Styx: Blades of Greed

About

Styx: Blades of Greed is a single player action adventure game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Cyanide Studio and was released on February 19, 2026. It received positive reviews from players.

The master of stealth is back! Explore the dizzying heights of the Iserian Continent and cunningly eliminate your enemies. Thanks to your Quartz powers, you are freer than ever. Be creative: Never has it felt so good to be greedy.

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Play Modes

Single-Player

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86%

Audience ScoreBased on 63 reviews

optimization7 positive mentions

character development3 negative mentions

The game features exceptional level design with vast, vertical environments that enhance the stealth gameplay experience.
Styx's character and humor remain intact, providing a fun and engaging experience for fans of the series.
The new movement mechanics and abilities add depth to gameplay, allowing for creative approaches to stealth and exploration.

The game suffers from significant performance issues, including blurry visuals, stuttering, and inconsistent frame rates, particularly on lower-end hardware.
Many players find the gameplay too easy, even on higher difficulty settings, due to the removal of challenge insignias and the introduction of more forgiving mechanics.
The story and quest design are criticized for being repetitive and lacking depth, often boiling down to fetch quests that detract from the overall experience.

optimization
35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
66%
14%
Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players experiencing performance issues, particularly on lower-powered hardware and handheld devices. While some users report smooth performance on high-end PCs, others note significant frame drops and visual inconsistencies, often attributing these problems to Unreal Engine 5's limitations. Many reviewers express hope for future patches to improve optimization and address the game's technical shortcomings.
- “Performance remains consistent even at higher settings.”
- “The game is beautiful, the music and dialogue are so good, and it's pretty well optimized compared to a lot of Unreal Engine 5 games besides a few bugs (easy to work around) I'm sure they'll patch soon.”
- “Overall, if you’re planning to play on handheld, expect inconsistent performance depending on the map, but it is playable with the right settings and wattage.”
- “The core feels great, the stealth is good, and in this current market, I will gladly take what I can get, but Unreal Engine 5 almost always leads to bad results in terms of performance and visuals.”
- “Graphics are alright, but I don't understand how I can run 'Shards of Darkness' at a near constant 200fps yet can't achieve 80 on 'Blades of Greed' without frame generation or super resolution like DLSS. Considering the graphics aren't that much of an improvement, I can only chalk this up to UE5 being one of the most poorly optimized game engines in the market right now.”
- “The game as of right now looks very bad even with all my settings at max, so if you are wondering whether you should buy it, I would say wait a few months; the game also has a stuttering problem.”
gameplay
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
45%
10%
The gameplay is praised for its open-world design, enhanced movement mechanics, and a solid stealth experience, making it the best in the series. While the new "greed" system adds an interesting risk/reward dynamic, some players feel the game leans towards speedrunning rather than methodical stealth. Overall, the gameplay is fluid and engaging, though it could benefit from optimization and a few technical improvements.
- “With all that said, the core gameplay is incredible. I love the new movement, the new tools, and the new spells which can be extremely cruel.”
- “The core stealth experience is stronger, movements are enhanced, and the presentation supports the gameplay rather than distracting from it.”
- “The level design and gameplay freedom are among the best the genre has to offer.”
- “I got the quartz edition, 50 dollars for 15 hours of gameplay = $3.33 an hour.”
- “In this one, there’s hardly any need to use actual skills, and turning actions into a simple two-button mechanic doesn’t make much sense.”
- “It does not promote methodical gameplay at all, feels like it was designed more as a speedrun than a stealth challenge.”
story
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
59%
14%
The story aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the freedom in gameplay and character interactions, while others feel that the narrative depth has been sacrificed for mechanics, resulting in a lack of engaging lore and character development. While some find the story promising and enjoyable, particularly in relation to character dynamics, others criticize it for being shallow and uninteresting, with repetitive quests that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the narrative seems to be a point of contention, with opinions varying widely on its effectiveness and engagement.
- “The thing I'm hoping happens in this plot, though I have doubts, is that this band of diverse misfits and weirdos who come together in the prologue end up respecting if not loving each other, because that exact thing happening is my favorite genre of story in the world.”
- “What a fantastic experience it was; if you loved the previous games, it is an absolute must that you should get this one too. The story was just so good, it's worth the money and time put into it.”
- “What makes it special is how everything works together — the story, environment design, map layout, movement system, and enemy reactions.”
- “The story was also sacrificed by this change, as before we had cutscenes and more lore than ever, but now it is stripped down to dialogue and very little to add to a world that still begs to be explained.”
- “Your crew of companions and the zeppelin base — two additions with real potential — amount to little more than quest dispensers with no depth.”
