Styx: Master of Shadows - Game Review

Styx: Master of Shadows is an infiltration game with RPG elements. You are a Goblin two centuries old... the very first of all the Goblins, he’s a master in the arts of stealth, theft, and murder. The depths of the miles-high Tower of Akenash, where Humans and Elves hide and protect the Tree, the source of the Amber, are the best chance Styx has of quickly amassing a small fortune and, perhaps, discover more about his true origins along the way. From gamers all over the world, Styx: Master of Shadows has had really positive reviews. Most people have tagged the game as one of the best in its genre. The gameplay has been commended a lot. However, there is a feeling that the game could have been a little more interesting.

The game is about battling your way to the top of the lofty Tower of Akenash through immense and vertiginous levels that highlight the vertical perspective. You will complete numerous missions with various objectives as you climb up – murder, information recovery, theft of precious artifacts, etc – and gradually reconstruct the puzzle that provides the key to the mystery of your origins. The levels are open and the objectives can be completed in various ways: you are therefore free to choose the best way to proceed and the most suitable strategy to employ to achieve and complete your mission objectives. But remember you’re a Goblin: if your target is twice your size, or more, you're better off eliminating them silently… and in the back! The goblin main character however is delightfully non-standard in his short stature and murderous ways while the rest of the world seems a grimy parody of middle ages Britain.

The game seems to tick all the boxes for a stealth game. The developers have done a brilliant job in the framework of the game with breathtaking visuals and a lot of interesting options. Surely, there is a really creative mind behind the game. The game has been a really hardcore experience for the gamers with minimal shortcomings, namely poor combat and budget animations. The PC port controls are actually solid, while the experience on 360 controller does not disappoint either. There’s a thing that is to be kept in mind, that the game is called the Master of Shadows, and not the Master of Fighting, the gaming experience clearly explains why and the purchase simply cannot disappoint.

If you put stealth elements from the thief-, splinter cell- and MGS-series together, and mix them up with a classic fantasy setting, you’ll get an idea, of what it feels like playing the green-skinned goblin-master-thief Styx. While the plot focusing on the amber-drug, cloning, lost memories and the war between Elves and Humans is getting more and more weird through the game, you’ll get a nice stealth-experience with cool game-mechanics, mixed with some rpg-elements. Though the game is fun overall, the AI behaves insufficiently and the jump-and-climb-issue based on the imprecise controls can drive you nuts. In more than one ways, Styx feels like a stealth game from an earlier era, but one that's more dated then vintage. It tries to pick up a few tricks from more modern games in the genre, but much of its core wouldn't have been out of place alongside the earlier Tenchu or Metal Gear Solid games.

Apart from all this, the game also has some cons. The most major one being that that whole idea is pre-dominantly stealth, while it could have involved a little more action too. Triggering a direct combat in the game means almost certain death, and most of your time will be spent mastering the shadows by hiding in them rather than pouncing from them. On the other hand, the game is a true delight for hardcore stealth fans. INTERESTING is the right word for the game for them.

Cyanide is a deceptively productive studio, not to mention a rather ambitious one considering the constraints it works under. It might not be the biggest-budget operation, but the French wearer of many hats and waver of many national flags has recently produced a not-entirely-terrible Game of Thrones RPG, Impire, Dungeonbowl, and Of Orcs & Men. The latter, while depressingly flawed, is most relevant here given that Master of Shadows presumably takes place in the same world.

The game released on October 7 and can be purchase from stores worldwide. It is a must-buy for gamers who are in love with stealth games. For others, it might not be too bad either. In no way is the game a disappointment. Thumbs Up!