- Joined
- Apr 19, 2012
- Messages
- 12,062 (2.60/day)
- Location
- Gypsyland, UK
| System Name | HP Omen 17 |
|---|---|
| Processor | i7 7700HQ |
| Memory | 16GB 2400Mhz DDR4 |
| Video Card(s) | GTX 1060 |
| Storage | Samsung SM961 256GB + HGST 1TB |
| Display(s) | 1080p IPS G-SYNC 75Hz |
| Audio Device(s) | Bang & Olufsen |
| Power Supply | 230W |
| Mouse | Roccat Kone XTD+ |
| Software | Win 10 Pro |
Introduction
Styx: Master of Shadows is a heavily stealth orientated adventure game, with various RPG elements. Although on their site, they describe its genre as Infiltration, which is quite an accurate description. It is developed by Cyanide Studio and published by Focus Home Interactive, which on first glance tend not to give people an immense amount of faith. A lot of their games have been considered to be either average and slightly missing their mark of flawless execution, or relatively skippable due to bugs and gameplay issues. Two notable examples of Cyanide’s production of late are Of Orcs & Men, and Bloodbowl II. Then there’s Aarklash, which is possibly something people would rather forget. Needless to say, people had cautious optimism when it came to Styx, as the description and brief gameplay videos released looked promising as a true stealth game. Even I myself was quite taken with the pre-release press the publisher was throwing out, but certainly wasn’t sure enough to preorder.
Many assumed this would be moderately linked to Of Orcs & Men, as the smaller secondary character had various stealth elements within the game, and didn’t get a particularly good reception. The stealth areas were slightly poorly done, and many feared this sort of style would follow through, and possibly inspired Styx to be made. It was then up to Cyanide’s PR to release a few gameplay videos and launch trailers to appease the people who aired their concerns.
Storyline
Goblins and Elves and Humans and stuff. There are a few tropes, all of which are done in good humour I might add. One thing the game gets across rather well is the dialogue and story setting, despite the fact people will just want to sneak around and snap some acolyte necks. The filthy humeys have control of the World Tree (Warcraft anyone?), that seems to ooze out disturbing amounts of liquid amber. You might think “But RCoon, trees produce sap, and only after (a lot of)time does it become solid amber.” To which I shall reply “Goblins ‘n Elves and stuff”, and it all makes sense. This tree once belonged to the Elves, and the overly British Empire like Humans have taken control of it. Why? Because this Amber has wonderful magical properties, which causes goblins to duplicate via Mitosis and assist in snapping yet more prime guard neck. At least that’s what I used it for.
Needless to say the Human Empire is horribly racist towards the Elves and doesn’t like them all that much, but they still allow the Elves to guard the Heart of the World Tree. This is the shiny thing you, an Amber addicted stabby-snappy-neck goblin, have been created by the Elves for to steal back. It almost reminds me of a gangland drug plot for some kind of Hollywood movie. Two rival gangs fighting over the supply of drugs, when a small weakling is chosen by one gang to retrieve the control of said supply, but horror, nobody realised the very protagonist they sent is addicted to the stuff. He must then fight against all odds to retrieve it, and turns out to be rather good at killing things. But here’s the kicker: You’re pretty damn small and agile, so sneaking is super easy for you, however deflecting giant double-edged swords, not so easy. To make things worse, the enemies also throw things. The point being, you’re extremely vulnerable, as most goblins are in comparison to their taller, wiser, and less suicidal counterparts. This fact is something the game focuses on very heavily.
Mr Moustache - Disturbingly British Man
You start off being interrogated by Mr Moustache (apparently you got caught at some point), and this conversation reveals poor introductory writing and the general gist of the plot to everybody, in case they ignore it all while they’re busy stuffing acolyte corpses into wardrobes. The voice actors are alright, Styx’s own starts off kinda average in the intro, but eventually you learn to love him, and as you progress through the story, the voice acting, and most importantly the writing, gets a hell of a lot better. There’s a fair amount of swearing, and also some sharp goblin wit involved throughout the story - Nothing too awkward or abrasive.
