STYX: SHARDS OF DARKNESS 100% COMPLETED!
-
Styx: Shards of Darkness
38 hours playtime
38 of 38 achievements
First of all, I’d like to thank 2 of my most dear, annoying and backlog loving friends for coming together to gift this to me so that I can experience it on launch day. I was delaying purchasing it for some personal reasons but did I mention that my friends are annoying? <3 :P Below in the tabs you can find an in-depth review for Styx: Shards of Darkness and some screenshots. Regarding Styx, please don’t ask me about combat. Combat has no place in this game at all, nor should it! ;) It’s a pure stealth game. What this means is; don’t expect to fight your way out if you get stuck. Stealth is absolutely mandatory. This is as close as you can get to an old school Thief experience! <3
I’ve reached 94% average achievement completion on Steam, it was 93% on my previous update and I am only 1 game away from reaching 170 perfect games which won’t be difficult to achieve at all. It would be amazing if Styx was that special 170th but I didn’t want to delay that game as I enjoyed it a lot.
I actually have a lot more progress to report but I couldn’t get the 4th tab to work. Despite mimicking every code of the already working tabs, 4th one refuses to function. I will most likely write another update once I reach 170 perfect games because there is this one special game among the ones I played since my last update that I really want to talk about.
Happy backlogging everyone, I’m looking forward to reading all your updates ^^
Edit: Can someone please help me with spreading out these 3 tab headings across the whole bar instead of squeezing them together on the left side? Arbiter Libera you are a life saver, thank you so much <3
The first striking thing about the new game is the graphics. Cyanide Studio had a much bigger budget for Shards of Darkness compared to Master of Shadows and you can definitely notice this from the graphics.
It has a great quick save system. The game can store up to 3 quick saves at a time so if your very last quick save happens to be in an impossible situation you can't get out of, you still have 2 more previous quick saves to fall back on. The game also doesn't allow you to save during threats which is very useful in my opinion. These threats include suspicious enemies, enemies doing an active search for you, being on a rope, being in combat and so on.
Maps are quite big filled with so many ways to approach missions. However, compared to the earlier game Master of Shadows, Shards of Darkness have smaller maps. In Master of Shadows, a common chapter consisted of 4 parts across a massive map. Shards of Darkness offers chapters with 2 parts only and therefore is a much shorter game.
Controls are smooth. My main problem with the Master of Shadows was how hard it was to hang on the ledges. There was no dedicated button for it so in order to make Styx hang to a ledge, you had to very VERY slowly walk towards a ledge and hope that the game will register your intentions. Most of the time you fell to your death or on top of a guard though so it didn't work properly. Shards of Darkness has a button for this and even if you are sprinting, as long as you press this button Styx will automatically hang on a ledge once he reaches it. I found the controls on swinging ropes and jumping to be quite clunky though.
Crafting system has been added to the game. As someone who doesn't use items this is not a big deal for me but there are some handy tools you can craft. You can only craft at crafting tables scattered around the mission area. However with a certain skill you can unlock the armour that lets you craft wherever you want without needing a table. In order to craft items you are required to gather raw materials which can be found in missions areas.
Skill system is far more advanced. There are 5 branches: Kills, Stealth, Perception, Clone and Alchemy and each skill tree has 7 abilities. All these branches have an "Ultimate Skill" that is quite powerful. To unlock an ultimate skill you need to have unlocked the previous skills within that tree and have a pure quartz, a very rare crafting material. Ultimate skills have 2 different abilities and you can only pick one and change it before starting a new mission. There is also a hidden skill that is unlocked after unlocking every single visible skill. Small tip: Clone tree is unbelievably overpowered and I don’t think any speedrunning for 100% achievement completion would be possible without it!
