Styx: Master of Shadows is a decent stealth game and I'd rather be playing a decent stealth game than a decent game of any other genre. I did enjoy the sequel a bit more but I definitely did enjoy this one. I remember playing this about a year after it came out and dropped it pretty early and could not remember why. I had been meaning to go back to after liking the sequel and playing it again, I remember why I dropped it. The load times are atrocious. This has been alleviated a bit playing on the PS5's SSD but they're still not great and they were awful on the PS4. This is particularly annoying because I reload a lot in stealth games. It wasn't overly detrimental playing on PS5 but it was a stark reminder of my initial playthrough.

The level design is good, sometimes great, with a number of routes that makes finding optimal ways to stay in stealth feel satisfying. I had fun going for the speedrun insignia on the second playthrough of the levels having learnt the layout. The problem with the levels though is the amount of backtracking. You'll see some of the levels a couple of times. I would have taken a shorter game rather than that. I suppose different enemy placements can change a level but it didn't feel that significant. Even some of the collectibles were in the same place. I liked the traversal options even if the jumping can feel pretty inaccurate at times. The invisibility and cloning mechanics aren't complex but they're pretty fun to use at the right moments. Even with its problems, I do like this game and I would play a third one since they already improved with the second game.