Gameplay
We commence with the tutorial level, which is actually quite nice. It introduces you to most of the important aspects of gameplay, right before you get to your hideout to prepare for tomfoolery. The first point of the tutorial level is Styx searching for his dagger. You are otherwise unarmed, and are mostly completing platforming tasks like jumping, scaling walls, and getting sneaky-peaky amongst the rafters. One thing I must say is the fantastic verticalness(it wasn’t a word until this game existed) of the game. Most games have largely horizontal level with one or two vertical areas. This one has multiple, further increased by the fact you can literally crawl under floors and tables, adding tonnes of vectors and routes throughout the entire game.
Once you’ve sneaked about, and learned that lots of obstacles in the game have physics; say for example, you nudge a bucket or a lamp, that will fall over, and actually make a noise, alerting NPCs to that area for regular “it’s just a rat” inspection. The first tutorial level has a sleeping guard, and specifically tells you “Don’t knock things over or it will alert the nasty humeys!”, and rather precariously places a bucket right next to the prompt. I figure I’d test the AI and this ridiculous gameplay feature to see how poorly it had been implemented. I nudged the bucket, it toppled over and rolled a bit, shortly followed by the sleepy guard falling in and turning me to a wonderful stew like stain on the floor. I learned my lesson. Infiltrators are not immune to buckets and their schemes. I spent the rest of the game paranoid about what objects were prone to move when collided with and cause me havoc. It had been rather well implemented.
Following from this, you get your dagger, you’ve learned about potions and skipping through items (you can use sand to put out torches instead of walking up to them), and you’re about to get ready to create some goblin-made orifices into the supple bodies of the guards. NOPE! Stabbing guards in the face is noisy, but quick and easy. The issue is when you perform 3 second heart surgery, your patient tends to scream and clatter about. When faced with a room full of guards, you have the option of monitoring their paths (which change a lot if they’re in an alerted rat-scouting mood), or dispatching them quietly, which takes more time than the previous method, leaving you open to getting spotted. Distraction and timing tactics are pretty important, not to mention considering where you’re going to leave the body. The AI is quite good at spotting bodies unless extremely well hidden in the dark, or stuffed precariously into cupboards and boxes. Unfortunately, one disappointment I had was the lack of barrel use. There are quite a number of them in the game, and they serve no purpose other than objects to hide behind.
In terms of exploration and objects, the levels are pretty vast. There are dozens of ways to complete objectives, and I really do mean that. There are crevices and an innumerable amount of ways to get to one place, and make your way around the multi-layered levels. There are tables and underfloor areas, as well as a neat amount of rafters in the ceiling to walk among, and if you explore enough, there are gold coins to collect, and potions and items to obtain too. It really does reward you for exploring an entire level. In terms of replayability, there is very little besides collecting all the coins, possibly one of the reasons the game is so low priced. It is quite a long game though, and you certainly get more than your typical AAA title’s hours’ worth out of it. It is rather a refreshing example of no nonsense single player adventure games, and is priced accordingly.
Besides being able to scale just about everything, and literally being able to explore anything you can see, there are also multiple things you can hide inside in the event a guard is under high alert. You’re small; therefore you can fit into just about any tiny area. It really is fantastic when you get to know the feeling that you’re small, you’re the most evasive 3ft sack of death available in gaming. That goes both ways however, and we’re getting to the main bugging point a lot of people have about the game. Combat. I will make one statement before we go into this however. You are small, very fragile, and your entire purpose in this game is to steal, and to kill secretively, and not get caught. If you play Goblin Mode (which I highly recommend to ALL new starters), which is arguably the most realistic mode, getting into combat means instant unrelenting death. One hit, you’re dead. The devs themselves recommend most people play this most for the most authentic experience.