Different equipments can be obtained throughout the campaign. These all have their bonuses but they also come with a negative trait to balance them out. For example the DLC dagger can dissolve enemies automatically after you kill them so you never have to worry about getting rid of bodies if you want to do a lethal stealth run but it completely removes "muffled" kills. Muffled kill means silent kills which stop your victim from screaming. Every single piece of equipment whether it be armour or dagger has their positive and negative traits. Once you’ve unlocked them you can equip different gear in your hideout before starting the next mission.
AI is lacking a lot. Guards have very limited vision so a guard that is standing on top of the stairs won't "see" you standing on the foot of the stairs. I believe a reason for this could be how generally dark the maps are. Master of Shadows had a lot of well lit areas making it quite a challenge to sneak whereas majority of the maps in Shards of Darkness are dark.
You can't close doors! >.<
Manual saves are limited to 10. Limiting manual saves to 10 maximum in a stealth game especially while the first game supported a lot more is quite unbelievable.
Boss fights are not well made and they have got nothing to do with stealth. The two bosses in game are all about precise timing and intricate parkouring. Both bosses are aware of where you are at all times and they direct their attacks at your exact location. Stealth is not involved in any shape or form.
Story seems like a mess and the game ended with a massive cliffhanger. Don't panic, there won't be spoilers regarding the story here but I want to say that it made a lot more sense in Master of Shadows. Shards of Darkness felt like a lot of random events happening at the same time and it felt all over the place without a proper focus.
Styx talks a lot in this game and I really mean a lot. He reacts to everything and makes jokes constantly. If you die or get detected or get damaged, Styx will break the 4th wall and mock the hell out of you. There are different small cutscenes after each death where Styx will say something directly to the player, getting angry at them for his death. I despised this feature so much. After dying 43095830495879438 times to boss battles which have got absolutely nothing to do with stealth, it kinda feels like a massive fudge you in the face when Styx mocks you after each 43095830495879438 time. I didn't find the jokes funny at all. Master of Shadows felt a lot better regarding humour.
I didn't play co-op but people are saying that co-op mode doesn't have any checkpoints or saves which is a massive problem if you want to play co-op. However, you won't have any problems in that regard if you play single player exclusively.
These friends…tsk tsk tsk. So annoying!! Kill them!! muahahaha
But seriously, a great review Lenor, as always :3 - you made me change my mind about Styx. I remember I wanted to play the first game, then I read more about it and didn’t want to play anymore, but if the first game is like Shards of Darkness, then it’ll be a game I’ll enjoy.
This one specifically looks so great and differently of what I thought, it has a lot of interesting things: skills, different equipament with different traits etc… looks pretty cool :3 Are the other skills before the ultimate one also kinda overpowered? Just to know if the game is too easy with them or not… Just completed a game last week (or this week? - Shadow of Mordor) and it gets soooo easy even with early skills D: so got curious about Styx too as it has skill tree too.
It reminds me of Dishonored for some reason, not sure what reason though.. Are they similar in any way?
I didn’t play many stealth games like you, of course, but even so, I try to figured out why they keep adding bosses to stealth games –’ really, don’t they know what stealth means? hahah
Anyway… big congratulations Lenor on your awesome completion and thanks for share your thoughts about it. It’s always good to read a review from you :3
And yaaay for 170 perfect games… yea, yeah, I know you’re missing one, but I know you’ll complete a game soon \o so YAAY! I’m “only” 100 games behind you lol
Kill them!!
Some friends are certainly asking for it!! :D
What made you not want to play the first game? I love both of the games very much and I’m happy to answer any question marks popping in your mind to help you decide. I’ll be honest, these games are not for everyone. They are really aimed at a very niche market. Stealth is already niche enough, when you add “pure” stealth, it makes it even more so.
