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 mostly 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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67%Audience ScoreBased on 496 reviews

story57 positive mentions

optimization34 negative mentions

Large, vertical, and intricately designed open world levels offer exciting exploration and freedom of approach.
Fluid and expanded movement mechanics including double jump, grappling hook, and glider add depth to traversal.
Core stealth gameplay remains engaging with a variety of gadgets and powers, allowing multiple stealth or aggressive styles.
Styx's character retains much of his sarcastic charm and humor, adding personality to the experience.
Distinct environments and soundtrack contribute to an immersive atmosphere fitting the franchise's style.
The game is a worthy continuation for fans of the series and stealth genre despite some flaws.

Performance and optimization issues are prominent, including frequent crashes, stuttering, and poor framerate especially on some hardware.
Control scheme changes feel clunky and unintuitive on keyboard, including complicated ability activation.
AI behavior is simplistic and inconsistent, often breaking stealth immersion with poor reactions and predictable patterns.
The story is considered weak, unfocused, and less engaging with underdeveloped characters and awkward pacing.
Repeated fetch quests across a few large areas lead to repetition and fatigue, diminishing mission variety.
Some game features from previous entries were removed or simplified, such as loss of direct clone control, no rewards for pure stealth, lack of mission replays, and less impactful armor/equipment roles.
Visual issues include excessive motion blur, lighting flickering, texture pop-in, and general unevenness due to Unreal Engine 5 limitations.
The game lacks endgame content or new game plus resulting in reduced replay value.
Bugs range from minor glitches to game-breaking softlocks and progression blocking issues.