Unfortunately, if you play any other mode, you can take a few more hits. The issue is the combat which causes you to take those hits is really not an ideal kind. Guards have a couple of stages of alarm, the final one being the one that causes combat lock in, and I mean you’re really locked in. The guard will run up to you, and it becomes a separate game of timing. You can’t move, run away, or disappear into the shadows, you have to stand and fight. Except you don’t fight, you simply counter. You time your counters correctly, and after one or three correct counters, you can insta-kill the enemy. Time them wrong, you get hit, get hit too much, you die!
Here’s where I mention that the game has no autosave feature. It doesn’t tell you this, and at no point did I recall a save prompt besides finishing a level. There are quicksave features, and I strongly recommend you use them religiously. If not, it is going to become a very frustrating time for you. In the event you haven’t saved for a while, and get locked into combat and die, that can be a bummer. You soon learn the hard way about saving your game. Another issue with the combat is, once you’re locked in (and tunnel vision’d, I might add) with a single enemy, you can only counter that one enemy. If you’ve alerted a room of 2 or 3 guards and acolytes, you may as well reload, because they all hit you while you’re killing one guy. Some of the acolytes also throw weapons at you when alerted, before you get into combat, so you already take damage before you can evade it. Long story short, you’re a tiny weak assassin, if you get caught with your pants down to a crowd of metal men, you’re toast.
There is however an ability you can use to go invisible, provided you have enough amber to do so (amber can be topped up with amber potions). This is most useful when guards are on alert or you’re in a sticky position and you feel combat is inevitable and you’re not likely to survive. Styx is a magical Elf creation, and therefore is partially magical, albeit rather to his clones’ detriment. Once you unlock your hideout, you get options to upgrade Styx and give him some shiny abilities from 6 separate skill trees, all of which use Amber as a resource. You have one tree dedicated to your daggers alongside your abilities too. Most of those unlock different ways to dispatch guards (emphasized by their name beginning with “murder”), and abilities allow rather groovy things to be done with your clones, as well as ways to “dispose” of bodies in the least humane way possible. One useful thing is that when you drop from great heights, you make noise when you land, unless it’s on a carpet. One of those abilities improves your silence. Its things like that that really makes this a fantastic game for stealth lovers; it’s very much a game that gets you into the frame of mind of a tiny stealthy person.
Controls
The game supports keyboard & mouse, as well as a controller. While I would recommend to most people to play general adventure games on a controller, I actually played through this on a keyboard to get a feel for the difference in gameplay. I must say the controls are a little odd in some areas, general movement is fine, although on keyboard the movement is limited to 8 directional, and walking speed is impossible to control besides crouching and standing.
Jumping can be a little tough to judge, as Styx jumps higher and further when not crouched, which is a good element, but a little hard to get used to at first. Also jumping from point to point can be occasionally challenging when scaling walls, and isn’t as fluid as other games that feature similar gameplay. Take your time when you’re on a wall, point to the area you want to jump to next, and then jump. Once you get used to it, it’s not so bad, but for some it might be a focus for a negative experience. It’s certainly not as smooth as scaling in Assassins Creed or Shadow of Mordor.
It’s also worth noting that falling off ledges is very difficult, and isn’t truly explained very well. What you have to do in order to drop off a ledge without falling to your death, is crouch, and then walk very slowly, directly facing the ledge you want to drop down on. Styx also has a tendency to get back up off of the ledge if you so much as breathe on your spacebar or forward key, so bare that in mind when you’re evading line of sight of a guard.
Video Settings
Gamma settings. Never have I cared about them other than in DayZ when it’s dark and I can’t be bothered to wait for daytime. In Styx however, I noted that gamma is rather important. In the very first tutorial level, if the gamma is a shade too low, it’s extremely difficult to find grab points on walls in dark places. Bear that in mind when you’re looking for an authentic dark dungeon setting get the gamma just right, it’s very much worth the time taken.