I found cloning tree abilities to be overpowered even before the ultimate. The 2nd skill you can get is absolutely vital during speedrunning. You know me, I don’t use skills on my first playthrough which is reserved for pure ghosting including pacifism of course. I only used invisibility a couple of times during the first boss battle. I’m so used to not using skills that I felt like cheating but the game also cheated by marketing itself as pure stealth but throwing a boss battle that can’t even be stealthed. I will never understand this. The first game had one boss battle at the end but you needed to stealth it to get ghost bonus and it was a very exhilarating cat and mouse chase between a bunch of invisible enemies. From reviews I read, people found Shards of Darkness bosses to be a lot better than Master of Shadow final battle. To me it’s the opposite.
If you want to ghost+pacifist the game which is how it’s intended to be, the skills won’t do that much handholding. It’s still a matter of your own ability to sneak. I strongly suggest playing without abilities first. Game requires multiple playthroughs to get 100% anyway so you can try the skills later on. This is what I normally do.
Dishonored vs Styx? Oh they aren’t even close. Dishonored is an action game with stealth elements, Styx is pure stealth. Imagine getting detected in Dishonored, alarms are being rung, you can do a bunch of fancy things, kill everyone and move on like nothing happened hell even without losing any health. Styx dies in one hit, or mission fails if you are doing one of those missions that automatically fails when you get detected, or you need to immediately go invisible and find a hiding place to wait it out. Invisibility uses a lot of amber power fast so really, you have like mere seconds before you make a solid escape. They are extremely different games.
Thanks a lot for the nice wishes Douglas :)
Hmm, it was more about the gameplay… It seemed boring for my tastes. Not even the fact thay I need to sneak the entire game (I have the patience to do this, so it’s ok), but idk how to explain, it just didn’t look my cup of tea D: From what I read about the first game and now reading about this one, they seem to have different gameplays. Do I need to play the first game to understand the second?
Yea, I know you :3 You first playthroughs are just you and your own skills in stealth games :DD
This clone skill seems a really good skill from what I read and what you’re telling me, also, looks interesting :p And invisibility \o/ I would use it a lot hahah okay, maybe not a lot as you said it uses a lot of amber power, but I would use here and there.
Oh, so they are not similar at all :p except the fact both can be played without killing? Maybe. I thought they are similar probably because of the powers/skills and the fact that both are stealth games (even though Dishonored is not pure stealth game).
You’re welcome Lenor :D
From what I read about the first game and now reading about this one, they seem to have different gameplays.
Please point me to what you read about the first game because I’m really curious. The gameplay is the same for both games. Unless you also include skills and crafting features into what you call gameplay but even then those aren’t big deals and the first game already had skill trees, just not as advanced as the 2nd game. 2nd game doesn’t have different gameplay at all. Both of them are pure stealth games that punish you for getting detected and don’t do any handholding.
Shards of Darkness is not that connected to Master of Shadows in terms of story but I believe the first game should definitely be played so a few things can be put into a better perspective.
Nope, they really are not similar at all. Styx has about 2-3 targets that you must kill in particular missions over the course of the entire game, this doesn’t affect pacifism because those targets are a part of the main objective. Styx resembles HITMAN a lot more.
nicely done. Playing it myself and I love the game. Need to get the Swiftness Insignia for most of the levels though, pretty hard task to do that.
I was most afraid of chapter 4 with the boss and 6 with the trials. I initially decided against going for 100% as the final boss was very traumatising but on my first playthrough I got the swiftness despite going for secondary mission to obtain the pure quartz. I really didn’t want to do the final boss 3 times but after getting swiftness on it on first playthrough to my surprise, I only needed to do it again for collectibles. This motivated me to go after the rest.
Clone skill tree is your best friend, it’s immensely powerful. Some missions will require you to go back to where you started to advance to the 2nd part or there are certain areas you need to pass multiple times to move on to the next mission objective, leave a clone in such locations and use rebirth to teleport to the clone’s location once you’re done with the mission objectives. I made use of that skill a lot, it’s such a life saver.
that’s a great hint. I hardly use any special abilities ;)
This comment was deleted over 6 years ago.
