Styx: Master of Shadows

Styx is a weird game, but it features excellent stealth mechanics that build on the Thief legacy, but from a third-person pov. I'll say up front that the story is bonkers and, in general, not the interesting. But, they deploy some really interesting plot twists throughout that are quite surprising and keep things fresh. The game also reuses a lot of its intricate maps, though each play through typically involves moving in different directions and with new areas unlocked. Following the Thief model, the game is too difficult for a Rambo approach, forcing the player to take stealth tactics seriously and to think carefully through how to achieve each goal. There are lots of options and wide latittude for achieving mission objectives. The mechanics are a little clunky at first, but by the third mission I was a basic ninja and really began to enjoy the challenge of the game. Graphics look great, and if you really dig into the optional goals like no alerts or no kills or all tokens, this game provides a lot of playtime, well over 30 hrs. And since it occasionally goes on sale now for around $2, I'd say it's a must have for any fans of the stealth genre.

This is a stealth game very much inspired by the Thief series, a magical steampunk civilization rotten to the core, where you play as a nasty but nimble "goblin" in a quest for glory and treasure, until you hit the mandatory plot twist (and what a plot twist). Stealth works perfectly fine, as it should be for a stealth game, levels have a decent number of alternate routes so you can tackle the most difficult challenges. Art style is gorgeous, the architecture is more reminiscent of that from Dunwall, with huge doors, impressive stonework and beautiful decorations. Music is fantastic, a great companion too, especially for the innumerable times you have to wait for a patrolling guard to make his route. The ability to create a clone of yourself to distract or bait enemies is a new one for me and was surprisingly useful. All is not perfect, though, unlike Thief, you cannot tell where and how many enemies are around you unless they are basically in the same room as you, which isn't very helpful, so the devs went with the more modern approach of the magic vision that highlights enemies and collectables. There's no command to hang from ledges below you, you either have to crawl at a snail pace towards the abyss and let yourself fall (you will automatically hang if you meet those conditions) or if you are in a hurry, you can be a daredevil and jump, turn around and hold spacebar in the hopes you manage to hang from the ledge. And on that note, there are some instances where you will fall to your death because jumps are not registered correctly and you can either undershoot or overshoot them. The last "boss" is absolute trash, very few places to hide in an open room with no verticality. And finally, a huge flaw of the game is that it reuses maps constantly, there’s a map you visit three times, sure, enemies and item placement changes, but it makes the game feel cheap. Despite its flaws I had a lot of fun, definetively try it if you like Thief or Dishonored

Hidden and quite janky gem. 'Nuff said. But it's hard not to love as a true stealth game.

It's nice to play something so full of creativity and life. There is a lot of freedom in terms of how you get missions done and who you choose to kill. I really like it.

This is one of the best pure Stealth experiences you can play. Not perfect. Still has some bugs. But at the end of the day, very much worth the price. I wish we could get a 3rd game.