The prequel to “Of Orcs and Men”, Styx: Master of Shadows is a modest attempt at an different approach to the Stealth game genre. In the game you play Styx, an Orc who works for the Elves as he attempts to protect their amber from the Human race.

Styx: Mast of Shadows is an 2014 stealth game, it is developed by Cynide & published by Focus Home Interactive. It is available on PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

Styx is one of the few games I’ve picked up that happens to be prequels to a franchise or a previous release. Admittedly, I’m glad I did due to it being likely for me to get around to playing Of Orcs and Men at some point. Styx features some fairly fun elements such as dimming torches in order to provide more darkness and crawling into small holes in the walls to hide, but it falls a bit short of what it could be.

Styx in the flesh.

THE GOOD: Styx is a fun stealth game the uses stealth exceptionally well. Using the darkness and cover to your advantage is always fun, especially after throwing sand at  torch to dim it. Styx is able to climb walls and crawl into small holes in order to get around, the levels are fairly big, though it doesn’t take very long to complete one single mission. Styx also has the ability to create a clone and use a special vision that allows him to see enemies and hiding spots better for a short period of time.

Styx in-game.

THE BAD: Styx is a good stealth game and the stealth mechanics are fun, but that’s practically it’s main selling point. Not that its a bad thing, but when avoiding a large group of enemies there will be times where you’ll have to time your movements at a precise time and if you get the timing off you die. This isn’t necessarily awful, but it’s frequent making it an annoyance. The parrying mechanic is also extremely difficult to time.

Styx getting ready for the kill.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Styx’s stealth gameplay could rival that of AAA titles currently out there. It’s also a very good looking game graphically, however some times frequent death over untimed enemy evasions and a weak parry mechanic holds back what it could have been. Overall though Styx is still worthy of checking out for fans of Of Orcs and Men or those looking for something different in the genre it represents.