Yay, congrats on your completion! This was a fantastic review as always and I feel your pain regarding tabs. I could never get the 4th tab to work for me either and after many headaches I gave up xD
Time for a nice relaxing puzzle game to make it 170! :D
Thank you so much :D
I really hate this HTML thing. It’s alienating me from writing updates…
Yea, I really need a relaxing casual game now. I still have the shakes from that speedrun binging :D I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone!
I’d be super happy if we could just click a button and insert tabs that way but maybe we might eventually learn something about all this code speak? Yeah? I doubt it lol.
That would be the dream! I really wish we could do that with buttons :D But yea you are right, I actually learned very minimal html knowledge which is not so bad after all ;)
Aww yeah, detailed look at new Styx. :) But first:
Edit: Can someone please help me with spreading out these 3 tab headings across the whole bar instead of squeezing them together on the left side?
Adding “nav-justified” into your “ul class” so it looks like <ul class="nav nav-tabs nav-justified"> should do the trick.
As someone who hasn’t played Master of Shadows it’s odd to hear about some of those negatives like AI lobotomization and save slot limits. Do you think former has something to do with level layout changes so AI couldn’t keep up? Limiting save slots is just a dumbfounding decision in this day and age. I mean, it’s not like we’re limited by cartridge memory or anything. I don’t know, protagonists prattling on and on seems to be a given these days as some sort of “subtle” player guidance system, but I agree it would be annoying.
So, worth playing in the end after all.
Thank you so much!!! I immediately added that code to my template document. It looks much better now :D
I really am not sure about the AI. I’m just used to most stealth games including AAA ones getting it wrong in so many ways. The only competent AI I ran into so far was in Dishonored 2 and Shadow Tactics Blades of the Shogun. I really wish I had a gif of how AI behaves in a narrow area when you get detected and hide somewhere. You can witness like 3-4 guards pushing each other trying to search around :D It’s so hilarious. I can actually send you a video as a reference. Watch the next 30 seconds after the time stamp, it’s just so funny :D Their line of sight is very poor and the only explanation I can come up with is because of how dark the maps are. Their line of sight doesn’t expand with higher difficulty options either, they only detect you more quickly if you play on higher difficulty options.
I really don’t understand the reasoning behind limiting manual save slots. The only thing I can come up with is that they don’t want people to save scum? I don’t know if I’m using that phrase correctly, I learned it like days ago. There is a Master difficulty, highest one, that completely removes player saves and limits the player to automatic saves only. Co-op mode despite what difficulty you chose will automatically act as Master difficulty, disabling all player save options. I would understand this as a logical explanation to limiting saves but then they also make the game easier by giving players some pretty good skills alongside a potion to cover Styx’s smell (there are enemies that can smell you from a distance and go suspicious even if they can’t see you, these enemies existed in first game but there was no potion to mitigate it) and reducing the size and length of missions. So whole thing is a mismatch to me.
I think it’s definitely worth it if you like the genre.
Glad I could help. :)
It’s actually kind disheartening to see how little AI has advanced over time especially when it’s so important in stealth games. I like how in Dishonored guards would notice when other guards disappeared and would incorporated their routes into their own patrols to a degree, for example. On the other hand I can also see how a genuinely competent AI would be more of an annoyance and would basically force force the player to ghost the entire game because, hey, guards wouldn’t FORGET they saw you after ten seconds and no mistakes would be allowed. Is that the way stealth games should be played? Perhaps, but I’m not sure if everyone is on that level.
You bring up Shadow Tactics, but I think it and other Commandos-like games alongside with Hitman, Death to Spies, etc are more like a hybrid between stealth and puzzle so guards are just one type of obstacle you have to work around, necessitating they work in predictable and recycled ways. They don’t really have such hot AI as much as they’re designed to function in a specific manner to impair your progress so you have to maneuver out of their Line of Sight, distract them, etc. If you wanted to truly ramp up the difficulty in these games you’d make unpredictable routes and behaviors each time you started a mission, but that would go against general mission design ethos. I don’t think procedural generation would work in this case, anyway.
