Styx: Shards of Darkness

Last updated
Styx: Shards of Darkness
Styx Shards of Darkness Cover Art.jpg
Developer(s) Cyanide
Publisher(s) Focus Home Interactive
Director(s) Julien Desourteaux
Producer(s) Antoine Villepreux
Designer(s) Mathias Chataignier
Programmer(s) Colas Markowski
Artist(s) Sophie Legrand
Writer(s) Rémi Guerin
Mathieu Weschler
Composer(s) Henri-Pierre Pellegrin
Engine Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
Release14 March 2017
Genre(s) Stealth
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Styx: Shards of Darkness is a stealth video game developed by French developer Cyanide and published by Focus Home Interactive. The game was released worldwide on 14 March 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the sequel to the 2014 game Styx: Master of Shadows , and the third game set in the fictional world of the Of Orcs and Men series.

Contents

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Styx is able to clone himself and to lay traps for his enemies, and can temporarily turn invisible. The player has the option of engaging enemies or avoiding them. [1] Ropes and grappling hooks can be used to reach high areas. [2] A multiplayer co-op mode, with the second player controlling one of Styx's clones. [3]

Plot

Background

The game takes place several decades after the events of Master of Shadows. Most communities in the world are suffering from goblin infestations. Goblins in general are stupid creatures and most people consider them to be vermin ("rakash"). Styx is an exceptional goblin who has human-like intelligence and can talk, and he doesn't care much for his fellow goblins either. Styx works as a thief and assassin for hire.

Main story

Styx plies his trade in the slum town of Thoben, which is infested with goblins. There, a goblin hunter named Helledryn hires Styx to steal a magical scepter from an ambassador to the dark elves, with the promise of amber as payment. Styx breaks into the ambassador's airship, but before he can grab the scepter, a shapeshifting dark elf takes it first. He attaches a large crystal to the staff and uses it to paralyze Styx. He then shapeshifts into a human and raises the alarm, forcing Styx to flee empty-handed.

Helledryn wanted the scepter so that she could gain entry into the dark elf mountain fortress of Korrangar and spy on a diplomatic summit. She asks Styx to help her infiltrate the fortress, which he agrees to for a hefty payment in amber. Styx also wants to get revenge on the shapeshifting elf and investigate his scepter.

Korrangar is ruled by a priestess named Lyssril. A routine practice of her devotees is to consume daily doses of amber, and occasionally they sacrifice themselves to a monster they call Laxima. Styx overhears some dark elves talking about an outcast named Djarak, who was the elf Styx encountered in Thoben.

Styx obtains a dark elf disguise for Helledryn to infiltrate the diplomatic summit, and learns that Djarak has disguised himself as a human diplomat. At the meeting, Lyssril demonstrates a magical crystal called Quartz that can paralyze goblins at a distance. With these Quartz scepters, the humans and dwarves will be able to remove the goblin infestations from their communities. Furthermore, Lyssril offers to pay the humans and dwarves if they deliver live goblins to Korrangar, though she refuses to explain for what purpose. As the meeting draws to a close, Helledryn spots the disguised Djarak and tries to lure him out. Djarak senses the ruse and tries to assassinate Lyssril, and fails.

Styx discovers that Laxima is a Roabie Queen. In exchange for the sacrifices, Laxima uses her supernatural power to refine the Quartz that the dark elves have been digging out of their mountain. Styx kills the Roabie Queen, but he is spotted by a dark elf guard, and Korrangar launches a manhunt for a "talking goblin". Styx and Helledryn flee to Thoben.

In Thoben, Styx helps Helledryn dispose of some colleagues who backstabbed her. When Styx returns to his hideout, he is captured in a trap by the dark elves. The dark elves take Styx back to Korrangar and prepare to ritually sacrifice him, but he escapes with the aid of Djarak.

Djarak explains to Styx that the amber that Lyssril gives her followers is addictive, and also connects them telepathically, eroding their sense of individuality. It reminds Styx of how the humans back in Akenash became addicted to the amber of the World Tree (see Styx: Master of Shadows ). Djarak wants to free his people of their thralldom by destroying Lyssril's amber reserves. He asks Styx to help him, warning Styx that he'll never be safe so long as Lyssril is in power, because Lyssril can sense Styx's location through the amber in his blood, which is how she was able to find his hideout in Thoben. Styx cannot attack Lyssril directly because of this, so Djarak suggests an indirect way: they will instigate a war between the dark elves and the dwarves by murdering the dwarven ambassador and framing Lyssril. Styx murders the dwarven ambassador and plants a dagger belonging to Lyssril on his body.

