Ameriga, Third-World lol.
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Styx: Shards of Darkness - Styx: Master of Shadows sequel
- Thread starter Bubbles
- Start date
Ameriga, Third-World lol.
Great Deceiver
Arcane
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- Aug 10, 2012
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- 5,909
Played for a bit earlier and it's pretty great. Better than the first one in all respects as far as I can tell.
As usual, gaming 'journalists' couldn't find their way out of a paper bag, so a game that's not constantly reminding them of how awesome they are at every minute for pounding the win button isn't going to get great scores.
Hope it seels decently before it inevitably goes on sale.
As usual, gaming 'journalists' couldn't find their way out of a paper bag, so a game that's not constantly reminding them of how awesome they are at every minute for pounding the win button isn't going to get great scores.
Hope it seels decently before it inevitably goes on sale.
GrainWetski
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2012
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- 5,518
Gamingjournos just hate stealth games. They like action games with some stealth elements in them and pretend they're the future of stealth games.
Parabalus
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2015
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True stealth fans are a dying breed.
I ghosted for 60% of the game, was great, but I had more fun killing everyone when you get several quartz powers. This was on Goblin, so I couldn't "properly" fight back, but it's not a stretch to imagine that doesn't appeal to everyone.
Most people (today) expect something like Dishonored from a stealth game, where you are a god sneaking around because you don't deign the enemies worthy of being butchered. In Styx you are a cockroach trying his best to avoid being stepped upon, which is IMO the essence of stealth.
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2013
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- 255
Bought the game after seeing the numbers in this post.Well unless the game had a pretty low budget it is a failure according to steam spy.
A jump from 12 to 13k in a day means the final owner count will probably be less then 50k.
I guess this is a perfect example of why it is impossible to make a modern stealth game with any actual stealth game play elements(no wall hacks,tags,etc),unless you include predator style stealth killings as the primary focus.
I just finished the first game (found it wonderful for ghosting), and was going to take a break before getting the sequel, but decided it would be tragic if this style of stealth were to disappear.
Should be an interesting experience playing the two games back-to-back.
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2013
- Messages
- 255
Finished the game after 17 hours for a no kills, no alerts Goblin difficulty playthrough with all optional tokens collected and objectives completed. Styx 1 took me marginally longer for the same playstyle at 18 hours, but I attribute that to learning the mechanics of the series. Here's how I'd compare the two games:
Things Styx 2 does better than 1:
1. The control improvements cannot be overstated: Styx 1's controls were okay for the most part, but there were design decisions that were frustrating. The following were the issues I had with Styx 1's controls, and how Styx 2 addresses them:
3. There is more variety in the level design: Both games are cut from the same cloth when it comes to general level design principles -- large maps with an emphasis on verticality and multiple paths to the objective. The improvement in the second game is from the wider pool of level archetypes it draws from: an elven city, a coastal town, an airship, etc, each leading to a slightly different playstyle. The elven city is the most vertical of all the map types, and the coastal town features a lot of traversal via ropes. The airship has complex interiors with guards overlooking each other. This level variety in Styx 2 makes the recycled maps a bit more palatable compared to the original's recycled maps that weren't too different from one another in style.
4. The visuals are massively improved: I doubt people play stealth games to ogle at the screen, and normally the visuals hardly matter as long as they are functional. But I want to call attention to Styx 2's visuals to give credit where it's due. For a 2014 game, Styx 1 was quite an ugly game, but it was easy to justify given its budget. I'm assuming Styx 2 featured a similar budget to Styx 1, but the game looks spectacular without sacrificing any of the complexity from the 1st game. I'd have been okay with a Styx 2 that looked like the 1st game, but I was positively surprised by how the sequel ended up looking.