Not a fan of autosaves in stealth games because it, if you look at the new Thief, it generally just translates into a linear game and one where you cannot backtrack to get the collectables you missed or whatever. Removal of saves in co-op would depend on how much of an advantage having another player with you is, though. I’m reminded of Splinter Cell when they introduced co-op missions and it was pretty damn amazing.
AI doesn’t have to be 100% competent, just slightly capable. Deus Ex Mankind Divided had guards not caring about security cameras or laser grids disabling out of nowhere which is just a very major flaw in my opinion. Shadow Tactics guards are pretty competent but they still made them in a way that they are not too punishing because they still eventually forget that there is a guard missing after looking for him for a while.
Depending on who you ask, the entire stealth genre is not so far away from puzzle games. Watching guard patrol routes in order to determine the correct timing and patrol pattern to make your move and navigating among other obstacles like turrets, dogs, security cameras, mines etc while also not being seen and utilising your environment if necessary to reach a location you need without being detected can be a pretty awesome puzzling experience when you think about it. I am not surprised at all when I learn that majority of the stealth fans I talk to also happen to enjoy puzzle games. Because I see the whole stealth genre as a big puzzle in itself and I believe both genres make the same part of the brain work so I agree with you on that.
Every people have different skills in different genres and varying reflexes as well as reaction time. Let’s also not forget that not allowing saves whatsoever highly discourages exploration and experimenting. Given that Styx has amazingly designed open maps with so many different paths to approach your mission objectives, discouraging players from exploring is not something anyone should want unless you already know all of the maps and simply want to challenge yourself or doing a speedrun.
Punishing co-op players with varying skills who also picked another difficulty outside of Master (which disables player saving by default) by not allowing them to save at all just because they are playing co-op is a pretty wrong move in my honest opinion. I read a post yesterday on Steam forums, the person was talking about dying to boss they really weren’t expecting in mission 4 (because who in their right mind expects boss fights in a true stealth game right?) and having to restart the entire mission 4 from the beginning, which consists of 3 parts including the boss battle and someone else mentioned not being able to pass chapter 1 after 8 hours of gameplay. This doesn’t sound like a positive experience to me and so many people who bought the game to give this genre a chance only because it had co-op are currently refunding the game if they have clocked less than 2 hours and the rest are hating on it. Who knows maybe they would see the appeal of this wonderful genre if they were given a chance to play like a normal player instead of a masochist purist :P
You’re right. As much as I wish these things could be handled entirely organically so they run on their own aka so you don’t have to carefully construct each situation by-hand, I think we’re still far from away. I did like how in, for example, MGS2 a guard would retreat after spotting you and would call for reinforcements as well as report your known location. This sets the entire base on red alert and you’re in trouble as guards are now systematically through each room as a squad. I always considered Commandos-like games their own thing that could seamlessly combine everything you mentioned for a unique experience whilst more focused stealth games always play up the sneaking around aspect more. It really just makes me wish those games would make a bigger comeback. :(
If they’ve built co-op in such a way than missions should’ve perhaps been fragmented different to allow for more regular auto saves. And yes, bosses and stealth don’t really mix unless we’re talking about something like who can outstealth who kind of deal. Are bosses like that in Styx or do you have to resort to fighting when rest of the game can be handled by avoiding everyone? Because that’s just a bad design decision. My point was you cannot really have identical singleplayer experience if you’re going with co-op so it should be adjusted in some form.
After you and Joe mentioned Chaos Theory, I couldn’t help myself and started playing it again yesterday. AI of this game which was made in 2005 is much more competent than Deus Ex Mankind Divided as well as other “stealth” games. Guards have peripheral vision (unless you are in total darkness then they can’t see you) and THEY LOOK UP. Yes they still have their exploits as they aren’t 100% competent and this game is more easygoing than the first Splinter Cell but regardless of that it is still a much more capable AI. All the little key details like having the option to open doors stealthily, adjusting the speed of your movements even if you crouch and all these speeds having their own noise as well as other features made me realise how extremely we’ve been spoiled and spoonfed by recent games.