Styx found a diagram on the dwarven ambassador that describes some sort of amber-making machine they designed for the dark elves, and they decide they must destroy it, so they return to Korrangar with explosives. In Korrangar, the dark elves are in disarray as Lyssril has fled the fortress. Styx discovers that the elves' amber machine extracts amber from the bodies of slaughtered goblins. Styx and Djarak destroy the slaughterhouse and the amber reservoirs.

With their mission complete, Styx and Djarak try to flee Korrangar, but are blocked by a giant golem. The golem was a gift from the dwarves to the dark elves, which suggests that the dwarves had always planned to attack the dark elves and the golem is a trojan horse. Djarak is seemingly killed by falling rubble, so Styx is forced to fight the golem alone. After defeating the golem, he jumps on Helledryn's ship as it leaves Korrangar, and he finds Djarak at the helm. Styx is furious that Djarak abandoned him, and the game ends with Styx pointing his crossbow at Djarak.

Development

The game was announced on 14 October 2015. Developer Cyanide confirmed that it would have a bigger budget and that it would run on a new engine. At the time of its announcement, it had been in development for six months. [2] A new trailer was displayed at E3 2016. [4]

Reception

Styx: Shards of Darkness received "mixed or average" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. [5] [6] [7] Destructoid 's Nic Rowen scored the game a 7/10 with the consensus "Solid and definitely has an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun." [8] Leif Johnson from IGN gave the game a score of 7.8/10 saying that "Styx: Shards of Darkness is a challenging stealth adventure with just as much snark as it has sneaking." [9] Jon Morcom of PC Gamer awarded it a 79/100 stating that "A mean-spirited character leads a big-hearted game; you're unlikely to dwell on its lore but its features combine well to create a satisfying stealth experience." [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>Dragon Age: Origins</i> 2009 video game

Dragon Age: Origins is a 2009 role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. It is the first game in the Dragon Age franchise. Set in the fictional kingdom of Ferelden during a period of civil strife, the game puts the player in the role of a warrior, mage, or rogue coming from an elven, human, or dwarven background. The player character is recruited into the Grey Wardens, an ancient order that stands against monstrous forces known as "Darkspawn", and is tasked with defeating the Archdemon that commands them and ending their invasion. The game is played from a third-person perspective that can be shifted to a top-down perspective. Throughout the game, players encounter various companions, who play major roles in the game's plot and gameplay.

<i>Realms of Arkania: Star Trail</i> 1994 video game

Realms of Arkania: Star Trail is a computer role-playing game by Attic Entertainment Software based on the German RPG system Das Schwarze Auge. The original German version of the game was released in 1994. Due to the success of its predecessor Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny, it was translated to English and released by Sir-Tech in the same year. An expansion, Speech Pack, was released in 1994 for the floppy disk version.

<i>Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game</i> Tabletop fantasy role-playing game

The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game is a game produced by Palladium Books. It is set in the Palladium world some 10,000 years after a great war between the elves and dwarves. First published in July 1983 as The Palladium Role-Playing Game, the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game saw a second edition in April 1996. The two are largely compatible, though the second edition uses a later iteration of Palladium's ruleset to be more compatible with the rest of their Megaverse.

<i>The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II</i> 2006 real-time strategy game

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II is a 2006 real-time strategy video game developed and published by Electronic Arts. The second part of the Middle-earth strategy game series, it is based on the fantasy novels The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien and its live-action film series adaptation. It is the sequel to Electronic Arts' 2004 title The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth. Along with the standard edition, a Collector's Edition of the game was released, containing bonus material and a documentary about the game's development.

<i>ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal</i> 2002 video game

ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal is an action-adventure video game by the German company Funatics Development, released in 2002 by the publisher THQ. An expansion was in development in 2002, but was later cancelled. The game involves travels and combats in a magical world loosely associated with our own world.

Dwarf (<i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>) Fictional playable humanoid race

A dwarf, in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy roleplaying game, is a humanoid race, one of the primary races available for player characters. The idea for the D&D dwarf comes from the dwarves of European mythologies and J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955), and has been used in D&D and its predecessor Chainmail since the early 1970s. Variations from the standard dwarf archetype of a short and stout demihuman are commonly called subraces, of which there are more than a dozen across many different rule sets and campaign settings.

Midnight is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, released under the Open Gaming License. It was published by Fantasy Flight Games from 2003 to 2009.

<i>Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes</i> 2003 video game

Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes is a hack and slash video game with RPG elements. It was published by Atari Interactive and developed by the subsidiary's Hunt Valley development studio, exclusively for Xbox in 2003. It is set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe and is playable solo or with up to four players. Players take on the role of four reincarnated heroes brought back to life to fight their former nemesis, a wizard named Kaedin.

<i>The Hobbit</i> (2003 video game) 2003 action-adventure game

The Hobbit is a 2003 action-adventure game developed by Inevitable Entertainment for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, by The Fizz Factor for Microsoft Windows, and by Saffire for the Game Boy Advance. It was published by Vivendi Universal Games subsidiary Sierra Entertainment.