story
414 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
75%
11%
The story in this game received mixed to mostly negative feedback, with many players criticizing it as repetitive, weak, and centered around monotonous fetch quests involving collecting quartz. While the narrative attempts to continue the series and includes some enjoyable missions and character banter, overall it is seen as disjointed, underdeveloped, and less engaging than previous entries, often detracting from player immersion and replayability. Some highlights exist in select story missions and character interactions, but the lack of depth and polish leaves the story feeling like an afterthought amid a buggy and mechanically uneven experience.
- “The story was great, it leads up to a compelling conclusion and I would love to see another game in the series to see what sort of shenanigans Styx gets up to during the story.”
- “But the story kept bringing me back, and the more fleshed out the story got, the more I began to enjoy the game and I ended up tolerating the gameplay because of how wonderful the story was.”
- “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.”
- “The whole game is a bunch of fetch quest nonsense, each act you need to do 6 fetch quests before getting to anything looking like a real quest.”
- “Clearly, it felt undercooked with lacking conversations, barely any chat with your allies, story can be summed to gather x amount of quartz in y level... repeat.. then story mission... repeat that for the 5 acts.”
- “Almost every quest follows the same pattern of going to a location, realizing you can't do the objective, and then backtracking somewhere else to go to then go back to the original location; it feels like the open world is just there to add padding to these fetch quests.”
gameplay
263 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
65%
5%
The gameplay is widely praised for its satisfying and refined stealth mechanics, enhanced verticality, and smooth, fluid controls building on previous entries. While new movement abilities and tactical options enrich player creativity, critiques note some mechanical inconsistency, repetition in mission structure, and occasional technical issues that can hamper immersion. Overall, it offers a solid stealth experience with engaging level design, though some feel it lacks the challenge and depth of earlier titles.
- “What this game does deliver on is really satisfying stealth gameplay.”
- “The movement mechanics have been expanded with new abilities and feel snappier, there's even more vertical movement now.”
- “Everything flows very smoothly, all the mechanics from the previous two games that worked are still here, if not enhanced, there are new mechanics to make it easier to take down enemies (I am so happy you can break enemy armor, which I don't think you could do naturally before) instead of relying solely on acid traps or special skills, the grapple hook, learning to shift through certain door barriers, and so on.”
- “Mechanics sometimes don't work, combat design is bad, Styx's abilities feel unsatisfying a lot of the time and the level design can make you tear your hair out.”
- “Blades of Greed improves on the stealth mechanics of the Styx series, only to make them almost irrelevant.”
- “The gameplay feels unpolished and it has lost its unique soul.”
optimization
140 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
67%
24%
Optimization for the game is widely criticized, with many users reporting poor performance, frequent stuttering, and significant frame rate drops even on high-end PCs, often requiring drastic settings reductions to achieve playability. Unreal Engine 5's inefficiencies are frequently blamed, and the game struggles particularly on certain maps or lower-powered hardware, including handheld devices. While some players with decent systems find performance acceptable, the consensus highlights a need for urgent patches to improve stability and optimization.
- “You may have performance struggles but with a settings guide on YouTube you should be perfectly comfortable with FPS.”
- “Performance: I play on a decent-ish gaming laptop at 1080p with DLSS balanced, and it runs smoothly most of the time and is very playable and looks good (I turn post processing down to low to remove the muddy look from surfaces).”
- “On RTX 4090, I have great performance on a 2K monitor (1440p native), which is to be expected, no freezes or stuttering, or crashes, but texture pop-ins are noticeable in some cutscenes (mostly at the beginning, less so later in the game). The game runs decently at a stable 90+ fps at 1080p but this shouldn't be as taxing as it is on similar hardware, indicating it clearly lacks optimization.”
- “Even on the lowest settings, the performance was very poor, with heavy stuttering making it almost unplayable.”
- “Performance is god-awful and the only way to truly fix it is to set up a potato setting config inside the engine itself, which makes the game playable at the cost of engulfing everything in the shadow setting, meaning that no matter the light level, you are always in darkness.”
- “It's insanely poorly optimized.”
graphics
101 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
74%
8%
The graphics receive mixed feedback, praised for stylish level design, atmosphere, and some breathtaking scenes, but criticized for inconsistent lighting, blurry effects, and lack of polish. Technical issues such as stuttering, performance drops, crashes, and limited graphics options (e.g., no motion blur toggle) detract from the experience, often attributed to Unreal Engine 5 optimization problems. Overall, while visuals show improvement and convey the game's mood well, performance struggles and some visual glitches affect players' enjoyment.
- “Visual level design is as stellar as it was before or even better, loving the aesthetic.”
- “Environments are sharper, lighting is more deliberate, and it still has that Styx aesthetic, just presented with more polish.”
- “The graphics are beautiful, though I can understand why some people dislike the lighting, it definitely is "different".”
- “The graphics became a little better, parkour has more tricks, a couple of new enemies, but cons are much more noticeable.”
- “Terrible anti-aliasing that blurs the entire screen, removes depth, and leaves you wondering how the first game on Unreal Engine 3 could have better clarity and visuals.”
- “Graphics from 2010, requirements from 2030, no DLAA, stupid 120 fps lock, can't disable motion blur, controller required, lip sync is non existent, absolute terrible game.”
humor
39 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
92%
8%
The humor in the game retains Styx's dark, cynical wit and sarcastic banter, especially during gameplay moments like toying with enemies, but it is notably toned down compared to previous installments. While some fans appreciate the more grounded, less raunchy approach, others feel Styx has lost much of his sharpness and fourth-wall-breaking charm, resulting in fewer memorable jokes and less engaging dialogue overall. Despite this, the game still offers sporadic amusing moments, though the supporting characters' humor and voice acting feel diluted or less prominent.