Things Styx 2 does not do as well as the first game:
1. Enemy AI is dumbed down: Styx 1's enemies were already not the brightest around and nor did they possess the sharpest sight or hearing in stealth games. Inexplicably, Styx 2's enemies became even more short-sighted, routinely failing to detect Styx when crouched 5 feet away in front of them. Furthermore, the enemies in the second game go through an additional alert phase before hunting down Styx compared to the first game (they go from White->Yellow->Orange in the 2nd game, whereas the 1st game used the White alert phase only for specific actions such as putting out torches. The rest of the time, the guards started at the Yellow phase). As mentioned before, the only real AI upgrade is in their detection of Styx when he is hanging from a ledge.
2. Enemy design is far too forgiving and similar to one another: The 1st game had different enemy types, each of which presented different dangers. Styx 1 had elves who could detect Styx if he was remotely near them, even when he was above or below them. There was little Styx could do to circumvent their sensing of him. There is nothing that presents the same level of challenge in the sequel. Dwarves could have filled this void with their ability to smell Styx out when he is nearby, but even their special ability is neutralized by a potion, turning them into a poor man's elves from the first game. Moreover, the 1st game had hostile Styx clones who could instantly detect Styx's presence and orcs who would instantly punish noise. Compared to these enemy types, the 2nd game has a bunch of humanoids: elves, humans, trolls, etc., but for all intents and purposes, there is no real difference in how one sneaks by any of them.
3. Relics are sorely missed: One of the best design decisions of the 1st game was in the deciphering of the locations of relics from rough hand-drawn maps. The maps were approximations at best, and required the player to pay attention to his surroundings to locate possible relic spots. Even when located, actually accessing the relics was a tense affair since the player frequently solved the accompanying puzzle while dodging patrolling guards. Instead of taking the best designed relics from the 1st game and improving upon them even further, the 2nd game completely omits them.
4. The mandatory boss fights are even worse this time around: Both games feature out-of-place mandatory encounters that would have been better left on the cutting floor. The encounters in the 1st game were jarring because ghosting through the encounters was not a viable option; killing the targets was necessary, but at least the encounters played by the prior rules: one could go invisible to reset the fight and kill just the necessary targets. In comparison, the 2nd game's mandatory encounters feature a big spectacle, but all prior stealth rules are thrown out of the window. The bosses feature no real AI to speak of, instead triggering attacks when Styx crosses a predetermined spot. Going invisible does not help, and the player is forced to essentially play through a visually pretty but scripted sequence. And adding to the frustration, saving is limited or absent during these encounters, and so not sticking to the script leads to replaying large parts of the encounter all over again.
5. The game ends abruptly: Imagine the 1st game, rip out its final level and play the credits; that would echo the bewilderment I felt on finishing the 2nd game. It comes out of nowhere, with no buildup, and it feels that the game decided to arbitrarily end at the point it does. Apart from the narrative issues this ending poses (plot threads are left dangling), the bigger issue is a gameplay one since the 2nd game does not escalate in the degree of challenge presented unlike the final level of the 1st game.
Overall, the 2nd game made some much-needed improvements to the Styx formula while also unfortunately regressing in a few areas. Since the Styx games fill the no alert no kills stealth niche that few games do, I'd say I enjoyed both games though they both suffer from different issues. For a 3rd game (hopefully the sales pick up and there is one), I'd combine the best aspects of both games: combine the enemy design and relics of the 1st game with the control improvements and freedom of play of the 2nd, with more aggressive AI than seen in either game. And leave mandatory encounters out entirely.
Things Styx 2 does better than 1:
1. The control improvements cannot be overstated: Styx 1's controls were okay for the most part, but there were design decisions that were frustrating. The following were the issues I had with Styx 1's controls, and how Styx 2 addresses them:
- Styx no longer automatically climbs up a ledge he has jumped to. In Styx 1, the player had to hold down the spacebar after jumping to a ledge to prevent Styx from climbing up automatically and risk exposing himself to overlooking guards. This control mechanic took me a while to get to grips with because in the vast majority of games, the default behavior is to not climb up a ledge automatically. Thankfully, Styx 2 fixes this and the default behavior of Styx is to just hang from a ledge he has jumped to.
