In February, one of the is set to release its next installment, but you can catch up on it for free before that arrives. From January 15 to 22, Styx: Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness are available to claim at no cost on the Epic Games Store, ahead of the trilogy’s third entry, Blades of Greed, launching on February 19.
These days, are quick to provide an exit strategy. If detected during your stealthy maneuvers, there’s usually an easy escape—whether an ability to dart back to the shadows or the fact that stealth protagonists often have combat skills as sharp as their sneaking prowess. The Styx games take a more hardcore approach, demanding you by making their goblin anti-hero, Styx, extremely vulnerable once spotted.
Here, being a small goblin in a world of tall elves and humans has its perks. Styx is highly agile from the start, able to scramble up ledges and between cover swiftly enough to sneak past the guards he’s evading. In the first game, Master of Shadows, clinging to ledges can be slightly glitchy, though rarely enough to ruin the experience. Levels are designed to maximize this mobility, offering multiple paths to sneak around patrolling guards and reach objectives.
Rather than following the path of unlocking offensive abilities, the Styx games are packed with tools more akin to that let you manipulate your surroundings. Extinguishing torches from afar and luring guards with noise—staples of the stealth genre—work exceptionally well here.
The Styx series truly stands out for its magical abilities. Sticking to its stealth focus, you can’t typically defeat foes with magic; instead, these abilities make you harder to catch. A brief invisibility spell can get you out of tight spots, but more fun options include summoning a clone to distract guards and solve puzzles. The second game, Shards of Darkness, adds poison and mechanical traps to eliminate enemies, though these direct methods feel like supplements to stealth, not replacements. In direct combat, Styx relies on timed parries to unbalance guards before finishing them, a clunky, unreliable tactic best used only as a last resort.
Released in 2014 and 2017, Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness show their age in some areas. Beyond occasionally clunky controls, they reuse levels, and enemy detection ranges can be misleading. Their biggest flaw, though, is Styx himself. As goblins are often depicted, he’s a grumpy, unlikable character who steals gold and stabs guards without hesitation. This characterization mostly works, making him a charmingly cantankerous presence, but it falters in humor. The games are filled with dated references and fourth-wall-breaking quips that rarely land—annoying but not enough to ruin the mood entirely.
If you enjoy the first two Styx games, a demo for the upcoming Blades of Greed is now available on Steam. Nearly a decade after the last entry, it promises smoother polish—and hopefully a less irritating sense of humor.