I get why things are more simple nowadays I really do and well I may even support it. I am not as hardcore as I was before. Time is changing, generation is changing, the way the world work is changing (so much work, no time for yourself); my attention span, reflexes and reaction times are decreasing with each passing year. But I’m also seeing successful games like Dark Souls etc which require a lot of finesse and patience similar to what stealth games require. What I am aiming at is that there is a game that targets a very specific type of gamers. I get why they are making stealth more mainstream and they add action so people won’t get stuck etc but why shouldn’t stealth also have that one game that will satisfy another very specific type of gamers? Styx tries to be that game but succeeds only to a degree though.
Boss fights are not well made and they have got nothing to do with stealth. The two bosses in game are all about precise timing and intricate parkouring. Both bosses are aware of where you are at all times and they direct their attacks at your exact location. Stealth is not involved in any shape or form.
Taken from my review. Styx Master of Shadows final boss fight was different. It was a cat and mouse chase between a bunch of invisible enemies and you had to stealth it to get ghost bonus. It was a very tense and exhilarating encounter. I read on forums that people hated that and thought Shards of Darkness bosses were better. I think the exact opposite. However if I was given a chance I’d still remove all 3 boss fights :D (although the final boss fight in Styx Master of Shadows is actually a very climactic moment so it worked very well!).
That whole “adjust movement speed with the mouse wheel” is so damn brilliant it boggles my mind more games never adopted it. Yeah sure, on gamepads you can just adjust the tilt of your analog stick, but it’s not the same and you have to constantly be aware of it as you may physically screw up on your end and push it too far. I really like how Splinter Cell had things like that.
I think a lot of the problem with bosses is people still see them as just obstacles you need to overcome through brute force and that’s something that doesn’t gel well with stealth games. I think even something like Commandos final boss just came down to 1v1 while you were hiding behind objects and timing when Cooper should shoot. It’s just plain weird how people get into stealth games for the wrong idea and then expect the genre to bend backwards for them, but that’s a rant for another time that infects more than just this genre in particular.
That should be like a genre defining feature making all other stealth games also include it in their games. I was so overwhelmed by happiness and satisfaction when I played that very first mission in Chaos Theory. I had even forgotten it, it’s been ages since I played it so I forgot all those amazing moments.
You are fighting bosses in Styx games, just not head on. There are certain actions you must carry out that either weaken (and eventually kill) like in 1st encounter or directly kill the boss like in 2nd encounter. In order to do these things you generally need to parkour around the area to find the locations you need to go to while avoiding on-point direct attacks from bosses with right timing.
You are right with your last statement :)
That Lighthouse mission in Chaos Theory is insane in how much tech it has on display. From accounting for lightning flash which operates as dynamic lighting and using it to cover up loud noises, to just how good the game looks despite a very clay-like look to characters. Also nothing like opening a tent flap with your knife. :)
I’m really glad to hear new Styx reviews seem to positive and criticism really appears to be directed towards “it’s a stealth game, an honest to god real one… so it doesn’t play itself or something”. I’ve come to terms we’ll probably never get a big budget stealth game, but it makes the revival of mid-size projects all the more important and beneficent. Good stuff.
After being screwed over by AAA companies so many times, I actually prefer the Indie developers.
Ghost of a Tale is a very strong upcoming contender for that mid-sized budget project. I don’t really know if this game will be pure stealth but Tilo is a tiny mouse and the enemies are a lot taller than him. I also didn’t run into any weapons when I watched gameplays, I only saw Tilo carry a fiddle (or I think it’s a fiddle) :) I don’t think it’ll be pure stealth though. People mention enemies being dumb, how you can easily outrun them and that stealth is way too easy :/
I still have this strong urge to buy it in its early access form just to support to developers though. Their last update was only 5 days ago, they are very transparent about the entire development process.
