Styx: Blades of Greed Review | Masterful Stealth Levels in a Flawed Return

Our little sarcastic green thieving goblin returns after an eight-year hiatus. Should Styx have stayed in the shadows, or was this a welcome return?

Styx: Blades of Greed is the latest entry in the stealthy, green, sharp-witted - hero…villain…aww, thief! The story sees the return of Styx and his crew, off to steal Quartz, a magical and highly valuable resource that only Styx appears able to control. The heart of the game is action-adventure mixed with a welcoming stealth appeal. It’s up to you to decide how to approach the world missions presented to you - an open-level stealthy playground!

Watch Your Tongue

Styx certainly has a personality. His sharp-witted demeanor presents an “I don’t care” mentality. This may appeal to some players, but Styx’s character, though voiced well, grew old as the game went on. However, Styx was able to break up the underwhelming traits of the NPCs. Not only did Styx steal the quartz, but he also stole the guards’ personalities. Guards are dull, predictable, and rather easy to maneuver, lacking any personality as most didn’t say much or went as far as repeating their one or two lines if I managed to alert them. Although guards may not have the most exciting lines, Styx had plenty of one-liners to fill in for the NPCs.

This Way, No That Way…Alright, This Way Then!

The star of the game is, without a doubt, the level design. Cyanide Studio took their time and cleverly designed the vertical challenges that await players. This is easily my most enjoyable portion of the game. Styx has his objective, but how I choose to get there is completely up to me. I can barge in the front door and try my best to outmaneuver the guards - though unlikely. What if I set a trap, call a guard over with a whistle, and watch him melt before my eyes? Or better yet, climb to hidden areas, jump in through a window, lockpick the door, and sneak right past the guard while invisible. I can run past the guard because I focused my Talent Points on the ‘Invisibility’ skill tree, which now allows me to run without being heard.

The pure, wide-eyed level design presents an absolute plethora of opportunities, allowing players to pick and choose their own unique path to achieve the goal at hand, while also giving the freedom to stumble around and find the playstyle that matches each of us best. Scaling across from one rooftop to the next, finding a catwalk under a bridge, then with a quick leap inside a window and another crawlspace leading to my next stealth kill was fantastic. The world floats at our fingertips with the scale and scope of the rustic, weathered buildings that will have you scaling these skyscraper-like towers in one direction, only to find yourself curiously wandering elsewhere as you continuously explore each nook and cranny.

Styx: Blades of Greed has some of the best level design that will have you coming back to try another path, similar to a Metroidvania game, as you gain new abilities and return to scale the landscape in new and adventurous ways. If you’ve had the pleasure of playing Dishonored, then you will certainly love the world of opportunities Cyanide has created.

Still In The Shadows Are You

I did run into some unfortunate issues, as my PS5 crashed twice during my playtime. Luckily, the game saves quite often, and though it was annoying to drop out, I wasn’t far from where I had just been. Graphical issues were prevalent, with sunrays shining through walls and light emitting off surfaces inside buildings that had no light access whatsoever. The game needs better optimization, with some areas struggling to allow Styx the freedom to roam without the look of someone having a stroke as he jitters across the screen. This isn’t often, but it is very noticeable at times.

The Zeppelin is our HQ, our headquarters of operation, and is very underutilized. It feels like Cyanide wanted a place for Styx to call home but didn’t know how to approach the idea. Early in the game, Styx comes across Jasper, a very technical and mechanical Dwarf who helps Styx upgrade his gear and is featured in a few story beats. The issue with this approach is that I don’t need Jasper to upgrade anything, because I’m able to upgrade all my skills, abilities, and blueprints out in the world while on a mission. This leaves me questioning the purpose of the Zeppelin. It does act as a Fast Travel system, but other than that, it feels rather useless. I would have liked to see more thought put into the use of the Zeppelin - make it a character within the world that we’re soaring above high within the skies. Allow me to upgrade the Zeppelin, which could entail better equipment because I was able to upgrade Jasper’s workshop.

Instead, we’re left with a shell of a Zeppelin that has you start at the bottom of the ship and work your way among the stairs to climb to the map located at the very top for mission selection. So much potential with our bird in the sky, yet it feels forced and lonely. If players purchase the Deluxe Edition, you can change Styx’s appearance, but it comes at a price behind a paywall, instead of earning them as you play as you would in most games. Disappointing, as I always love to mess around with the appearance of my characters throughout my journeys. A Photo Mode would have been a nice touch for those who can get lost behind the lens. But there were more meaningful tasks at hand than a Photo Mode I’m sure.

You Never Saw Me Coming

Stealth games are challenging. How do you present a stealth game that keeps players on their toes? Can the NPCs surprise you and keep the excitement of a stealth kill going from start to finish? Unfortunately, Styx can, for the most part, easily outwit the NPCs throughout the game. There were a few times I jumped in the wrong direction or ran into a guard that saw my demise. However, most of the time, the guards were rather easy to leap across with a well-placed blow dart or to sneak up behind for a sneaky kill that always ended in a repetitive stealth kill animation. It would have been wonderful to see a few different stealth kill animations throughout my panther-like playstyle. Sneak in - everyone dies, and I walk around freely, dropping guards like flies from one stealth kill to the next death from above, taking each guard out before they even saw me coming. I loved it; it was fun! Lining up my path for eliminating each guard one by one as the bodies fall, all while remaining unheard and unseen, is the rush I get from a good stealth game.

I’ll Take That!

Styx: Blades of Greed is - just that - a good stealth action-adventure game. It has moments of brilliance when the stars align and I’m sneaking around one corner to duck under a table, quickly turn invisible, and eliminate my opponent without anyone else being the wiser. However, there are disappointing texture pop-ins, guards’ faces that don’t have a face - more of a blurred presentation like someone used the smudge tool in Photoshop for what should have been a face. Although Styx: Blades of Greed isn’t perfect, it’s just what I was looking for: a fun stealth game that I can sink my blade into, while using killer abilities. Whether I’m luring over a guard or walking invisibly through a group while remaining undetected, I can’t get enough!