Styx: Shards of Darkness

 Xbox One
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
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  1. TrueAchievements
    Mar 30, 2017
    80
    With its beautiful graphics, gritty realism, and engaging story, it won't take long for gamers to find themselves hooked on stalking through the shadows. The improved skill trees make customization possible and enhanced skills add to the enjoyment of the adventure. With a nice mix of easy and challenging, the achievements add even more to the fun. All in all, Styx: Shards of Darkness is a game you won't want to miss.
  2. Twinfinite
    Mar 21, 2017
    80
    In conclusion, Styx: Shards Of Darkness is a unique beast. In a time where every game seems to be committed to diversifying their gameplay as much as possible, and appealing to as wide an audience as possible, Styx: Shards Of Darkness is unconventionally pure in its approach. It is a stealth game through and through, and despite it’s flaws, is still one of the better games to come out in the genre for a long time.
  3. MondoXbox
    Mar 15, 2017
    78
    Cyanide's stealth series confirms its strengths, improving its graphics and adding a welcome co-op element. Except for these elements the game doesn't feel too different from the previous one and it still retains some of its problems (mainly in the enemy AI area), but it's definitely advised for lovers of stealth games.
  5. IGN
    Mar 14, 2017
    78
    Styx: Shards of Darkness greatly resembles the earlier Styx: Master of Shadows from 2014, but Cyanide improved the gameplay this time around with the inclusion of craftable weapons, the lack of a lock-on in combat, and expanded abilities. It presents an interesting world to explore but wastes its potential by recycling environments from early missions late in the game. Co-op mode is fun, too, but only selectively as some stealth-only missions seem far more manageable on one's own.
  6. ICXM
    Mar 14, 2017
    75
    A step above its predecessor. Oozing with character and charm, the titular character of Styx helps to bring the game out of the shadows you’ll be crawling through for most of its run time. Repetition of its otherwise great environments and hammy voice acting from the other characters is somewhat disappointing but Styx is still a solid game.

Awards & Rankings

82
#82 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2017

User Reviews

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User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 31 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 31
  3. Negative: 5 out of 31
  1. cableguy3333
    Apr 30, 2019
    9
    Assassins creed for Goblins. It's actualy much better than any assassins creed game out there, if you end up in hand to hand to combat withAssassins creed for Goblins. It's actualy much better than any assassins creed game out there, if you end up in hand to hand to combat with anyone there's a good chance you will end up dead. It's also quite entertaining, go AFK for a while and you will hear an enjoyable song which actually made me laugh, I find a game very rarely that does that.… Full Review »
  2. HypnoticMarc
    Mar 20, 2017
    7
    Styx: Shards of Darkness n’est pas un mauvais jeu, mais il comporte l’ensemble des défauts que l’on reprochait au tout premier épisode de laStyx: Shards of Darkness n’est pas un mauvais jeu, mais il comporte l’ensemble des défauts que l’on reprochait au tout premier épisode de la franchise et n’apporte pas assez de nouveauté. Les développeurs du studio Cyanide nous propose une expérience identique à ce que l’on pouvait retrouver il y a quelques années, mais avec un environnement un peu plus grand ainsi que des graphismes de meilleure qualité. De plus, le titre est disponible alors que de nombreux jeux bien meilleurs sont aussi sur le marché. Rien qui n’aidera les ventes pour ce Styx: Shards of Darknes. Je conseille le jeu aux joueurs ayant bien apprécié le premier et souhaitant obtenir une expérience similaire tout en offrant des niveaux très bien réalisé.… Full Review »
  3. 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 »
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