- Dropping down to a lower height is no longer clunky. In Styx 1, the only reliable way to walk off the edge and drop to a ledge below was to slow walk by holding down the Shift key. The problem with this control scheme is that Styx barely moves when he slow walks, and as a result, dropping down to a lower ledge to evade a guard's field of vision was more frustrating than it needed to be. Styx 2 refines this by requiring the player to just hold down right-click to drop down below, and Styx is able to do so without slowing down.
- Styx can turn corners when he is hanging from a ledge in Styx 2. In the first game, Styx had to climb up a ledge, turn the corner and then drop down again whenever he encountered any ledge that was not a straight line. Though this change in Styx 2 is welcome, I initially thought it would make the game too easy. Thankfully, the designers took Styx's increased mobility into account, and guards are better at detecting a ledge-hanging Styx compared to the first game.
3. There is more variety in the level design: Both games are cut from the same cloth when it comes to general level design principles -- large maps with an emphasis on verticality and multiple paths to the objective. The improvement in the second game is from the wider pool of level archetypes it draws from: an elven city, a coastal town, an airship, etc, each leading to a slightly different playstyle. The elven city is the most vertical of all the map types, and the coastal town features a lot of traversal via ropes. The airship has complex interiors with guards overlooking each other. This level variety in Styx 2 makes the recycled maps a bit more palatable compared to the original's recycled maps that weren't too different from one another in style.
4. The visuals are massively improved: I doubt people play stealth games to ogle at the screen, and normally the visuals hardly matter as long as they are functional. But I want to call attention to Styx 2's visuals to give credit where it's due. For a 2014 game, Styx 1 was quite an ugly game, but it was easy to justify given its budget. I'm assuming Styx 2 featured a similar budget to Styx 1, but the game looks spectacular without sacrificing any of the complexity from the 1st game. I'd have been okay with a Styx 2 that looked like the 1st game, but I was positively surprised by how the sequel ended up looking.
Things Styx 2 does not do as well as the first game:
1. Enemy AI is dumbed down: Styx 1's enemies were already not the brightest around and nor did they possess the sharpest sight or hearing in stealth games. Inexplicably, Styx 2's enemies became even more short-sighted, routinely failing to detect Styx when crouched 5 feet away in front of them. Furthermore, the enemies in the second game go through an additional alert phase before hunting down Styx compared to the first game (they go from White->Yellow->Orange in the 2nd game, whereas the 1st game used the White alert phase only for specific actions such as putting out torches. The rest of the time, the guards started at the Yellow phase). As mentioned before, the only real AI upgrade is in their detection of Styx when he is hanging from a ledge.
2. Enemy design is far too forgiving and similar to one another: The 1st game had different enemy types, each of which presented different dangers. Styx 1 had elves who could detect Styx if he was remotely near them, even when he was above or below them. There was little Styx could do to circumvent their sensing of him. There is nothing that presents the same level of challenge in the sequel. Dwarves could have filled this void with their ability to smell Styx out when he is nearby, but even their special ability is neutralized by a potion, turning them into a poor man's elves from the first game. Moreover, the 1st game had hostile Styx clones who could instantly detect Styx's presence and orcs who would instantly punish noise. Compared to these enemy types, the 2nd game has a bunch of humanoids: elves, humans, trolls, etc., but for all intents and purposes, there is no real difference in how one sneaks by any of them.
3. Relics are sorely missed: One of the best design decisions of the 1st game was in the deciphering of the locations of relics from rough hand-drawn maps. The maps were approximations at best, and required the player to pay attention to his surroundings to locate possible relic spots. Even when located, actually accessing the relics was a tense affair since the player frequently solved the accompanying puzzle while dodging patrolling guards. Instead of taking the best designed relics from the 1st game and improving upon them even further, the 2nd game completely omits them.
