The Case

Have you ever been playing one of those modern, pseudo 'stealth' action games, the kind where you have an over-experienced, over-equipped, unstoppable death machine, and thought to yourself, You know what this game needs? A three-foot-tall protagonist that's weak as shit and dies whenever a gentle breeze blows in their general direction. What do you mean no? Well, Cyanide did it anyway. And so I give you Styx: Master of Shadows.

The Trial

(Spoilers, spoilers everywhere: if you continue to the second page there will be heavy spoilers regarding plot developments, but doing so is optional as everything you need to know will be covered here, on the first page.)

Styx: Master of Shadows is a prequel to the somewhat niche, generally favourably received Of Orcs and Men, which expands upon the origins of the titular, little, green gobshite. A Goblin—the only one of his kind in this fantastical setting—and a master assassin/thief, he is tasked with making his way to the centre of the miles-high Akanash tower and stealing the heart of the World Tree for ... some reason. Possibly to do with 'Amber', which grants those who imbibe it certain powers, including but not limited to invisibility, telepathy and self-cloning, all of which are key gameplay and/or narrative features along your journey.

The game opens with a lengthy introduction, which includes a narration by Styx so loaded with information it leaves your head spinning. Cyanide do not waste any time and throw you right in at the deep end. We’re assailed with a merciless barrage of new terms, names and flavour text that, oddly, makes everything seem far more familiar, rather than alien and mystifying. The quality of scripting and the cast’s delivery gives everything a sense of authenticity, which allows dialogue to flow so naturally that it takes only a little time to get up to speed with what everything means.

This could be helped by the fact that the introduction is so confusing. This sounds contradictory but, like Styx, who tells us right from the outset that there are holes in his memory, we know just enough to set us on the path. There is a lot of padding that sounds vaguely familiar, perhaps important, but we can worry about burning that bridge when we come to it. Right now, we know who we are, have a rough idea where we are, and we have our goal. Steal the heart of the tree. Simples.

Of course, it's not. Styx begins the game injured (a hardship he will face several times on his journey) and unarmed. These design decisions are used to good effect as part of a lengthy but unobtrusive tutorial section, which remains perfectly playable even on subsequent playthroughs, which is certainly something to be proud of. Rather that stopping the action for sweeping, aerial reconnaissance of the area as certain other stealth games do (naming no Assassin's Creeds), everything takes place in real time. Styx’s tutorial uses pop-up notifications which, whilst being of enviable size, are positioned such that I even missed most of them my first time around, coupled with some, often amusing, tidbits of wisdom from our boy Styx.

The gameplay is pretty straight forward too, requiring little experience with the stealth genre. Stay in the shadows, don't make too much noise, don't walk straight up to a guard and rub your balls on his chin whilst whistling 3 Lions ... That kind of thing. Meanwhile, the game-specific things, such as using sand to snuff out torches from a distance, is intuitive enough that you don't even need Styx's succinct explanation. All of this has you on the ground, running, in a matter of minutes ... after first the fifteen minutes or so that the introduction takes, that is.

Functionally speaking, everything works. There are some design choices that hamper enjoyment, sadly, although not to a significant extent. Little things, like the fact that Styx will automatically pull himself up onto a ledge unless you hold down the jump button; surely it should have been the other way around. This does not ruin the game in any way, but can be incredibly frustrating at times, and serves to hold it back from perfection.

Everything else, however, works as well as you could hope. Guard AI is a bit flaky, and the ragdoll bodies can ... seriously ragdoll, but it rarely becomes anything other than highly amusing. On higher difficulties, certain enemies can kill Styx the moment they get their hands on him, making stealth all the more integral, and even on lower difficulties the brute force approach is discouraged with an intentionally clunky, one-button 'duelling' system that drives home precisely how underpowered the wee chap really is.

His ability to remain undetected, by squeezing through crawl spaces, or leaping up to the ceiling and skulking through the rafters (old bugger can jump, let me tell you!), is his greatest strength. Thankfully, only one section mandates staying hidden with threat of instant failure, and even this fails to be anything game-breakingly frustrating due to solid mechanics and a blessed save anywhere option. (But be wary of that. I had a few instances where I quick-saved in the wrong spot and had to restart an entire section because a guard was looking right at me. Make sure to double up with a regular save, too.)

Styx’s other skills are ... actually almost entirely optional. Apart from a few instances where certain skills (mostly his ability to make a clone) are mandated to progress through the game, you can pretty much complete the entire thing relying solely on your wits. That’s actually not a bad thing. Being able to turn invisible and walk straight past an alert guard is useful, certainly, unlocking multiple methods for approaching every situation. But there is nothing in the game that penalises you for running out of Amber (basically magic points) at a crucial moment.

Plus, your Amber always refills to a minimum level, which is enough to use your Amber vision, which you use to see guards’ line of sight and hidden sigils that point you to alternate routes, or to make a clone should you need to. The latter is more useful, as the almost invertebrate body is like a cat, allowing it to squeeze through gaps to reach levers otherwise beyond your grasp. You also have the option to take direct control of the clone and use it as a distraction, or to directly grab a guard to keep him occupied whilst you wander past or shiv him up.

The latter option, however, will reduce your score at the end of the level. Each of the game's chapters, which are split into 3 or 4 sections each, has certain objectives, most of them consistent, such as remaining undetected throughout and killing no enemy, and others specific to an area, such as finding a shipping manifest or assassinating a snitch. Each of these, once completed, gives you X number of points which can be spent on interesting, though mostly irrelevant, character upgrades. Some of them, like being able to jump down and kill an enemy from above, can be useful—and fun (mm tasty!), like leaping out of the rafters and literally eating a guy’s face. But most of these character upgrades are nothing more than minor tweaks to existing mechanics.

Level design is absolutely superb, although the game remains entirely linear insofar as narrative is concerned, with your goal always being to reach the other side of the level. Each of the areas you explore are enormous and sprawling, filled with multiple paths, hidden collectibles, and entire sections which can be skipped if you so choose. There is never only one way to approach a situation, with most having several even before factoring in Styx's Amber abilities. And even though the second half of the game has you playing backwards through the levels again, new sections open up that were previously denied but visible, that keep them feeling fresh and worth exploring a second time.

Visually, Cyanide have put the industry favourite Unreal Engine to good effect. It is certainly not the most graphically advanced game, and is honestly only just par for the course, but animations are beautifully fluid, and environments are dripping with atmosphere. The interplay between light and shadow can be a little inconsistent sometimes, with apparently brightly lit areas being considered pitch dark and vice versa, but Styx has an intricate tattoo on his arm that glows brightly (just go with it) when he is fully submerged in darkness, so just keep an eye on that, and you'll do fine.

The voice acting is odd. Personally, I enjoyed it immensely, though it was certainly ... well, odd. Just about every single character, from guards all the way up to Styx himself, has a very broadly, common-as-muck English accent. This works perfectly fine, but may leave some wishing for line deliveries with a little more panache. It really depends what you are going for. I felt they fit the setting perfectly, giving everything an interesting dichotomy between the high fantasy and very down to Earth, real world elements—a veneer of normality to keep everything grounded in reality, if you will.

The story, meanwhile, seems quite simple on the surface, plodding along at a fairly sedate pace to begin with. It can also be a little confusing as you, apparently, flit back and forth between present Styx, held captive by the master of Akanash tower, recounting his tale; and past Styx going about his business. But about a third of the way in, there is a clever little twist that throws everything into a whole new light. Suffice it to say here that there is a lot more depth than you may at first suspect. It’s explained in further detail on the next page, should you wish to continue.

Case Review