Styx: Master of Shadows
SLIGHTLY IMPERFECT BUT WELL-EXECUTED AND TRUE STEALTH GAME
There are three things you need to know about this game.
1. It’s chock full of potty-mouthedness, including from the main character.
2. It is NOT a game you want to play if you like being the alpha badass.
3. It ranks up there with the original Thief games and others (skip down if this is all you care about).
I’ll address these and more in sequence in this review. It’s a long one, but maybe worth the read.
First off, as regards #1 above, if you’re too young, or if you, your parents, or your professed god do not approve of you being exposed to cussing and other adult humor, skip this game, cuz it’s not for prudes. That said, it’s all just words, put-downs, and sarcasm–only a little more advanced than the stuff that your average first-grader might hear daily on the playground or in the back of the school bus. I didn’t see any nudity or erotic content, so you won’t have to worry about that. Nobody was particularly racist, gay-bashing, etc., although masculine status does get insulted in a few spots. There was at least one subtle joke about masturbating–again, nothing that kids don’t know about already. Guards pee, and you can see the stream from any angle, but the source organ is never rendered; in fact, pants never come down, although associated movements do occur. I’d give it a PG-13 if it were a movie.
– Real player with 138.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Assassin Steampunk Games.
Caveat: the recommendation is intended for existing fans of the stealth genre. If you’re not familiar with espionage/infiltration gameplay, you’re unlikely to gain an appreciation for it in “Styx.” Though the story is decent, that plot progression is gated behind some maddeningly patience-trying stealth sequences, especially at the end.
Hope you’re looking for a challenge, because “Styx”, like DMX, is gonna give it to ya. Some of this difficulty is deliberate (enemies such as Knights and Elves, difficulty selections such as ‘Goblin’, mission insignias, etc). Sadly, some of it is a consequence of mixed design goals and sloppy controls/interface. What’s more frustrating than getting caught because, instead of dropping off the ledge to slip past a patrol, you instead slid across that same ledge and climbed up onto the next platform? Rather than the clever use of environmental interaction that worked in the same situation earlier, the same commands now send you on a completely unanticipated course, like some kind of slapstick scene in a comedy show. And in full view of the two Knights and elite crossbowman who had nothing better to do than hang out on the same balcony. All. Fucking. Night. The answer my friends is nothing. Nothing is more frustrating than that.
– Real player with 74.6 hrs in game
Styx: Shards of Darkness
Ah, yes. Styx. You know, I’ve never actually finished the original. Got about halfway, then lost interest. So this game already did better in that regard, since I’ve not only gotten all achievements but actually enjoyed it enough to keep playing after. So what can you, a potential buyer expect?
Let’s get the obvious things out of the way first. It’s a stealth game. Not a stealth-action game like Dishonored. Pure stealth, which means that you’re not meant to fight fair. The combat system is very basic as a result, and on the highest two difficulties it’s outright disabled. If you get caught, you either flee or turn invisible.
– Real player with 106.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Assassin Co-op Games.
After almost 75 hours of play, it’d be hard for me to say I didn’t get my money’s worth, but while I had a blast (most of the time) playing Styx: Shards of Darkness, I think it was frequently in spite of the game rather than because of it.
Shards of Darkness is a stealth-focused, third-person action game with some great, sprawling maps that often had many paths to your objectives. The main character, a chatty, 4th-wall-breaking goblin named Styx, has a ton of unlockable skills and tools up his sleeve that offer a lot of replayability, despite most of those maps being reused two or three times. The game is at its best when it drops you into a level with all your tricks and leaves you to yourself to find your way. Unfortunately, it also suffers from some hyper-annoying bugs and poor design that will account for the vast majority of your deaths and reloads.
– Real player with 77.7 hrs in game
Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™
I just……. can’t really Overappreciate the masterpiece that is Shadow of Mordor- a perfectly balanced blend between visual artwork, story, combat/stealth gameplay- and the whole newly- introduced with the series Nemesis system- Yes, I KNOW it’s glitchy sometimes - but it does Not mean it’s not worthy of any gamer’s attention due to lack of attention to detail from the Devs- since, they got occupied with the sequel….
A great ARPG, with tons of Possible builds for the main character, as well as even more possible boss -encounters…… And YES the Bosses are almost unique to each player - as well as their story with those bosses….
– Real player with 716.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Assassin Open World Games.
The general consensus regarding this game is absolutely spot on.
That is to say - It’s a fun action game. It looks good. It plays good. Everything about it is decent or at least acceptable enough to give a pass mark to.
But then the games unique selling point, the ‘Nemesis’ system single-handedly raises it from good to great. Worth playing just to experience the total craziness that occurs with that genius game design.
