Gaming: Breaking Styx: Blades Of Greed Review
Nine years in the making, Cyanide has expanded Styx's scope in all the right ways without sacrificing its steadfast focus on stealth.
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What is it? Goblin stealth goes semi-open world and hugely vertical.Release date February 19, 2026Expect to pay $40Developer Cyanide StudioPublisher NaconReviewed on RTX 3060 (laptop), Ryzen 5 5600H, 16GB RAMSteam Deck TBCLink Steam
I have a fractious relationship with the Styx series: I love its highly vertical and often punishing approach to third-person stealth, but I loathe its foul-mouthed, quippy goblin protagonist. I can't even stand the look of the bastard. Styx has made me cringe through dozens of hours of otherwise brilliant sneaking and terror-wreaking, and I guess it's saying something that I enjoyed pretty much every moment of Blades of Greed despite wanting to slug the sleazy green sod in the ear.
It's been nine years since the last Styx game and quite a bit has changed. Blades of Greed shifts towards an open world format, but the result is not dissimilar to the level-based design of the first two Styx games. There are three massive maps here, and all sprawl vertically to an extent that makes Dark Souls’ Blighttown look like the Sahara. I can't access everywhere immediately though, because Styx now has metroidvania-style traversal upgrades that make returning to previously visited regions hugely rewarding.
The first is a hookshot I can use to reach otherwise inaccessible heights (or accessible ones faster), and the second is a parachute for riding wind columns like elevators or breaking my fall. These and more are doled out during story beats but, as usual, Styx has a range of optional unlockable abilities too. I mostly used his returning temporary invisibility cloak, but Styx can also possess enemies, create a clone, and slow down time, in addition to some more offensive upgrades that didn't suit my playstyle.
There are a lot of RPG-lite decisions to make, but they ultimately come down to whether you like to just sneak around, or if you plan to take a more brazen approach. Either way, for most players Blades of Greed demands that direct encounters be kept to a minimum. It's possible to engage in direct combat with a foe but remember: you're a piddling goblin.
Maybe surprisingly, Blades of Greed is an utterl
Source: PC Gamer