4. The mandatory boss fights are even worse this time around: Both games feature out-of-place mandatory encounters that would have been better left on the cutting floor. The encounters in the 1st game were jarring because ghosting through the encounters was not a viable option; killing the targets was necessary, but at least the encounters played by the prior rules: one could go invisible to reset the fight and kill just the necessary targets. In comparison, the 2nd game's mandatory encounters feature a big spectacle, but all prior stealth rules are thrown out of the window. The bosses feature no real AI to speak of, instead triggering attacks when Styx crosses a predetermined spot. Going invisible does not help, and the player is forced to essentially play through a visually pretty but scripted sequence. And adding to the frustration, saving is limited or absent during these encounters, and so not sticking to the script leads to replaying large parts of the encounter all over again.
5. The game ends abruptly: Imagine the 1st game, rip out its final level and play the credits; that would echo the bewilderment I felt on finishing the 2nd game. It comes out of nowhere, with no buildup, and it feels that the game decided to arbitrarily end at the point it does. Apart from the narrative issues this ending poses (plot threads are left dangling), the bigger issue is a gameplay one since the 2nd game does not escalate in the degree of challenge presented unlike the final level of the 1st game.
Overall, the 2nd game made some much-needed improvements to the Styx formula while also unfortunately regressing in a few areas. Since the Styx games fill the no alert no kills stealth niche that few games do, I'd say I enjoyed both games though they both suffer from different issues. For a 3rd game (hopefully the sales pick up and there is one), I'd combine the best aspects of both games: combine the enemy design and relics of the 1st game with the control improvements and freedom of play of the 2nd, with more aggressive AI than seen in either game. And leave mandatory encounters out entirely.
ciox
Liturgist
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- Feb 9, 2016
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- Jan 28, 2011
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- 100,102
Baron Dupek
Arcane
Gee, I saw some video from it (burgerpaul) and that little shit (goblin I mean) have stingy comments to say every time you die.
One of them say something about sodomizing apple pie.
Didn't know old jokes like these are relevant in the developer's studio, must be weird to live in that man cave full of old geezers...
One of them say something about sodomizing apple pie.
Didn't know old jokes like these are relevant in the developer's studio, must be weird to live in that man cave full of old geezers...
Great Deceiver
Arcane
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2012
- Messages
- 5,909
I love this game. It pretty much fixes everything that was wrong with the first, the levels are bigger, there are more options, controls are better, it looks great, AI isn't 100% braindead - the only thing I'm missing is a visibility gem.
It's a shame if this doesn't sell.
It's a shame if this doesn't sell.
But it does a visibility gem. 2 in fact: One is the little circle in the helath/amber gauge that gets gradually black and white (yeah - gradually. Not binary visible/invisible shit). The other is the dagger sheath that works similar to styx tatoo in the first game.
Great Deceiver
Arcane
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- Aug 10, 2012
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- 5,909
That's awesome. Thanks. Game's even better then! Everyone go buy this shit right now!
Just finished the game, love it as much as the first game, but... what the hell was that ending? The first game's plot had a crazy plot twist and an ending that felt so meaningful, while this game's ending is basically
Styx: I'm tired of your bullshit *point weapon*.
Elf dude: I'm tired of your bullshit too
FADE TO BLACK SCREEN, CREDIT ROLLS
Where tf is Helledryn after mission 7 anyway, she's the most likable character in both games and she just disappeared, Styx wouldn't even mention her afterwards.
Elf dude: I'm tired of your bullshit too
FADE TO BLACK SCREEN, CREDIT ROLLS
Where tf is Helledryn after mission 7 anyway, she's the most likable character in both games and she just disappeared, Styx wouldn't even mention her afterwards.
Ivan
Arcane
got tired of his joke-punchline-reference style of reviews but still brofist for coverage.
