Our favorite foul-mouthed, amber-addicted goblin is officially back after a grueling nine-year hiatus. Cyanide Studio and Nacon finally released Styx: Blades of Greed this week, and it’s exactly the kind of gritty, uncompromising sneak-em-up that the genre has been missing. While other franchises are busy turning their assassins into all-out brawlers, Styx remains committed to the shadows, the ledge-kills, and the occasional well-timed insult. It’s a game that doesn’t just want you to hide; it wants you to be a complete and utter nuisance to the world around you.
Breaking the Linear Chains for a Greedier Sandbox
The first thing you’ll notice when you boot up Blades of Greed is that the scope has exploded. We aren’t just crawling through the narrow corridors of the Tower of Akenash anymore. Instead, the game pivots toward a semi-open world structure across the Iserian Continent. You’ve got three massive hubs to explore: The Wall, a dizzying urban sprawl that separates the human kingdoms; the swampy orc village of Turquoise Dawn; and the hauntingly familiar ruins of Akenash.
The scale here is genuinely impressive, especially the verticality. Cyanide clearly realized that a goblin’s best friend is a high ceiling and a dark rafter. You’ll spend half your time looking up, trying to figure out how to reach a dangling Quartz deposit or a hidden balcony. These maps feel like Metroidvania sandboxes where your progress is gated not just by story beats, but by your own ingenuity and the gadgets you’ve managed to scavenge. It’s a refreshing change of pace that makes exploration feel like a puzzle rather than a chore.
New Toys for a Very Old Goblin
To navigate these massive new playgrounds, Styx has upgraded his toolkit in some pretty wild ways. The standout addition is the grappling hook, which completely redefines how you approach an objective. In previous games, you had to be meticulous about finding every handhold, but now you can zip up to a vantage point in a heartbeat. It makes the traversal feel more fluid and predatory.
Then there is the glider, or paraglider, which is essentially a tattered piece of cloth that allows Styx to ride wind columns and cross massive gaps. Combined with new climbing claws for scaling sheer surfaces, our green anti-hero has never been more mobile. These tools don’t just make the game faster; they make the “stealth” part of the game more creative. You can drop from a glider, mid-air, right onto a guard’s shoulders, or use the hookshot to escape a sticky situation when the Inquisitor guards start closing in. It’s that “expressive stealth” that makes every successful mission feel like your own personal masterpiece of mischief.
The Shift from Amber to Quartz
In the lore of this world, Amber has always been the source of Styx’s magical mojo. But in Blades of Greed, there is a new substance in town: Quartz. This glowing blue resource is at the center of a brewing world war between the Humans, Elves, and Orcs, and naturally, Styx wants it all. Shifting the focus to Quartz isn’t just a narrative choice; it brings in a whole new suite of supernatural abilities.
You still have your classic Invisibility and the ability to spawn Clones (which you can now use as literal remote-control bombs if you spec into the right skills), but the Quartz powers add some serious spice. One ability allows you to “sync” with the environment to see enemy heartbeats through walls, while another lets you manipulate the physical properties of objects—like making a chandelier drop “accidentally” on a high-value target. The resource management is tighter this time around too, forcing you to choose between saving your Quartz for a big escape or burning it on a flashy assassination.
A Prequel that Connects the Dots
For the lore nerds out there, Blades of Greed is doing some heavy lifting for the wider Styx and Of Orcs and Men universe. The story follows Styx as he inadvertently helps form the Black Hand, the legendary mercenary group we see in the earlier games. It’s a classic “accidental hero” arc—or rather, “accidental anti-hero” arc—where Styx’s pure, unadulterated greed actually ends up shaping the history of the continent.
The writing remains as sharp as Styx’s dagger. The dark humor is everywhere, from the way Styx mocks the player when they die to the eavesdropped conversations between guards that reveal the petty politics of the Merchant Guild. He remains a character you love to hate; he’s selfish, he’s gross, and he’s incredibly charming in his own wretched way. It’s rare to see a game lean so hard into a protagonist who has zero interest in being a “good guy,” and it makes the narrative feel much more honest than your standard fantasy fare.
The Charm of the “AA” Experience
Look, let’s be real: Styx: Blades of Greed doesn’t have the infinite budget of a Rockstar or Ubisoft title. It’s built on Unreal Engine 5, and while the lighting and shadows are gorgeous—which is vital for a stealth game—you’ll definitely run into some of those classic Cyanide Studio quirks. The animations can be a bit stiff, and the AI sometimes has a “cone of vision” that is either hawk-eyed or legally blind with no in-between.
But honestly? That’s part of the charm. There is a “soul” to this game that you don’t find in corporate-polished blockbusters. It’s a “B-tier” gem in the best possible way—a focused, dedicated experience that knows exactly what its audience wants. It doesn’t care about being a live-service RPG or an open-world checklist simulator. It just wants to be the best stealth game on the market, and in many ways, it succeeds. The community has already been praising the “pure” nature of the gameplay, especially the way it punishes you for trying to fight your way out of trouble. If you’re spotted, you’re probably dead, and that’s exactly how it should be.
A Mandatory Heist for Your Library
Whether you’re a longtime fan who has been waiting since 2017 or a newcomer who just likes the idea of being a goblin assassin, Styx: Blades of Greed is a must-play. It’s available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, and the Quartz Edition even gives you some sweet legacy skins if you want to relive the Shards of Darkness glory days. It’s a game that rewards patience, punishes stupidity, and celebrates the sheer joy of being a little green menace. Just make sure you keep your shadows dark and your daggers sharp, because the Iserian Continent isn’t going to rob itself.
