Where It Fits in the Lore

Who remembers the 2014 Xbox 360 tactical RPG Of Orcs and Men? Probably not many. The Styx games are more widely known, mostly because of the steep discounts and cheep point of entry. Styx: Blades of Greed ties directly into the overlooked tactical title that started it all, serving as a prequel that sets up the Great War between humans and goblins. It also explores the origins of the Black Hand, the mercenary group Styx belonged to in Of Orcs and Men. With its position bridging the older game and the more recent Styx titles, Blades of Greed feels like an ideal jumping-on point for newcomers.

Single-Player Stealth Action-Adventure

Unlike the tactical RPG gameplay from Of Orcs and Men, Styx sticks closely to the stealth-action formula fans expect from the series. This new entry notably drops the co-op mode that divided players in Styx: Shards of Darkness. This time around, the experience is entirely single-player, allowing the developers to laser-focus on tighter level design and more polished stealth mechanics.

Core Hook: Hunting Quartz

As a persecuted goblin (the only one who speaks), Styx now makes his living hunting Quartz, a powerful new energy resource. This time, he’s running the operation himself, commanding a crew aboard a zeppelin. Quartz fuels everything from towering golems to flying airships, and multiple factions are battling to control it. The conflict over Quartz isn’t just a narrative conceit though, it directly feeds into the game’s core systems and progression.

New Quartz Powers

Quartz introduces a brand-new suite of abilities that Styx can wield across his high-flying journey. In fact, fans of Dishonored might feel right at home here. You’ve got powers like Mind Control, which lets Styx briefly possess enemies, and Time Shift, which slows or accelerates time so you can slip through patrol routes. Flux Blast offers a more aggressive option, unleashing a shockwave that knocks enemies off their feet. Quartz abilities form just a half of the game’s upgrade system.

Cloning and Invisibility Return

The other half of Styx’s abilities come from the stealth-minded Amber skills. These include returning fan-favorites like invisibility and cloning, which lean more toward defensive and evasive playstyles compared to the offense-oriented Quartz abilities. Clone Decoy is a tad different compared to previous titles since you cannot directly pilot clones this time. The advantage is their upgradability.

Two-Track Progression

Skills in Blades of Greed aren’t static. The game features a branching, two-track skill tree giving you the option to invest in either Amber stealth abilities or aggressive Quartz powers. Your choices shape how Styx handles encounters. For example, clone-related upgrades allow you to deploy multiple decoys, which can be invaluable for slipping past heavily guarded patrols.

Crafting

Skills aren’t the only trick up Styx’ goblin sleeve; he’s also a cunning trapmaster who knows how to craft. Looting is something goblins are particularly good at and you’ll be doing much of that within the more open-ended environments. Collected materials can be used to craft temporary weapons, potions, and traps on the fly. These range from noise-making whistles and glass bottles to acid used to quickly dispose bodies. Crafting is fast and seamless, aided by automatic loot pickups.

Vertical Environments

Environments aren’t just bigger for the sake of loot though, they also serve to vary up the terrain. The game has a notable vertical element complimenting the stealth/action gameplay. Styx can climb structures and parkour across rooftops with leaps and slides, and performing kills from behind is more satisfying due to the multi-angle sandbox design. There’s some exciting tools that make traversal across the larger world more fun too, as we’ll get into shortly.

More Progression Details

These larger environments support a new platformer-inspired structure, which has me pretty excited. As you progress, you’ll unlock tools that open up new routes and shortcuts. To keep backtracking manageable, fast-travel points are scattered throughout the world in addition to frequent respawn points.

Glider and Grappling Hook

Traversal gets a major upgrade thanks to new tools. Styx can now glide across gaps using a hang glider, reaching new areas and striking enemies from above. A grappling hook allows him to zip instantly to ledges and rooftops, while climbing claws help scale steep, often rugged, walls.

Three Large Districts

Rather than a fully open world, Blades of Greed is divided into three open-ended districts. The Wall is an imposing borderland tower separating humans from the rest of the world and features some of the game’s most vertigo-inducing heights. Turquoise Dawn is a dense jungle homeland of the orcs, while Akenash offers a more fantastical, Tolkien-inspired aesthetic as the elven capital.

