Styx: Blades of Greed is a new entry in the Styx series, developed by the original developers at Cyanide Studio. They’re probably best known for games like Call of Cthulhu and Blood Bowl, but the original Styx: Master of Shadows game is one of their very first. Cyanide, along with their publisher Nacon, the same one from years ago, now seeks to revitalize the series and pick up where the last game left off almost ten years ago.
The world of stealth games has come a long way in those ten years, with many variations on the genre, including Ghost of Tsushima and the ever-changing Assassin’s Creed series. Although the genre itself has seen a lot of change over time, there hasn’t been much in the way of a true stealth game in some time.
Styx is back and not only ready to break that streak, but to shatter it by bringing new life to a genre that’s grown very different over the years. While it may not get everything right, there’s still plenty to enjoy here. From the verticality of levels to the new powers introduced thanks to Quartz, Styx: Blades of Greed offers an old-school experience with some new vigor.
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What is Styx: Blades of Greed?
If you’ve never played a Styx game before, that would make sense, given that the last game in the series, Styx: Shards of Darkness, was released in 2017. Without delving too much into things, the Styx games as a whole follow our titular goblin Styx as he stealths his way through various levels using his magical powers to kill, sabotage, and steal whatever he wants.
In this new entry, Styx gains access to a lot of new tools and abilities to open up new pathways for players to take or new playstyles for them to enjoy. Unlike in the older games, Styx isn’t so obsessed with Amber anymore; now he’s got a brand-new addiction, Quartz. This powerful rock grants him new abilities, like mind control and speeding himself up.
For this journey, Styx is working with some old and new friends to try and save the world, because you can only be a selfish little goblin for so long, right? He’ll have some banter with his new “friends,” but for the most part, he spends all his time sneaking around places, taking anything that isn’t nailed down, and getting rid of anyone who stands in his way.
At its very core, Styx: Blades of Greed is a stealth game that will push players to view the world through a creative lens. Utilizing different abilities and taking various pathways only to end up stabbed and getting another go at it is the norm here. Much like its predecessors, you have a lot of options on how to tackle the problems in front of you.
A World Worth Exploring
Things are a bit different this go-round, as the game isn’t mission-based, but rather almost entirely open world. There are three locations to visit: The Wall, Turquoise Dawn, and Akenash Ruins. Each one has several fast travel spots that you can use to get back to your airship or move to another fast travel point. You’ll need to unlock each of them individually to be able to use them, though.
The upside to this is that the environments are pretty different, but still present a lot of options for how you’d like to get around them. You can climb many structures and weave your way up the outside of a structure, or you can head inside and slowly but surely take out anyone in your way. It isn’t exactly a new idea, but since you’ll revisit each of these locations a few times throughout the game, you’ll come back with new gadgets that give you lots of new routes to take.
It seems like a given that environments in a stealth game need to be interesting, but each of these locations is fairly different from the others. The Wall is filled with mostly human enemies and a lot of buildings with various entrances, while Turquoise Dawn is a much more natural area filled with small critters and Orcs.
These environments house a lot of secrets, from entrances to some collectibles you can just happen upon while exploring. Pretty much every inch of the maps is used for something, whether it’s a story or a side mission, or even just some materials to collect. Moving around each location is a bit different and really makes you consider what you want to tackle next, whether that’s a story mission or unlocking one of the fast travel locations.
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Abilities Galore, but Not Just Yet
Much like the original games, Styx has a lot of tools at his disposal to distract or dispose of enemies. Each one can typically be used for various things, such as distraction or damage. These abilities give players a lot of variability in the way they like to play and let them lean into the playstyle and abilities they like. Whether it’s chucking bottles as a distraction or mind-controlling enemies off a cliff, there are lots of options to choose from.
There’s just one issue: a lot of the best stuff you won’t get your hands on until you’re almost done with the game. For some players, it’ll feel like a rite of passage, sort of paying your dues and learning some things about the game before diving into the deep end. Others, like myself, will find it holds you back just a bit and limits you in certain situations, taking away the best part of the game: player agency.
At its very core, Styx: Blades of Greed is a stealth game that will push players to view the world through a creative lens.
It isn’t incredibly detrimental, and without getting too much into spoiler territory, I’ll cover something shown in the trailers as an example: the glider. Styx gains access to the glider at the end of Act II, which is a common theme across each act. Near the end of each act, Styx gains a new innate ability that doesn’t usually need any activation. It gives you something new to use in the next act, but after the first two times, it gets a little frustrating.
Getting these abilities at the end of the acts is a nice reward, but it also means you’re virtually locked in to completing the main story quest so you can explore more. It felt like an odd disconnect when the world is so much fun to explore, especially when you’re flying around or grappling from point to point. It isn’t something that’ll bother too many people, but it did feel like a way to force players to do the story, not because they want to, but because they have to.