- “His sarcastic comments are great—especially if you appreciate dark humor.”
- “The banter between the crew members is sharp, cynical, and often genuinely funny, adding a much-needed layer of personality to an otherwise dense and sometimes confusing story.”
- “It's the most "Styx" game yet: gritty, hilarious, and insanely satisfying.”
- “He's not funny anymore and barely talks.”
- “Styx is not funny anymore.”
- “He is still hateful, just not funny anymore.”
music
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
37%
11%
The music in the game is widely praised for its fitting ambiance, signature Styx feel, and overall quality, with many highlighting the soundtrack as a standout element that enhances immersion. While some find it underused compared to previous entries, the majority appreciate the beautiful, well-crafted score that complements the game's atmosphere and events.
- “Music and sound are outstanding.”
- “The soundtrack is great again, too.”
- “Soundtrack is awesome as usual in this series.”
- “- sound design and music - boring and forgettable”
- “[*] underused & oversimplified soundtrack (in comparison to previous games)”
- “Music: fair”
stability
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
92%
The game's stability is mixed, with frequent reports of bugs, glitches, collision and AI issues, occasional crashes, and some soft-lock potential. While cutscenes generally run smoothly and performance is stable on high-end hardware, numerous gameplay bugs and technical problems detract from the overall experience. Despite the issues, some players find it playable, but the bugs and glitches currently prevent a fully polished feel.
- “On RTX 4090, I have great performance on a 2K monitor (1440p native), with no freezes, stuttering, or crashes. However, texture pop-ins are noticeable in some cutscenes, mostly at the beginning, but they seem to decrease later in the game.”
- “It runs great for me on older Linux hardware with Proton, making it a chill stealth game experience.”
- “I understand this will disappoint players with certain expectations or those who experience performance issues, but overall it is stable and smooth.”
- “I will admit the team did their best and utilized systems in the way they saw fit but until the severe glitches and crashes are solved I wouldn't recommend the game.”
- “The game has constant crashes where the game just freezes and closes with no error message afterwards like nothing ever happened.”
- “No more sliding down on ropes, the multi-sub-menus for skills, so many buggy quests; if you don't step in the right place your clues and dialogs are not triggered, no speedrun or pacifist objectives or even possibilities of being a pacifist, no way to go back to the levels after your last mission... the last boss fight is so stupidly simple, and yet impossible if you haven't stuck all your throwing daggers and acid traps.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
The game's replayability is generally considered low, with users citing a lack of challenges, game-breaking bugs, and the absence of graded missions or varied playstyle incentives. Unlike previous titles, it offers a mostly one-time solo story experience rather than encouraging multiple playthroughs. Some hope future patches might improve its replay value.
- “The old games had missions where you got graded on speed, alerts, kills, and collectibles that made each level replayable.”
- “Now this game is only one-time solo story instead of a replayable game that you'll want to play again and again with friends.”
- “I don't think it has a high replayability for me, but while it takes getting used to, for me the experiment with open world was worth it.”
- “Tons of game breaking bugs and a complete lack of replay value makes this a title worth missing.”
- “Minimal replayability.”
- “Not having any challenges regarding speed, stealth, or pacifist playstyles makes the game lack any replay value.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The atmosphere is widely praised for its dark, eerie, and immersive qualities, contributing significantly to the game's grim and cozy tone. While the story and environment are engaging and richly designed, some players note that character interactions are limited, yet the overall mood remains captivating and enhances the experience.
- “And roaming the Wall Streets at night, bathing in this eerie atmosphere was really a treat.”
- “Interesting story and amazing dark atmosphere.”
- “Good continuation of a cozy and very atmospheric series.”
grinding
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
86%
Grinding in the game is often described as tedious and repetitive, with some players finding progression slowed by multiple currencies required for upgrades. Certain difficulties and objectives increase the grind, leading to frustrating detours and a lack of depth. Overall, grinding feels more cumbersome compared to previous titles in the series.
- “There is no plot, you just run around collecting items, some of which are very tedious to find.”
- “Progression feels grindy, with multiple currencies needed for different upgrades compared to the prior games' more unified XP system.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
character development
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
Character development is criticized for feeling inconsistent and poorly executed, with Styx's sudden growth appearing off. The character design is seen as lacking depth and cohesion, seeming hastily conceived and mismatched with the game's grimy fantasy atmosphere.
- “Better character development.”
- “Styx's sudden character development feels off.”
- “The character design feels like it was created in a brainstorming session.”
- “The faux AAA style of UI, menus, cutscene/story direction, character design, and gameplay flow is totally at odds with the grimy fantasy setting.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players have mixed emotional responses, with frustration over technical issues dampening their experience, yet some express genuine enjoyment, especially appreciating features like the grappling hook that enhance exploration and immersion. Many remain hopeful for future updates to improve the game’s performance.
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Monetization is viewed negatively, with users feeling it leans heavily toward being a cash grab, especially disappointing given the prior emphasis on the character's personality in marketing.
- “The weakest in the series, just a step above a cash grab.”

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3h Median play time

5h Average play time

2-10h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 5 analyzed playthroughs

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