- “The faux AAA style of UI, menus, cutscene/story direction, character design, and gameplay flow is totally at odds with the grimy fantasy setting.”
graphics
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
65%
15%
The graphics of "Blades of Greed" receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the sharper environments and improved lighting, while others criticize the performance issues and optimization problems associated with Unreal Engine 5. Many users note that the visuals can appear washed out or blurry, especially when using features like DLSS, and express disappointment that the graphics do not significantly surpass those of its predecessor, "Shards of Darkness." Overall, while the aesthetic retains its charm, the game is seen as needing further graphical refinement and optimization.
- “Environments are sharper, lighting is more deliberate, and it still has that Styx aesthetic, just presented with more polish.”
- “Love the visuals and the character, and the feel.”
- “The graphics look great.”
- “What’s stopping it from being far better than it is right now are the engine-related issues (blurry visuals, bad performance) and the floaty controls.”
- “Blades of Greed seems rushed by comparison; poor performance because of UE5, no option to turn off motion blur, and everything is either not working well because the game struggles on high graphics without DLSS. If I enable DLSS, the game looks like a blurry mess with motion blur everywhere. It feels less than both of the older games.”
- “The graphics are horrible with a high hardware requirement.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music in the game has received high praise, with many reviewers highlighting its beauty and effectiveness in enhancing the overall experience, often rating it around 9.5 to 10 out of 10. While some players feel that the game lacks certain details that made previous installments special, the soundtrack and voice acting remain standout features that contribute positively to the gameplay. Overall, the music is consistently described as a strong point, elevating the game's atmosphere despite some criticisms of other aspects.
- “The game is beautiful, the music and dialogue are so good, and it's pretty well optimized compared to a lot of Unreal Engine 5 games besides a few bugs (easy to work around) I'm sure they'll patch soon.”
- “Gameplay 10/10 - graphics 8.5/10 - soundtrack and theme 10/10”
- “The music is dope so far and the voice acting is also nice.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by its gritty and hilarious tone, maintaining the unique identity of the Styx character. Players appreciate the comedic elements, such as the amusing goblin throw skill and unexpected bugs that add to the absurdity, enhancing the overall experience.
- “It's the most 'Styx' game yet: gritty, hilarious, and insanely satisfying.”
- “The humor, tone, and identity of Styx is still there, which is a necessary element for this character.”
- “I did have a hilariously creepy bug where corpses were stuck in the floor, so a ton of limbs were just dangling out of the concrete floor like that scene in X-Men: Apocalypse.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers note a dissonance between the polished, faux AAA style of the game's UI, menus, and character design and the intended grimy fantasy setting, which detracts from the overall character development experience. This inconsistency may hinder players' immersion and connection with the characters.
- “The faux AAA style of UI, menus, cutscene/story direction, character design, and gameplay flow is totally at odds with the grimy fantasy setting.”
- “Character development feels shallow and uninspired, lacking the depth needed to engage players emotionally.”
- “The choices you make during character development seem to have little impact on the overall story, making it feel like a missed opportunity.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users have reported stability issues related to visual effects like film grain and motion blur, which cannot be disabled, leading to a blurry appearance. However, some players have found that using mods can improve performance and resolve glitches, indicating that the game's stability may be enhanced with community fixes.
- “The game has some weird film grain and motion blur that you can't turn off, making it look blurry the whole time. I downloaded a mod that turns those two things off, which improved the performance and made it look way better. It also fixed some weird shadow glitches and an HDR problem.”
- “I frequently experience crashes and bugs that disrupt gameplay, making it hard to enjoy the game.”
- “The stability issues are frustrating; the game freezes often, and I've lost progress multiple times due to unexpected crashes.”
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers note that reducing the character Styx's quips enhances the game's atmosphere, creating a more immersive and engaging experience.
- “Toning down Styx's quips is also neat; it seems way more atmospheric that way.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express frustration with the grinding aspect of the game, particularly criticizing the repetitive and uninteresting fetch quests that detract from the overall experience. Many feel that these mandatory tasks disrupt the flow of the game and lack engaging storytelling, leading to a tedious gameplay experience.
- “I'm going to change my rating to negative for now since there are more fetch quests for the quartz, which just ruin the pacing of the game and are uninteresting. So far, the only interesting main quests have been the first one and the one where you look for the orc shaman. They could have made interesting story missions where you collect them in the end or made them side quests, but having them as mandatory quests where you just sneak around to get to them for a little talk with quartz is just not worth it. This is just tedious.”

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15h Median play time

15h Average play time

15-15h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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