A Story that’s Just… There
If you’re hoping to get some very in-depth story with character growth and interesting turns and twists, unfortunately, you might be better off playing something like Baldur’s Gate 3. While the Styx series has never been known for its stories, there was always an interesting angle or take on the whole thing.
This is arguably the biggest issue with the game, given that the story picks up on the exact moment the last game ended. For returning players, it’ll be a great pickup that throws them right back into the world they know and love, but for new players, there’s virtually no explanation or recap of any kind at the beginning. I hadn’t played the last game in nearly ten years, so when the story just sort of starts, I was almost immediately lost.
It is a trilogy game, so it makes sense that having to play the first couple of games would explain some things more, but when the last game is almost ten years old, there’s sort of a precedent to give everyone a refresher. You’re just sort of thrust into everything and into an action sequence that isn’t too bad, but definitely leaves you more confused about what exactly is going on.
Beyond that, the story really feels more like window dressing for the actual gameplay. It pretty much boils down to “bad guys have Quartz, and we need to stop them, so go kill them and take their stuff.” There is an interesting twist to this in that there’s some kind of mythical being connected to the Quartz that’ll speak to you whenever you snag a new piece. Other than that, the story simply exists to put you into the world and let you have fun.
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A Visual Upgrade for the Most Part
It seems obvious that the game should look a whole lot better after ten years, and to its credit, the game actually looks pretty great most of the time. Environments are dense and packed with visual stimuli that come across clearly often. Enemies and textures are pretty easy to distinguish, which is really important when you’re trying to sneak around undetected.
There just happens to be a couple of problems on this front that I couldn’t seem to fix by playing with the settings. It doesn’t really become an issue until you get the glider and spend some time in the air, but when there’s nothing behind an object in the sky, it gets these weird boxes around it. It looks a little wonky, but it doesn’t really impact much.
At the end of Act II, you’ll enter into a sort of air combat level where you’re learning how the glider works and trying to get rid of some other airships. This is where the visuals, for some reason, take a huge nosedive, even in the interior areas of the ships. It seems like it’s really only related to this part, but there was definitely a noticeable shift in the visual quality.
A Difficult and Replayable Game
One of the best parts about stealth games in general is that they offer you a lot of replayability, whether it be in taking some new paths to objectives or trying out some different ability setups to keep things fresh. While the stories usually never change on a second playthrough, there are a lot of new options now that you understand the game a bit better.
Styx is no exception to this rule and, in fact, takes it a step further. On your airship, you can reset all of your ability points to change your playstyle at no cost to you. It’s a nice addition and lets you really experiment with what’s provided, but what really pushes it over the edge is the game’s difficulty. Even on the normal difficulty, this isn’t a game you’ll find yourself breezing through.
These abilities give players a lot of variability in the way they like to play and let them lean into the playstyle and abilities they like. Whether it’s chucking bottles as a distraction or mind-controlling enemies off a cliff, there are lots of options to choose from.
You’re going to spend a lot of time dying, and that’s not a bad thing. It pushes you to think a bit harder about how you’re engaging with the problem in front of you. It isn’t that cheesy difficulty either, where you feel like the game is working against you. One of the really cool things I noticed was that enemies would actually check hiding spots even if you didn’t disappear near them.
While the AI, on normal difficulty at least, wasn’t filled with super geniuses, it did have a good number of enemies that weren’t just total idiots. If they spotted you, they wouldn’t just search for you; they might go get some others to help them look or try to find an angle where they could throw something at you. A lot of times, I thought I was safe in a little alcove until, suddenly, three enemies were looking through the little entrances and started hitting me with thrown knives.
It isn’t some incredibly new level of difficulty or with enemies that act like real people, but it does certainly add a layer of difficulty to the game that made me think twice about what I was doing. All in all, there are a lot of ways to play the game, and it certainly wants you to engage with its mechanics by providing a playground with plenty of obstacles.
Styx: Blades of Greed is a must-play for stealth enthusiasts. It’s not some incredible game that’s going to blow you away on every level, but it is a title that knows what it wants to do and does it well. The story is serviceable, and the problems aren’t so bad that they detract from the fun parts of the game. If you’ve played the originals in the series, then you’ll have an excellent time. If you’re new to the genre as a whole, you’ll still find yourself having a lot of fun with the gameplay. With the mix of classic game design and some new age evolution, Styx is back and better than ever before.
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- Released
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February 19, 2026
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood, Drug Reference, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
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Cyanide Studio
- Lots of Player Freedom
- Fun and Engaging Mechanics
- Great Level Design
- Serviceable Story
- Slowed Progression
