Styx: Master of Shadows

The target audience of the game were most likely the stealth game lovers and those who loved the world of Orcs and Men (especially those like me who mainly used Styx for solving problems and only called Arkail to clean up the rest). I feel like those two goals were contradictory. The first part of the game is really boring. Due to the skill point system you lack a lot of options, and the story unfolds very slowly, and adds very little to the world. No wonder many players quits the game in less than 6 hours. The second part of the game challenged me quite so, but If you tend to save-scum you won't have problems even without stealth game expertise. The story started to become incredible as a prequel to OOAM, and many things happened right before my eyes which were only stories and legends in the first game. The problem is that levels become twice as long, and the game reused the early levels: the only changes were that they were repopulated with tougher enemies and you needed to go the opposite way. It was kinda nice because those maps provided more opportunity this way and it was a huge benefit to know its quirks, but for the love of god, certain maps appeared 3 times, and for the first playthrough you most likely replay levels since you can't get the speedrun /no kill /all token targets at the sane tine. 6 times on the same map is a little too much. Few minor things: The finale was rubbish gameplay-wise. You can't really do boss battles in a stealth game like this. There are some really annoying features in the game. Like if you want to jump down between two ledges you simply cant. The character will grab one of them and automatically climbs up. The tutorial level does a good job introducing you to most of the mechanics without being boring, but forgets one thing: you and your clones can actually roar/whistle to attract guards. Would be very useful if I know it sooner. 10 of the achievements are not working on the GoG version. If thats important buy elsewhere.

A truly wonderful game with lots of possibilities. The best stealth game there is!

I was expecting a short, janky stealth platformer, but it was actually much more polished and fun game! The one star down is just for a few repeated maps, and also for the game length - if it was an hour or two shorter it would feel much better. However I was never forcing myself to finish this. Well... off to Shards of darkness!

Played with Virtual Desk and VR headset. Really enjoyed the game. I love the thief series and gave this one a shot. Glad I did. This is a stealth game first and foremost. Although you can be 'in your face' with some of the interactions, it'll take away from your score. I found greater enjoyment playing on higher difficulty and avoiding any killing. Makes it tougher and more realistic. I enjoyed the level design which has many different paths to proceed on the maps. The layouts make you think in a vertical sense since you can get close to the ceiling or down underneath the floors. Lots of options. There is some repeativeness and the enemy A.I. is not the best and at times is head-scratching and also comical. Still, worth a purchase and play when on sale on GOG.

the only way to play this game is GOBLIN mode