I agree with everything you said about Splinter Cell :) That game is a masterpiece for me.
I’m starting to think tabs are the way forward to help reduce that wall of text feeling my posts inspire as your post does break it up very nicely!
Oh dear the death mocking reminds me of Batman Arkham Asylum but at least they were the villains, I can’t imagine how annoying it must be to have the protagonist berating you! I still need to play Master of Shadows but you’ve given me the impression that for the most part if I enjoy the first game I’ll have fun with the second. Congats on the 94%!
I really don’t think there is anything wrong with walls of texts. I enjoy reading them. But I’ve read so many comments on BLAEO about people not wanting to see them as it makes scrolling down harder and on another website I frequented before I was “infamous” for it and some people harshly criticised me. So when all those annoying HTMLs don’t work, I just lose every will to post anything because I don’t understand how those codes work together and why it doesn’t function even when I use working templates. I don’t wanna write updates on a regular basis. I write when I feel motivated and by then I have a lot of progress done so naturally it’ll be a wall of text.
That’s why I’m trying to be so positive to anyone who mentions their post looking bland or not pretty etc. I don’t want anyone else to get so lost in a bunch of code that is very hard to understand and rather time consuming that they won’t want to write updates.
If you enjoy the first game, you will definitely enjoy the second. The first game is harder and longer than the second. Apart from the crafting system, a few more new skills and changeable equipment whose options are limited to 2-3 or so gameplay is the same between two games. But it’s a very punishing pure stealth game, that means you can’t kill your way out if you get stuck. Stealth is mandatory. I honestly hope you like it because I think it’s an extremely valuable gem for true stealth fans.
Yeah I can understand where they’re coming from, I suppose once you’ve put together one post using HTML you can just try and copy that template for future posts. I appreciate your support however as it is nice to just be able to type away without the hassle but I’ll try to do something different in the future if I can figure something out that works, just something simple… lol
Haha well I had you down as a true stealth fan since you recommended the pacifist run in my Deus Ex Human Revolution post a while ago, so praise towards Styx means a lot. I have bought a few more stealth focused games recently like the Hitman games and Tom Clancy’s Chaos Theory as it is definitely a genre I want to explore much more!
since you recommended the pacifist run in my Deus Ex Human Revolution post a while ago
Wow I really don’t remember that :O I usually don’t try to affect the way people play their games. I can’t believe myself :D
When you said Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory my heart stopped. That is considered one of the best stealth games of all time next to Thief series. While I acknowledge that Chaos Theory is legendary and superior to other Splinter Cell games, the first Splinter Cell game is still my favourite because it’s the first stealth game I’ve finished in my life and I was like 8-9 years old. So there is a deep emotional attachment :D I really should replay them!
I strongly recommend the latest HITMAN game once you catch it at a good price, it’s definitely the best in the series. After that Blood Money is my most favourite but not being able to save a game and then quit to return playing later really bothered me. I am known to take frequent breaks for a lot of reasons and this might include quitting the game meanwhile. It doesn’t save your in-mission progress, you have to start the mission from the beginning. You can save and reload while in-game but can’t return to your mission progress if you quit the game. So a mission must be finished in one sitting to save your progress for good to unlock the next mission then you can safely quit.
Okay maybe recommending wasn’t the right word, perhaps endorsing it would be better :P Oh wow okay I didn’t realise Chaos Theory was meant to be that good, I have played a Splinter Cell game before but it was a long while ago and I can’t actually remember which one it was, maybe it was the first one, my dad got a disc of it bundled with some hardware and I remember trying to play it with no idea what I was doing… I’ll keep that in mind, seems a bit odd about quitting and not being able to reload, I’m guessing the levels are hopefully less than an hour each?