Zeppelin Hub

Aside from fast-travel points, you can access regions via Styx’s own personal zeppelin. The zeppelin serves as the mobile hub of the game, housing your delinquent crew of Quartz thieves with Styx at the helm. My favorite aspect of the zeppelin is that it acts as the place of conversation for all the party members. I’m not expecting the Normandy from Mass Effect here, but the zeppelin serves a similar purpose. My hopes weren’t let down when I heard the crew members speak. Your elf companion Djarak is voiced by the same actor who played Balthier in Final Fantasy XII, a fitting casting choice considering they’re both sky pirates in their respective games. Let’s just hope the dialogue writing matches the potential and we get some cool backstories and companion quests for Styx’s crew.

Tone

It’s perhaps worth pointing out that Styx himself is a very chatty goblin. In fact, he talks to himself more than he does to his crewmates throughout the game. Much of the game’s humor is filtered through his monologues and quippy observations. Thankfully, the developers have confirmed that the very repetitive death screens from Shards of Darkness are gone, replaced by contextual ragdoll animations. Numerous words are heard in the short demo alone, so if you’re averse to heavy swearing, steer clear, and if you want something with more of an edge, you’re in the right place.

Length

According to the developers, a casual playthrough clocks in at around 20 hours. Completionists and explorers can expect to spend significantly more time uncovering secrets and side activities scattered throughout the districts.

Price and Editions

For a semi-open-world platformer offering over 20 hours of content, the price is appealing. Styx: Blades of Greed retails for $39.99 on PC and $49.99 on consoles. Still not sure if it’s for you? Well, there’s a 30-minute demo available, and best of all, your progress carries over to the full game. For fans who want early access and extra bonuses, the Quartz Edition costs $10 more and includes 48-hour early access, skins, weapons, and some bonus talent points to spend on your Quartz thievery antics.

Grand Theft Auto VI

Numerous leaks and delays – plus a sprinkling of studio controversy – has made the thirteen-year gap between GTA V’s eternal sunset and Rockstar’s return to Vice City feel more agonising than it arguably should. Bottom line: Grand Theft Auto VI is coming, and while the November 26 window doesn’t feel airtight, one thing you can be sure of is GTA VI’s release will be a seismic cultural event, matched only by the developer’s determination to unleash the most ambitious open world game ever.

Resident Evil: Requiem

The latest instalment in the survival horror series plucks you out of Village’s folkloric nightmare and into the ruinous Raccoon City as strange deaths linked to the original outbreak begin surfacing. Eschewing the action of recent entries for shuffling dread, you’ll command FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, using brainpower to counteract her vulnerability and stay out the clutches of a terrifying, wall-scrambling stalker. Accompanying her investigation is everybody’s favourite rookie cop Leon Kennedy, further suggesting RE: Requiem will honour its roots as much as lean into modern sensibilities.

Nioh 3

Shaking up the dark fantasy action-RPG series in meaningful ways, Nioh 3 is much more than a continuation of its predecessor’s success. Dual Samurai and Ninja playstyles headline the threequel’s innovations, but expansive build identity, open-ended exploration, and a suite of new weapons and abilities ensure player choice is firmly the focus. Balancing surgical combat precision with Ki management and an overstuffed inventory still prevail, yet this time there’re opportunities for self-expression unlike anything the series has seen before.

Forza Horizon 6

The Horizon community’s most-requested locale is finally happening – Forza Horizon 6 is primed to burn rubber in the land of the rising sun. From twisting metropolises of Tokyo, to cherry blossom serenity of coastal and mountain passes, Horizon 6 might well end up as the most visually arresting entry in the open-world racing series to date. Chuck in authentic JDM car culture, multi-timbral sound design, and Playground’s knack for mixing realistic car handling with arcade-style accessibility, and the horizon’s bright for Forza fans.

Pathologic 3

Dr Daniil Dankovsky returns in the conclusion to Ice-Pick Lodge’s surreal, disturbing trilogy, where sickness, superstition, and moral compromise permeates the fog of a plague-ridden town. If you’re not yet a fan, Pathologic 3’s blend of survival, medical simulation, time travel, and mayoral management might be too dense to parse, but for veterans: this is the appeal. The series’ dream logic is its signature, with Pathologic 3 set to lean harder into oppression, atmosphere, and philosophical identity than ever before.