<i>Overlord: Dark Legend</i> 2009 video game

Overlord: Dark Legend is an action role-playing game developed by Climax Action and published by Codemasters for the Wii. The game was released on 23 June 2009 in North America, 26 June in Europe, and 2 July in Australia.

<i>The Lord of the Rings: War in the North</i> 2011 action role-playing video game

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a 2011 action role-playing hack and slash video game developed by Snowblind Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. An OS X port was developed and published by Feral Interactive in 2013. It is the first video game based on both J. R. R. Tolkien's 1954 high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson's film trilogy adaptation released in 2001, 2002 and 2003. This is because, until 2009, Vivendi Universal Games, in partnership with Tolkien Enterprises, held the rights to make games based on Tolkien's literary works, whilst Electronic Arts held the rights to make games based on the New Line Cinema films. In 2009, WB Games acquired the rights for both intellectual properties.

<i>Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale</i> 2011 video game

Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale is an action role-playing video game developed by Bedlam Games and published by Atari. The game includes both single and co-operative multiplayer modes and is set in the Forgotten Realms.

<i>Of Orcs and Men</i> 2012 video game

Of Orcs and Men is a fantasy action role-playing game developed by Cyanide and Spiders for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The Empire of Men's oppressive threat looms over the territories of the Orcs and the Goblins. Goblins are systematically persecuted and slaughtered, while Orcs not killed in battle are captured and enslaved.

<i>Age of Wonders III</i> 2014 video game

Age of Wonders III is a 2014 4X turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Dutch developer Triumph Studios. It is the fourth game in the Age of Wonders series, following Age of Wonders, Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne and Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic released in 1999, 2002, and 2003 respectively. It was released on March 31, 2014, through digital distribution, as well as through retail in select territories for Microsoft Windows. A port to Linux and OS X was released on April 14, 2015.

<i>Styx: Master of Shadows</i> 2014 video game

Styx: Master of Shadows is a stealth video game developed by Cyanide Studios for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game is a prequel, and the second video game to take place in the world established by 2012's Of Orcs and Men.

There are different types of fictional dwarves appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The most common of the Dwarves are the ones that are based on the dwarves of Norse mythology. They frequently appear in stories featuring the superhero Thor.

<i>Magicka 2</i> 2015 video game

Magicka 2 is an action-adventure video game, the sequel to Magicka, for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and PlayStation 4. It was released on May 26, 2015 and was announced at Sony's E3 2014 media briefing with a trailer. Instead of being developed by Arrowhead Game Studios, the title was developed by Pieces Interactive alongside the publisher Paradox Interactive.

<i>Blood Bowl 2</i> 2015 video game

Blood Bowl 2 is a turn-based fantasy sports video game developed by Cyanide Studios and published by Focus Home Interactive. It is a sequel to the 2009 video game Blood Bowl, based on the board game by Games Workshop. The game was developed for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and was released on 22 September 2015. A Mac OS X version of the game was launched in May 2016.

<i>SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest</i> 2019 video game expansion pack

SpellForce 3: Soul Harvest is a 2019 stand-alone expansion pack for SpellForce 3 developed by Grimlore Games and published by THQ Nordic. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 28 May 2019. While it uses the same game engine and assets as SpellForce 3, Soul Harvest does not require the player to have purchased or installed the main game to play it.

<i>We Are the Dwarves</i> 2016 video game

We Are the Dwarves is a real-time tactics video game developed and published by Kyiv-based Whale Rock Games. It was first released in 2016 and is about a trio of spacefaring dwarves who must save their homeland.

References

  1. ↑ Craft, Scott (12 January 2017). "Styx: Shards of Darkness Trailer Uses Cinematics To Spotlight Stealth Abilities". IDigitalTimes. Archived from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  2. 1 2 Sykes, Tom (14 October 2015). "Styx sequel Shards of Darkness announced, out next year". PC Gamer . Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  3. ↑ Leonhart, Cryss. "'Styx: Shards Of Darkness' Interview Talks Co-op, Story And Unreal". Now Loading. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  4. ↑ Gelmini, David (11 June 2016). "E3 2016: Styx: Shards of Darkness Trailer Should Have Brought a Bigger Knife". Dread Central . Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Styx: Shards of Darkness for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Styx: Shards of Darkness for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Styx: Shards of Darkness for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  8. 1 2 Rowen, Nic (14 March 2017). "Review: Styx: Shards of Darkness". Destructoid . Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  9. 1 2 Johnson, Leif (14 March 2017). "Styx: Shards of Darness Review". IGN . Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  10. 1 2 Morcom, Jon (14 March 2017). "Styx: Shards of Darness review". PC Gamer . Retrieved 14 March 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.