7/10
– Real player with 45.2 hrs in game
Aragami 2
My experience with the game was very good. Finished it once in a lethal two player coop run, and then once again in a solo pacifit/stealth run. Both of my playthroughs were very relaxing and pleasant. The game world is pretty and the soundtrack is charming at times. Stealth gameplay is very solid yet not too tedious. Storytelling and dialogue is minimalistic, but it provides a good setting for the gameplay.
It is about 5 times longer than the first installment, the level design is more open and diverse, and the graphics are stylized but beautiful in their own right. It compares well to the “normal” difficulty of the original game, but I would prefer a setting to make visual and hearing perception distance of enemies greater than it is. Your character is less squishy than it was in the first game, but if you mostly play this for stealth, you will only notice when surviving a nasty fall here and there (though not always).
– Real player with 76.1 hrs in game
Despite the bugs and issues, this game had in the beginning, it was fun to play with friends.
– Real player with 28.7 hrs in game
Arc Apellago
I have gone through this game 3 times so far (twice by myself and another one by watching a friend experience it after I recommended it). It is a short project but what is here signals the beginning of something great. The developers have another game under their belt that released prior to this (DeltaBlade 2700, it’s pretty good) but in comparison Arc Apellago is very much the first note you hear on a music piece.
You can go back in the history of every game developer and by experiencing their list of gaming projects, sooner or later you stumble upon one of them where you feel like something clicked, like this was the true origin of everything else that came afterwards. That’s how this game feels to me. It is not complex, if anything it takes one concept and executes it really well, one can surely compare it to the things you would discover during the golden era of Flash games.
– Real player with 0.6 hrs in game
This game has beautiful visuals, a great soundtrack and very fun game play. Handshake Firm is an extremely talented group of developers and I hope they make another game like this but with more devs and a higher budget. Easily one of the best F2P side-scroller games on Steam. My only qualm with this game is that it’s extremely short. If you want to play something new and finish the game fast, this game is for you. These people have great potential and I’m hopeful for something longer in the future.
– Real player with 0.4 hrs in game
Stormrite
Stormrite is an upcoming open-world Action-RPG set in the dark, fantasy-medieval kingdom of Redreach. You will play the role of a young squire, exploring a world full of chaos and conflict. Become an expert assassin, learn the arts of dark magic, or lead your armies into large-scale war. With multiple endings to all questlines and a rich character tree to decide how you interact with the environment and its inhabitants, you have the power to decide your role in the world of Stormrite.
THE STORY
UNRAVEL THE TWISTED HISTORY OF A VAST KINGDOM
Across the land, there were drawings and scratchings on the walls that hinted at the existence of some greater being. A being that could control time, the earth, the underworld, and anything else the human mind could perceive. There were drawings of it creating tornadoes, raising demons from the earth, and stopping time altogether. This being was feared across the land, and also worshipped by those who were too afraid to be afraid of it. They called it ‘Rek-Tu-Hiem’, ‘Requiem’ in modern terms.
PREPARE FOR REQUIEM’S RETURN
The kingdom of Redreach lived in a state of constant fear, subject to an endless cycle of suffering by this all-powerful being until, one day, it seemingly vanished without a trace. For years, Redreach’s strongest minds attempted to gain some insight into where this being’s immense power came from, and how it somehow disappeared off the face of the Earth. These studies led to the discovery of the Stormrites, a series of powerful scrolls that, in the wrong hands, could lead to the end of all life as we know it. You will learn about the Stormrites while navigating the mysterious kingdom of Redreach, meeting friends and foes along the way, creating your own story in a quest that can ultimately end in one of two ways. You being a hero of the people, or becoming just as powerful and feared as Requiem itself. The choice is yours…
HARNESS THE POWER OF THE FOCUS CRYSTALS
Human characters in Stormrite do not have any magical powers, and all powers are granted by focus crystals. To cast spells, players have to charge their focus via a crystal equipped to their character, with different crystals providing varying buffs and abilities to the player. Certain crystals in the endgame will give players immense power, and the more powerful crystals must be hunted for by the player. This system provides a contrast from the usual “regenerating mana bar” style of magic combat used in other games.
TRAVEL THE LAND AND DISCOVER THE SECRETS THAT LIE WITHIN
Explore a vast open-world filled with interesting landmarks and civilisations, learning skills and trades along the way from the people you meet in your journey across Redreach. You will begin in the small mining village of Silverhorn, a quiet settlement that is being terrorised by bandit travellers attempting to take control of the nearby silver mines. Whilst helping defend your neighbors from these thugs, you will discover dark secrets about the village and its residents, and its ties to the legendary tales of the Stormrites.
Along your journey, your character will become increasingly entangled with the storyline of the Stormrites, potentially finding yourself in a position where you must save the kingdom from the terrors that could be unleashed by these powerful scrolls.
From the intense droughts of the Southern deserts to the unforgiving winters of the North, Redreach has plenty of regions for you to explore, each with their own stories and legends.