Control Resonant

Remedy’s Control Resonant expands the Federal Bureau of Control’s strange universe with more mind-warping, paranormal, architecture-shifting action. Compared to 2019’s original, Resonant promises larger-scale encounters, deeper powers, and a more labyrinthine narrative to showcase Remedy’s story-telling prowess in the wake of, uh, Alan Wake 2. Expectations here are huge. If Control laid the foundation, Resonant looks ready to build an entire supernatural mythology on top of it.

Subnautica 2

Prepare to plunge back into the depths of an alien ocean world in Subnautica 2, where open-world survival, subaquatic base-building, and creature discovery return alongside expanded co-op features. Still, the slow, bubbling dread of an unexplored, oceanic expanse is the main draw, where risk burdens every expedition. However, while slated for 2026 this sequel has been surrounded by controversy, with messy legal drama between publisher and original developers clouding what is undeniably a solid vision.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 4

Dawn of War 4 marks the long-awaited return of one of RTS gaming’s biggest names. Expect strategic depth to be reinstated, with renewed focus on base building, resource control, and the same brutal, large-scale warfare on which DoW 1 and 2 were renowned. The challenge for King Art Games will be to balance Dawn of War’s classic identity with modern, strategy-sim expectations. If Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 4 can recapture the series’ intensity whilst usurping 3’s experiments, then this could end up a flagship RTS title for years to come.

RIDE 6

RIDE 6 continues Milestone’s push towards authentic superbike racing, yet this time the two-wheel arcade-sim speeds beyond asphalt to take in off-road riding. With an expanded roster of real-world machines, improved handling models, and a focus on mechanical accuracy bordering on obsessiveness, RIDE 6 is well-placed to continue the series’ recent trend of meaningful iteration.   

Code Vein II

Code Vein II revives Bandai Namco’s anime-infused Soulslike, with newfound combat fluidity and opportunity for self-expression layering over the original’s deep character customisation and build flexibility. The sequel’s big change is the switch to AI companions in place of real-life co-op partners, but the developers have been careful to ensure this deviation lands with impact – picking your AI partner is set to be as critical for success as choosing your favourite blade.

Outward 2

Outward 2 is shaping up to build on the “no easy mode” challenge that made its predecessor a cult favourite. You’ll once again juggle hunger, fatigue, inclement weather, and gear condition in a harsh world that refuses to bend. And, for this sequel, you should expect a smoother, more fluid combat system with expanded arsenal of weaponry, more deliberate animations and combat manoeuvres, and a higher production value story. Through exploration without map markers, RPG-like character backgrounds, and refreshed lore, Outward 2 promises immersion far beyond the achievements of its forebearer too.

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve

Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve brings the long-running aerial combat series back to the skies, with cinematic storytelling, high-octane dogfights, and a new geopolitical drama set in the Strangereal universe to unpack. Be prepared for realistic cloudscapes and missile-dodging acrobatics, all fed through a seamless mix of arcade-style accessibility and flight-sim-like nuance. Elsewhere, narrative has always been a major appeal in the Ace Combat series; here, flying as a symbol of hope – the eponymous “Wings of Theve” – means that, in 8, the stakes will be higher than ever.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Beyond the Horizon

The next entry in Falcom’s legendary RPG series serves up a climactic finale for the Zemurian continent arc, bringing together a large cast of characters from the Trails universe to prove once again the series has the most inter-connected universe in all of gaming. Long-time devotees can expect deep turn-based battling, multi-layered character development, and dense world-building, while soaking in new regions and political intrigue. Newcomers could feel overwhelmed, but for veterans this is unmissable.

Styx: Blades of Greed

The stealth-action series is returning, once again putting you in command of sarcastic goblin thief Styx as he navigates dark fantasy kingdoms designed with newfound verticality, wields new mind control and time-shifting powers, and builds a crew ready to infiltrate a range of strongholds. The goal here is creativity; with an expanded toolkit of gadgets, traps, and manoeuvres, Blades of Greed pushes you to improvise on your path to evasion.

Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf

Planet of Lana II follows the picturesque puzzle-platformer with another hand-painted odyssey through alien-infested verdance. The original’s gentle pacing, serene environments, and companion-based puzzling struck a chord with players which the sequel is set to expand upon, all while retaining the emotional, cinematic tone. With artistry at the forefront of the experience, Planet of Lana II’s more diverse biomes, more impactful narrative, and evolved abilities for your cute companion Mui ensure Children of the Leaf will be a hit.