The video settings menu is rather well kitted out, with most of the important options. While the game is quite pretty, it’s not eye candy en masse, but doesn’t make you stop to think “My god this is gorgeous”, nor did I have any complaints about low quality graphics.
System Performance
CPU: i5 4670 (Stock)
GPU: MSI GTX 970 (Stock)
RAM: 16GB 2133mhz
Storage: WD 1TB 7200RPM
Display: 2560 x 1440
The game itself is rather well optimised. On a standard i5 and 970, with stock settings applied, the game runs buttery smooth, even when run from a HDD. One thing I did note was that the loading screens do actually take a fair amount of time to what I’m used to, then again, the levels are enormous in vertical scale. I maintained a solid 60FPS on max settings, and didn’t notice any visible stuttering at all. In fact, I all but forgot to even bear it in mind while I was playing, because it was such a non-issue. I've disabled various gubbins that irritate me, such as AO and motion blur etc. I also noted that despite turning VSync off, the game seems to cap itself at 64FPS.
In terms of performance, the game rarely goes above 35% GPU load, and I saw only 40% of the cores on the CPU were being utilized. Granted, the game is certainly not the cream of the crop in terms of graphics, certainly not high res in relation to other, but they work well with the setting of the game.
1440p
1080p
Conclusion
It’s truly unfortunate that this game released at the exact time Shadow of Mordor was released. While this game undoubtedly has far better stealth gameplay, people are very much used to being able to fight off enemies in most modern stealth games. In Styx you are vulnerable, and it really forces you to think about your approach to sneaking through a level, and gives you a huge amount of area to plan and play with. Unfortunately most other games have super slick combat, and allow you to take on many enemies, and that seems to have developed a negativity for Styx that I don’t think it entirely deserves. I think it’s just a game developed for an audience of stealth lovers, and is automatically getting picked up by those that enjoy Batman and Shadow of Mordor and expect a similar experience.
There’s no denying the combat is point blank awful, and for a stealth game I’d prefer a method for escape, as opposed to getting locked in to imminent death. It does however add an element of fear of getting caught, which is the underlying point of the game. Be sneaky, don’t get caught, because you’re physically a weak little being. The general movement could be addressed, as ledge grabbing and dropping is a little bit more awkward than it needs to be, and often leads to death until you’ve gotten used to the method of dropping down.
As it stands, this is close to a typical Cyanide game, only I must say, this is far better in terms of gameplay than their previous games. While it falls short in combat, and has rather average movement, the storyline and stealth mechanics, as well as the RPG style upgrade department are pretty great. I played very little of Thief GOLD, and found it quite difficult to enjoy, as I was so used to things like modern Splinter Cell and the latest Thief games. Styx has made me appreciate true infiltration games as a genre though, and left me with a really positive experience. That was not until after I had learnt my lessons on combat and the lack of autosave features however. I think Cyanide can be proud of this game over their other releases, and I certainly think they have something to build on, which has the potential to be really quite good in terms of gameplay. They just have a few things they need to polish up on.
If you’re into hardcore old style stealth games, where combat is a last option, you’ll love Styx. If you prefer the more modern approach to games like Thief, Shadow of Mordor, and Splinter cell, you may want to give it a pass. I don’t think it’s entirely fair to compare Styx to these games, not just budget-wise but more in terms of gameplay. It’s really reaching to cater towards a sneaking environment, as opposed to being an all-powerful character capable of felling entire waves of enemies with a few well timed clicks.
Styx: Master of Shadows is available for PC on Steam for £24.99 or on consoles, but PS+ members get 10% off of the PS4 version.
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takes approximately 1-2 days to play, another day to record footage I need plus screenshots, and about 2 days to write about it. I've had this on the backburner so that when I made my threads I could have something available for people to see sooner rather than later.
I know you've talked about proper stealth games and despaired in general about the trend of games.
Nice charts at the bottom.
I know you put your testing specs at the bottom, and that's cool, but whether or not I enjoy your style, I'm gonna skip the console reviews, for the most part 
sorry