I'm happy this game exists
I honestly think this game deserves more love. Perfect? No. There were some changes (control elements included), and the story is a bit loose. Side missions and non-cutscene NPC interactions could be richer. The scaling can feel a bit too massive at times - all this is enough to hint at a broader plan that maybe couldn't make it in its entirety into the result - but that result still delivers big time.
Navigation seems to hold some difficulty for those accustomed to games like Assassin's Creed that you can practically play with your eyes closed. Also, some noted you can find a few graphic glitches, but I met nothing game breaking or irritating. Is it good? Hell yeah! - especially in case of an AA game that has just so much to offer.
So let's see a few of the many good things about this game:
- Devs are still working dearly and continuously at bettering the game based on player feedback (as per this review 2026 July).
- The music is beyound fantastic - and breathing so much life into the game - while also breathing in unison not just with the atmosphere, the world, the action and characters, but across the whole franchise. Choice of instruments, melodies and geniously playful nods-back to relevant already exisiting themes in former games are done expertly and interestingly. From the less melodic tracks that almost slow down time (like the pure musical manifestations of meticulous sneakery) to tracks that secretly wink at future themes to come (winking at Of Orks and Men - which is future in the franchise timeline while being the first published game - one that laid down the signature cello moods by composer Olivier Deriviere, the initial bottom line that later was transmorphed so beautifully and inventively into composer H-Pi's very own extended musical realm for Styx. All soundtracks utterly beautiful, exciting, colourful and masterfully composed and played. Kudos! (Go find them all on Bandcamp :)
- Styx is great! - if you think, he's subdued, I don't agree - I think in this story he's trying to find his place in a very new setting that he's kinda beginning to enjoy, but doesn't quite feel appreciated in - though I truly miss there to be more of his inner mini-monologues and remarks, I love those. As mentioned, a bit richer NPC life throughout would give better grounding to character relations and the world / atmosphere.
- Saul Jephcott's voice acting for Styx is over the top, off the scales again. The rest of the voice acting is also great - though a few places at the begginning the sound mixing for dialogues is not always perfectly aligned with the environment.
- The verticality is real - prepare for altitude sickness and Escher vibes (clearly Julien Desourteaux is on board for level design again).
- The game has a massive playground, and new areas opening up one by one for traversal as you get ahead in the storyline. The distant windows and heigths you only eyed longingly would sooner or later be at your feet.
- The airship chase episode is extra awesome.
- You can find a few hidden local mini missions sprinkled throughout from NPC hearsay and exploration (e.g. tamper with a military map you heard about) - not too many though - maybe if the Devs have the resources, they can expand further on this.
- Some people say main missions are just repeated Quatrz collections - but each such mission is so different, with the terrain, the local challenges and added surprises that the execution is anything but repetitive. I think the feeling of repetitiveness could be alleviated by backing it up with more story elements around it to add colour.
- Traversal feels great - and the farther you go, the more varied approaches are available to you for both infiltration and approach to situations - lots of fun to have.
- Clones are once again gob-uppable, throwable and hideable - just be aware you'll need to use the mind control ability to actively guide them.
- You can hunt relics, you can seek out emblems for upgrades, runes for enhancing senses, blueprints for additional crafting, and still you can unlock a wagonful of abilities - all this allowing for versatile playstyle - but if you prefer to stick to your staples, no shame in that, you don't have to use evvverything all the time - pick your favourites and go. Styx has always been known to get very far on very little. Just don't forget you have options when you seem to get stuck.
- You can stealth to your heart's content. With the gradually increasing repertoire ultimately all situations can be approached multiple ways - even bloodlessly (except for the balloon transport areas where you will need to secure your ferry point by clearing off all enemies in the immediate vicinity. You could say that's a bummer for mercy (I quite liked having the ghostlike playstyle option in Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness), but here the world / context demands otherwise.)
- The game has a lot going on with so many different areas requiring adaptation from the player. The areas are greatly varied even within a single mission - like what you need to look out for, what you need to avoid, how you can traverse (from gadgets to planning to exploration), etc. There's something new introduced every time.
- The game is a fun romp with the usual dark fantasy and serious overtones - though I felt that tackling the serious side of the story was lacking in terms of writing. In previous games (Mos, Sod, OOaM) this serious side was always present and handled very well, grounding the story and giving it a strong focus and stakes. This time I felt the story was more up in the air - but what the hell, this time you have an airship for base. But in the end, this was one more thing that made me think the original plan might have been a bit more elaborate and detailed than what could fit in with the final production/contract, With the story left airy, the world feels like the world has a little less life and clear purpose.
- Nope, combat is not a main mechanic in this game, nor has it ever been in the franchise (save for OOaM) - stealth is. That said, fighting is more effective in this one, once you get the hang of it - just don't forget you have a whole, recalibratable arsenal of other options to choose from - there's a fundamental reason for the game preferring the stealth option. You're not a knight in spit-polished armour. You're a Goblin and when you spit, it's acid or a clone. If you like exploring and handle yourself well, you'll find plenty supplies to fuel your crafting needs.
I could go on - but I'll let you discover the rest.
My only remaining caveats:
- Story - I preferred the more grounded, character focused style of the older games. That said, generally, this wasn't half bad at all! If I had to highlight my main story pain, the Orc lore here felt a bit half-baked. And in prevoius games the story was more focused on Styx in an up-close-and-personal way, also in a more grounded way.
- I also preferred the more focused routes of the old games, but I think this is only due to vast scale for less focused NPC life here. I must say, I greatly enjoyed earning a mind-map of the places in my head and then being able to traverse like a boss later with gadgets and knowledge where at first I felt like a noob.
- I much preferred the old Mercy / Shadow / Speed / ect. options allowing for 100% ghostlike action, but as mentioned, the changes implemented here are logical (having to cater to team secrecy, etc).
- The Big Boss fight was weird. It kinda felt rushed and the boss's motivations seemed loose. But the outro was cool.
The game was great - I will surely play again (like I like to do with MoS, SoD and OOaM as well).
Five stars because I loved it, warts and all - and also because I want to add a bit of weight on appreciating this game.
All in all, I would absolutely adore more Styx! Please!
Make it good, make it real!
Thank you for making this Styx game, after all these years, in these tough times.
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