expected to roll and dodge them... Then you make a little escape jump off a ledge which has just a little tiny drop but you DIE because you don't have much health and it does a load of damage... So whilst the concept of a Goblin running around stealthy and everything is great it lacks solid gameplay with good design which is utterly disappointing as I had high anticipation for this game and it has potential just it falls flat on delivery... I'll continue but only because there are next to no stealth games on the PS4 and it's free on PS-Plus.… Expand
  9. tsakiym
    Jul 25, 2015
    3
    wtf was that game. ok its a stealth game but everything about stealth was wrong. i didn't enjoy while to played it. let me give you a picture about play and be stealth: 15 secs of gameplay and 30 secs of loading.. loop that until the and.
  10. Brainache
    Sep 2, 2015
    2
    I tried 4 times to get into this game. I really wanted to enjoy it but I just don't have the patience for it after falling to my death once too often. The game mechanic seems to be geared towards climbing up but not down. Trying to find a route to sneak past guards by trial and error is just not fun after 20 or so efforts rewarded each time by a ridiculously long load time. It's not for me.
  11. tomuch4u
    Feb 19, 2017
    1
    This is probably the worst game I ever played. The stealth is garbage. The story is garbage. The combat is also garbage.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
  12. GoiabaSunshine
    Jan 2, 2019
    2
    Well, Cyanide is the company behind that **** game of Thrones game and "Of orcs and man", and this games ins't really something that differs from those two.

    The plot ain't nothing new or interesting, it starts with the basic character that has lost his memories, Then he has to reach some random place for reason, yeah, pretty basic. It has some interesting moments, but the plot is    Well, Cyanide is the company behind that **** game of Thrones game and "Of orcs and man", and this games ins't really something that differs from those two.

    The plot ain't nothing new or interesting, it starts with the basic character that has lost his memories, Then he has to reach some random place for reason, yeah, pretty basic. It has some interesting moments, but the plot is definetly not a high point.

    Now, let's comment about the several issues that this game has. Styx is a stealth based game, one that really focus on the main characters fragility, so he can't be seen, so he must rely on covering himself, staying in the shadows and platforming in a 3D enviroment in order to survive. Platforming that consists in **** after ****, Styx really doens't seem to have that much of a grip, as you'll have to retry many times because the protagonist just didn't feel like grabing the ledge of a surface. The parkour and jumping in this game is really ****.

    Speaking about retrying many times, that is a really big issue in this game. To get 100%, you'll have to do a lot of exploration that will result in try and error. If you want the shadow insignia, you cannot trigger any alert, which means that you'll have to understand the level layout and the IA patterns that are very slow. Of course, you'll experience try and error even without exploring 100%, and the main issue is the loading. Holy **** they take forever, it's like 20-30seconds, and when that is done, you **** up and then have to wait everything again. A game like this sould load in 5 seconds or so, not 30, It really frustrastes the gaming experience. Luckily, you can save anytime you want, and because of that, i've found myself constantly saving every single time (well, at least that doens't take that long).

    The game also features many graphical glithes, if you move the camera too fast, you'll see many white boxes as the games strugles to load. When you get the upgrade that allows you to see through walls, The game's FPS drops like a ****ing anchor, and even though the graphic is decent, there is no excuse for such issues. You'll also face dumb IA, people entering through walls, and many other problems that degrade the game.

    Getting foccused and ingoring these issues, i managed to 100% the game until stage 5. And that's when i got tired because of one gamebreaking bug: i couldn't progress any further, the game breaks and you can't go to the next mission, all because i decided to retry stage 5 and get everything that i couldn't do. Keep in mind that this bug exists even after 5 years after it's initial release, the developers said that they couldn't reproduce the bug, so they couldn't fix it. They did make a workaround, allowing players to proceed to the next mission without going to the starting point, but that patch was only released on PC. Meaning that, if you faced this bug on a console version of the game, had no savepoint before that, then it means a big and great: **** YOU.

    Since Cyanide doens't seem concerned about this gamebreaking bug, all that i can think about it is to not buy any other games, since if i face another one of these bugs, that means a big ****ing waste, i don't care how attractive Shards of darkness and Ctulhu can be, this company has already lost my respect. If you want a good stealth game, com play dishonored instead. it's actually good.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

87
#87 Best PS4 Game of 2014
62
#62 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2014
72
#72 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 9
  3. Negative: 1 out of 9
  1. Hobby Consolas
    Jul 16, 2015
    71
    While it's a decent stealth game, Styx: Master of Shadows doesn't meet PS4's quality standards due to its bland AI, basic combat system and poor graphic design.
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  2. Gamers' Temple
    Feb 24, 2015
    86
    Pick up Styx if you're a fan of staying in the shadows and don't want to have to dust off your old PS2 just to play a proper stealth game.
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  3. LaPS4
    Feb 16, 2015
    71
    Styx: Master of Shadows is quite an interesting stealth adventure, both for its enjoyable moments as for the variety it offers once you unlock different skills. A good example of what can be achieved without the nowadays common excess of action.
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