Styx: Blades of Greed managed to impress with its stealth gameplay despite my attempts to do the opposite

“Just to let you know, I am not very good at these kinds of games.” “Don’t worry, I am sure you will be fine.” “No, really, I am not known for putting the b in subtle… I really struggle with stealth.” “Honestly, you will be fine.”

Plays game for roughly two minutes.

“Hmmm, yes, you do need some help. Why don’t we show you the tutorial.”

I am taking Styx: Blades of Greed out for a quick spin with the developers from Cyanide Studio. For those unfamiliar with the Styx series, they are infiltration games where you play as a caustic goblin by the name of, well, Styx. Blades of Greed is the upcoming third instalment, and the aim of the game is to be super stealthy while gathering Quartz, a powerful and precious substance. There is also a small matter of an impending war between elves, humans and orcs to take into account.

Blades of Greed all kicks off after the events of Styx: Shards of Darkness, though I am assured you don’t need to have played any of the previous entries to still enjoy the upcoming release. And, as you may have surmised already, I sucked at it. Like, I was truly terrible. But by golly did I have an absolute hoot playing it!

As soon as I booted up the game, I was transported to a dark, medieval fantasy world, lit with beacons and a looming sense of trepidation and hostility. I was at The Wall, an utterly brutal military stronghold. A vertical fortress of concrete, steel, and, most importantly for stealth-focused games like this, surveillance, with patrolling guards and aggressive gangs roaming the many levels. Oh yes, this place was full of obstacles-a-plenty, that would not be pleased to find a rogue goblin in their midst. My job was to scale that bad boy in order to convince a morally dubious sky pirate to join me, and allow me use of his zeppelin. How hard could it be?

Well, it turns out, really hard! So, I (along with the very patient developers who’d had to witness me falling off more than one ledge, casually setting myself on fire as I tried to hide behind a brazier, and getting stabbed in the gut after I decided to walk out into the open with some very misplaced confidence in my own abilities) made the brave decision to turn back from The Wall, and instead head to the mines, where I could learn the Blades of Greed ropes.

Here, I soon learned about staying in the dark, peering through doors, stepping on carpets to soften the sound of my footsteps, throwing sand to extinguish torches from afar, sliding so I could position myself to get that perfect, silent assassination in, and generally using the environment to my advantage. I became a shadow, at one with the night… until I crashed into a table and immediately alerted several guards to my presence. I then learned how to panic and swipe erratically with my blade. It got messy. I was very grateful for the quick save feature.

I was also very grateful for the many tricks Styx had tucked up his green sleeves. The Blades of Greed goblin will eventually get access to a number of powerful abilities, including mind control. Thanks to a little bit of behind the scenes magic from a developer sympathetic to my cause (shh, don’t tell), I was able to use this ability early, and got a guard to attack his fellow comrades on my behalf. Another power I was able to use during my preview turned Styx invisible. I made the most of this after I finally made it into a tavern within The Wall, and pulled a lever to cause a large, candle-adorned chandelier to crash down on the patrons’ heads without them ever seeing me. Trust me, they had it coming, and it was all very satisfying.

The other ability I got to briefly try out was Clone, which created an illusionary double of Styx that I could control. I got this little chap to bop off another guard and, again, it was very satisfying to watch all of this going down from my safe spot, which was me crouching and staying well hidden behind a large crate. Wait, was I starting to get the hang of this stealth thing?

Who am I kidding, no I absolutely was not, and soon I was once more fleeing from many angry pursuers looking to have my guts for garters. It was exhilarating.

After my time at The Wall, I visited Blades of Greed’s Turquoise Dawn. Unlike The Wall, this area was lush, full of greenery and life. It was still suuuuper hostile, though! Here, I was able to try out some of Styx’s equipment, including his grapple hook, which I used to make a speedy exit after for some reason thinking it was a good idea to pop out from an underground tunnel-like system right at the feet of a very heavily armed guard. Whoops!

I also got to try Styx’s glider, a new piece of kit for the series. I again deployed this to heroically flee, though this time from a rampant onslaught of advancing and absolutely massive (ok, they weren’t actually that big) bug-like creatures. Honestly, everything in this game wanted to kill me. And for the most part, everything was being quite successful. So, I ran like the wind as the army of many legs thundered behind me, took a bold leap off a verdant cliff edge and drifted my way down to safety… Before I turned right back around again, and started another ascent back towards that Quartz I so desperately wanted, but now with a different route in mind. Reader, I was hooked.

We don’t yet have a release date for Styx: Blades of Greed, though the developer has said it will be out this year. And when that time comes, let it be known I will absolutely be jumping (as quietly as possible, of course) back into the chaos and fray.

Things can only go well… right?!

This article is based on a trip to gamescom 2025. Nacon provided travel and accommodation.