Styx: Shards of Darkness

Impulse GamerChris O'Connor

Styx: Shards of Darkness is the third game in the "Of Orcs and Men" series. To cut to the chase it's probably easiest to think of it as Thief with a Goblin...

GameWatcherJoseph Bradford

8/10

Styx: Shards of Darkness is an incredibly fun game - provided you are ok with slowing down the pace and willing to put up with uncompromising stealth. If you are looking for an action heavy stealth experience, this isn’t really your cup of tea. However, if you’re like me (though I’m terrible at stealth on the whole) and want a great, difficult challenge, Styx: Shards of Darkness might be right up your alley.

PC GamerJon Morcom

79/100

Styx' latest stealth outing puts the 'gob' into goblin.

IGNLeif Johnson

7.8/10

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.

Worth PlayingBrian Dumlao

7.5/10

The centuries-old goblin assassin Styx returns in a new stealth game, Styx: Shards of Darkness, with a bigger budget, bigger ideas, and a new engine: Unreal Engine 4.

Gaming NexusRob Larkin

7.4/10

A stealth game that sticks to its core values and offers some excellent level design, Styx: Shards of Darkness is a solid sequel. It is not without some presentation issues and could really benefit from some better controls on the more delicate maneuvers. If you can get past the crassness of the main character there is much to like.

Capsule ComputersJamie Laike Tsui

7/10

A fantastically designed stealth game that stumbles a bit with mediocre controls.

GameSpotMichael Higham

6/10

Styx to the formula.

COGConnectedRamin Ostad

60/100

There were several moments during my playthrough of Styx: Shards of Darkness that felt as if the game was going out of its way to frustrate me. At its core, Styx wants to be a pure stealth game akin to the old Thief series, with every level designed around sneaking from room to room, building to building, stealing gold, forging documents, and opening vaults without ever being seen or heard. You play as the titular Styx, a talking goblin thief with an addiction to magic-imbuing “amber” who has zero combat abilities, his talents instead focused on evasion, espionage, and burglary. To slink throu...

Video ChumsA.J. Maciejewski

5.8/10

Sneaking past enemy guards while accomplishing devious missions is an often rewarding premise for a game. As a follow-up to 2014's Master of Shadows, Styx: Shards of Darkness continues the titular goblin's tale but is it any good?

TechRaptorAlex Santa Maria

5.5/10

Styx: Shards of Darkness will provide stealth fans with a brief thrill, but wading through levels multiple times and dealing with poor attempts at variety will grate at even the most jaded of players by the time the campaign is through.

Checkpoint GamingRachel Humphreys

Unscored

Styx is back and he’s back with a vengeance; oh and he’s definitely more opinionated and filled with a bunch of hilarious observations too! Cyanide studios and Focus Home Interactive have teamed up once again to bring everyone’s favourite goblin assassin to life in Styx: Shards of Darkness. Whilst 2014’s Master of Shadows was where we were officially and truly introduced to our greedy, blunt and humorous master thief of a goblin, he originally appeared much earlier in 2012’s Of Orcs...