Haha yea, I checked that post. I guess I got the impression that you were gonna do a pacifist run for the achievement as you mentioned getting some kills in prologue which voided the achievement. So I wished you good luck on it :D Sorry for not remembering it :)
I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy Chaos Theory. I feel extremely nostalgic now, I have the urge to just give up on backlog and replay it :D
Depending on the way you play, it can take longer than an hour. But not that long.
Congrats on 100%, and “38 of 38 in 38” :D Nice, nice :)
Somehow, I’m getting the feeling that the first Styx is a better game than the second one. That’s a bummer, I was so hyped about Shards of Darkness.
I swear 38 achievements in 38 hours was a coincidence :)
I believe the first Styx game was more challenging and satisfying. 2nd game is just as good, don’t lose your hype it wasn’t disappointing at all except the AI :) But we are used to bad AI aren’t we? :P
Oh I’m not one to complain about forgiving AI hehe, but the boss fights + lack of save slots… I’m afraid I lack the patience required for that :D
Lack of manual save slots, while being annoying, is not game breaking at all. There are 10 missions so you can reserve one spot for each mission and once you pass a mission you can overwrite that save with another one. Before starting my speedrun I had one manual save in each mission, after my speedrun I had like all 8 saves in last 4 missions, one was in hideout, and one was in mission 4.
I am not defending this decision at all, I was pretty shocked when I received an error for reaching the maximum limit for manual save slots when I tried to save for the 11th time. But 3 quick saves and multiple auto saves help a lot and that manual save limit is in no way making the game any less enjoyable in my opinion.
If you don’t mind being spoiled I am willing to send you video references for the 2 boss fights. Of course videos make them seem easy and if you play the game soon you’ll already know what to do so they won’t be as frustrating as they would be for a first timer. But still if the alternative is not buying the game and not supporting the developers at all, I’d happily do anything I can to make you reconsider as I know you love stealth games and these developers really need the support especially from us stealth fans for making such a niche game like this despite all its shortcomings :)
No worries, I will play the game when I get my hands on it (which won’t be anytime soon because money) ;) But when I do get to play it, I’ll make sure to ask you for those reference videos, will need all the help :D
I didn’t read your post, but it looks awesome
keep it going
I’m glad you had fun (Idk if you had fun since I didn’t read it but I’m gonna assume you had an amazing time cause it’s a stealth game and you clearly enjoy all of them)
This comment was deleted over 7 years ago.
did they get rid of those annoying enemies that looked like bugs?
limited saves….. is that related to the difficulty setting or global? i think i wouldn’t play it if i can’t get rid of it :|
No, Roabies are in about 3 missions and they actually serve a purpose. Since they are pretty easy to avoid they don’t pose any problems. The real problem is the dwarves who can smell you even from inside buildings when you are outside or a floor below/above where you are.
It is not related to the difficulty. The highest difficulty “Master” removes player saves altogether so you have to rely on automatic saves exclusively. Easiest difficulty manual save limit is 10 but this is really not a big problem as you have 3 quick saves and multiple automatic saves to fall back on in addition to the manual saves. While I don’t understand the decision to limit manual saves like that, it is not hard to manage at all. This is coming from someone who had like 100 manual saves in first Dishonored game. Latest HITMAN limits it to 8 so I’ve gotten used to the whole thing anyway.
Woho - to 94%!
Good luck for your 170th game completion ;)
I guess your friends turned out to be REALLY annoying to give you a (for you) great game. Man, what kind of friends are that? :D
But glad you enjoyed it. I confess though, I didn’t read your review, since I’m not going to play Styx. Dunno why but I just feel like it’s not my game o.o
Anyway. As long as you had fun, that’s all that counts :)
What’s your next game?
Pixel Puzzles 2 Birds most likely.
Ah, them birdies worked nicely :)
Have fun with it ;)