LESS T_T
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2012
- Messages
- 13,582
Now Focus Home jumped on the demo bandwagon: http://steamcommunity.com/games/355790/announcements/detail/1261418721923315884
Free Demo Release
We're happy to release of the Styx: Shards of Darkness free demo, along with a 40% discount on the full game.
During this demo, you will be able to sneak around the tutorial level of Styx: Shards of Darkness. Welcome to Thoben the City of Thieves, where you have to help Styx hide, sneak, assassinate and steal the pay of the local guards while getting a very first taste of the praised level design of the game, newly upgraded acrobatics, new gadgets and tools and Styx' trademark attitude.
You can upgrade to the full game during or at the end of the demo to continue your adventure. You will be able to keep the saves created during the demo, to use in the full version of the game.
vonAchdorf
Arcane
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2014
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- 13,465
40% off already - did it sell badly?
Great Deceiver
Arcane
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2012
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- 5,909
32 thousand and some chump change sales on PC - that's pretty low.
http://steamspy.com/app/355790
Apparently it sold something like 50k units on consoles (PS4 and Xbone)
http://www.vgchartz.com/game/120416/styx-shards-of-darknes/
It's a shame, the game is great. Hopefully they can sell a lot more with this discount.
http://steamspy.com/app/355790
Apparently it sold something like 50k units on consoles (PS4 and Xbone)
http://www.vgchartz.com/game/120416/styx-shards-of-darknes/
It's a shame, the game is great. Hopefully they can sell a lot more with this discount.
With such lousy sales the franchise is pretty much dead and burried.
Or is it?
Or is it?
Great Deceiver
Arcane
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2012
- Messages
- 5,909
I don't imagine that Cyanide needs insane sale numbers to keep afloat, but I was honestly surprised by Styx 2's production values. In addition to being a great game, it looks great, runs well and had no outstanding bugs from day 1 - that's a very impressive achievement.
Hopefully they manage to stay afloat. But yeah, I don't see Styx staying the way it is. They'll probably dumb it down and make it more palatable - too bad, I think Styx has a great asshole personality. Gaming 'journalist' snowflakes got triggered by a digital character giving them the finger and telling them they suck at videogames - that's already the best outcome I could have hoped for.
Hopefully they manage to stay afloat. But yeah, I don't see Styx staying the way it is. They'll probably dumb it down and make it more palatable - too bad, I think Styx has a great asshole personality. Gaming 'journalist' snowflakes got triggered by a digital character giving them the finger and telling them they suck at videogames - that's already the best outcome I could have hoped for.
Ivan
Arcane
This was excellent. Although it does re-use levels, I loved the more urban feel of the maps here versus the samey "mansion" maps of the first. All in all I had an absolute blast with this and eagerly await the sequel. Bosses are forced and lame, cut that shit and give us more levels!
I was actually quite surpirsed by how quickly the ending came. I was sure I had clocked 84% completion when I hit the final boss and was expecting a few more finale levels. I guess that also takes into account the tokens you collect. Oh well, a damn fine sequel.
I was actually quite surpirsed by how quickly the ending came. I was sure I had clocked 84% completion when I hit the final boss and was expecting a few more finale levels. I guess that also takes into account the tokens you collect. Oh well, a damn fine sequel.
Life of the Party
Arcane
- Joined
- May 8, 2018
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- 3,535
All the talk of Focus Home/Cyanide/Spiders made me want to try this. And for now I like it much more than Dishonored, although that's probably in part because I like Styx as a character much more than Corvo or Emily. I'm trying to avoid killing and using skills, we'll see how far it gets me.
Pretty funny how after Of Orcs and Men which was developed by both Cyanide and Spiders this guy ended up as the face of Cyanide while Spiders folks are still stuck searching for their identity.
Pretty funny how after Of Orcs and Men which was developed by both Cyanide and Spiders this guy ended up as the face of Cyanide while Spiders folks are still stuck searching for their identity.
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