CHOOSE YOUR PATH
With Stormrite’s branching skill trees you are given the ability to mould your character into the fighter you want to be. With a wide range of spells, weapons, and equipment to choose from, you can tailor your loadout every time to deal with each encounter that is thrown at you. Each tier of the skill tree increases the amount of specialisation available to your character, while the choices you made earlier into account to decide which paths you choose from next.
GAMEPLAY FEATURES
Stormrite is a fully single-player third-person experience. Your time will be spent going on enthralling quests, exploring the kingdom of Redreach and using various weapons and fighting techniques to dispose of your enemies. The three main styles of fighting are melee, ranged and magic. However, within each of these three categories there are several choices of weapon/combat style for you to choose. For example, ranged players can choose to go for a traditional bow and arrow loadout, can choose to go for a more clunky but powerful crossbow style, or even a hybrid melee-ranged loadout utilising agility, daggers, and throwing knifes.
Magic users can choose to cast spells that directly affect their enemies, summon companions to fight, or manipulate the very fabric of the world around them. You are also able to shoot spells into each other, resulting in some very interesting interactions that can be used to increase your options in combat.
Melee users also have plenty of choices, with 5 fighting styles (and counting) to choose from, and abilities to aid with your battles.
Stormrite will also have a companion system where you can bring allies on your travels to fight alongside you, either supporting you from behind or soaking up all the attention while you deal the damage from behind. This opens up many different ways to approach situations, with no two encounters being the same.
There are also plenty of other interesting gameplay mechanics that we have added/plan to add, such as mounts, feats, and many more!
Olija
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Review by Gaming Masterpieces - The greatest games of all time on Steam.
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The first thing I noticed when starting the game was the pixel art. The hardcore pixel art. The closest good game with a similar visual style that I remembered was Songbringer. You have to like that style, or you won’t like the game. I liked it.
You play a Lord of an impoverished fishing village who decides to lead his people into a brighter future in a far away land. He doesn’t get very far. A terrible thunderstorm and a giant whale sink the ship, the villagers drown or get caught by the natives, and Lord Faraday is rescued by an old man and brought to a small island where he meets a bunch of desperate castaways. Here the adventure starts and the old man transports Faraday to different islands to explore and search for three magical keys to open a door that leads back home.
– Real player with 21.4 hrs in game
FULL REVIEW
So I’ve finished the main part of the game which took around 6 - 7 hours according to my steam playtime, definitely didn’t feel like that (which is a good thing). I’ve still got a few more achievements to go, which should give me an hour or so more of the game.
Story:
I’m gonna be honest here, After the initial intro and such I wasn’t really paying attention on what was happening in the story. It’s fully subtitled and I missed a few, so I was kinda out of luck on knowing what was fully going on.
– Real player with 12.6 hrs in game
Dishonored
Incredibly detailed steam-punk world. Play the way you want - stealth or shoot/slash ‘em up.
– Real player with 288.3 hrs in game
If Bioshock and Assassin’s Creed/Far Cry had a baby, this would be it.
Super fun and highly recommended!
– Real player with 44.7 hrs in game
Jiangshi x Daoshi
I absolutely love this game! It uses a refreshing mix of static avatars & backgrounds, with frequent animation and motion comic action panels reminiscent of Dead Leaves. This gives the game an extremely dynamic feel, which makes up for the lack of choices. Like many Visual Novels, heavy emphasis is on the word Novel, as such, interaction in this game is mostly limited to hunting for words that the in-game hover-dictionary may explain for you.
Jiangshi X Daoshi boasts a rich story packed with fantastic Chinese mythology/historical information, with a wholesome dynamic between the main characters.
– Real player with 9.9 hrs in game
Please be mindful that this is the censored version uploaded to steam.
I wish to bring awareness to this. Apparently this VN was banned upon submission because of certain scenes and they’ve fought tooth and nail the bring it back for us to enjoy. Bans usually mean end of the line for most games from what I have heard. I’ve went back in to check most of these scenes and they aren’t even close to becoming questionable. For more on that story for those interested: Fruitbat Blog Post
– Real player with 7.7 hrs in game
ADM 2(WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE)
Angels,Demons and Men 2(when worlds collide) is a story rich,hack n slash,acdventure rpg.Darkness continues to take over
the lands.Explore new locations,master new skills,stand up and fight.
EXPLORE VARIOUS UNIQUE CHARACTERS AND THEIR EPIC JOURNEYS
Alexander(the royal guard) continues his journey back to the kingdom through the demon maze
Kaia(the angel) continues the search for her mentor and old friend
Audra(the mage) crosses into hell through a portal to free mia.
Cade (the demon king) continues to match his army through the kingdom and slaying everything in his way
Lance(the captain of knights) assembles the last men in the kingdom for one last stand against cade