Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 6/10
- Offline: 33/33 [1000]
- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time to 1000: 30-40 Hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1 [Chapter Select Available]
- Missable achievements: None
- Does difficulty affect achievements: No
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed: No
Introduction:
Styx: Master of Shadows, the infiltration-based stealth title, is an insanely awesome game developed by Cyanide Studios for eighth-gen platforms. The game is a prequel to Of Orcs and Men and follows the story of a goblin named Styx as he infiltrates the Tower of Akenash in an attempt to steal the heart of a World-Tree. Unlike most stealth games today, Styx: Master of Shadows focuses solely on stealth; thus, an action approach to the gameplay is never a proper solution. As a master of sneak, thievery, and murder, you’ll be guiding Styx through eight story missions using his skills, equipment, and arcane abilities of amber. The game features a total of thirty-three achievements that cover the basics of story progression, as well as unlocking all of Styx’s abilities, grabbing collectibles, completing every mission without alerting any enemies, and a few other miscellaneous tasks. In order to gain the full completion in Styx: Master of Shadows, you will need to dedicate anywhere from eighteen or more hours with the narrative.
Story Playthrough & Miscellaneous Tasks:
When you begin the game, go ahead and choose whichever difficulty level suits your desires. In total, the main storyline is comprised of an introduction and seven missions. Each mission is broken down into three or four chapters; or as the game calls them, zones. Completing the introduction mission will net you the "Reminiscences" achievement, while the remainder of the seven missions unlock the following: "Akenash’s Atrium", "Master key", "Deliverance", "The creator", "The architect", "Conflagration", and "Renaissance".
During this initial playthrough, you will also be naturally working towards a number of miscellaneous achievements. For example, drinking vials of amber will unlock "Unquenched thirst", while extinguishing torches, unlocking doors, and picking pockets will unlock "Born in the shadow", "Passkey", and "Sticky-fingered" respectively. You will also be utilizing Styx’s cloning ability often throughout each mission, so "Army of clones" and "Expendable" will unlock naturally for creating goblin clones and allowing them to die.
As for "Sudden silence", this will unlock for performing a number of muffled kills on guards while "Sharshooter" is obtainable for achieving throwing knife kills. Finally, "Indigestion" will unlock after following a shorty tutorial in the first mission and "Serial killer" will unlock once two-hundred enemies are eliminated. Though the remainder of the miscellaneous tasks should come naturally, you may need to refer to the guide below in order to understand how they are accomplished. These achievements are "Watch out below!", "Goblin snack" and "Music lover".
Skill-Related Tasks:
There a number of achievements related to certain methods of killing enemy guards. Take note that these are not obtainable unless you unlock a specific skill from one of Styx’s talent trees. With that said, you will need to invest in the Kill Tree to work on "Goblin-tossing" and "Wrong turn". While it is not completely necessary, you should try to avoid "Dose of his own medicine" until you purchase the Expert Duelist skill in the Agility Tree. "Outstanding duelist" will come naturally over the course of your playthrough though the aforementioned skill will definitely help here as well. The achievements of "Dodge this", "Suicide mission", and "Like looking through a wall" will require you to invest in nearly all the skills of the Cloning Tree so keep that in mind as you progress through the game. Lastly, "Great power…" will be one of the last achievements you obtain, as it requires you to unlock all twenty-eight skills in the game.
Collectibles:
During your playthrough, you will want to focus your attention on the hunting down the Relics in each mission. These ancient artifacts act as the game's collectibles and there is only one Relic per level. Given their well-hidden locations, you will need to utilize the in-game clue page and explore the Relic's zone thoroughly in order to find them. Collecting all eight Relics will unlock the "My precious" achievement.
Insignia of the Shadow – Mission Replay:
After your initial playthrough of the storyline and once all the other miscellaneous and skill related achievements are mostly out of the way, you will need to dedicate some time to each and every mission once more. The reason for this is because in order to obtain the "Unseen, unknown" achievement, you have to unlock the Insignia of the Shadow for every mission. This is only rewarded upon successfully completing each zone of a mission without raising any alerts (otherwise known as avoiding detection). This will prove to be difficult, but if you’ve waited until now to work on it, you should most likely have most of the skills unlocked which will prove beneficial. During this time, you should also focus on "Tidy up your room!" and "Pretentious". The former asks you to complete an entire mission without any bodies being found; essentially falling parallel with no alerts/detection. The later achievement will require you to complete an entire mission without using any items; this includes balls of sand, throwing knifes, or vials of any kind.
Mop-Up:
If you happened to miss any of the Relics, you can always replay individual mission via the notebook inside the hideout. Moreover, if you still need to work towards unlocking some of the miscellaneous achievements, don’t hesitate in loading up missions that will suit these achievement needs. It is also worth noting that mostly all the miscellaneous tasks - such as extinguishing torches, picking pockets, unlocking doors, etc. – are cumulative and can be “grinded out” by manipulating the manual save feature in the Pause Menu if deemed necessary.
Conclusion:
Overall, Styx: Master of Shadows is a sleeper hit. While this title may only appeal to hardcore stealth fans, given the lack of an optional action-oriented gameplay approach, the goblin’s adventures throughout the Tower of Akenash prove to be an enjoyable experience. The achievement list is pretty straightforward; the only difficult encounters you will find are completing the levels without any alerts and purchasing all the skills. Between the smooth controls, a beautifully designed steampunk world, and the option to upgrade Styx’s skills through his different talent trees, there’s a good reason why every stealth fan should grab this title.
[XBA would like to thank BiggD for this roadmap]