Nacon and Cyanide Studio dropped a 10-minute gameplay trailer for Styx: Blades of Greed on January 5, 2026, giving stealth game fans their first proper look at the goblin thief’s third adventure. The footage showcases vertical environments, new mobility tools like grappling hooks and gliders, and enough creative assassination options to make Dishonored fans jealous. With a February 19, 2026 release date for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, this could be the methodical stealth game that genre enthusiasts have been starving for.
Who Is Styx and Why Should You Care
For those unfamiliar with the series, Styx is a centuries-old goblin thief with a caustic sense of humor and zero moral compass who specializes in sneaking through high-fantasy environments to steal valuable resources. The franchise started with Styx: Master of Shadows in 2014, followed by Styx: Shards of Darkness in 2016. Both games earned respectable review scores in the upper 70s for delivering solid stealth gameplay even if they lacked the polish of AAA productions.
What makes Styx unique is that you play as a genuinely loathsome character who kills people for fun and profit. This isn’t some noble rogue with a heart of gold. Styx is an asshole, and the games lean into that identity with dark humor and brutal assassination animations. You’re tiny compared to human enemies, meaning you use goblin-sized tunnels, crawl through ventilation shafts, and exploit verticality to overcome encounters designed for much larger beings.
What the Gameplay Trailer Shows
The 10-minute showcase focuses heavily on The Wall, a sprawling human settlement built into the side of a mountain. The verticality is immediately striking, with buildings stacked upon buildings connected by precarious bridges, fires dotting the darkness below, and enough verticality to make parkour enthusiasts salivate. Styx can run, jump, double-jump, power slide under obstacles, and execute wall dashes that propel him upward along vertical surfaces.
Advanced movement options shown in later sections include a grappling hook for reaching distant ledges and a glider for descending safely from extreme heights. The combination creates a mobility toolkit that seems designed for players who love exploring every corner of a level to find optimal routes. Environmental interactions are emphasized throughout, with Styx extinguishing torches to create darkness, cutting chandelier chains to crush groups of guards, and using shadows to remain undetected.
Abilities That Actually Look Fun
Styx: Blades of Greed introduces an expanded ability system that goes beyond basic stealth mechanics. Invisibility activates by holding RT and pressing A, allowing temporary cloaking to slip past large enemy groups. Time Shift grants super-speed movement for rushing through dangerous areas. Mind Control lets you possess enemies and manipulate their actions. Flux Blast sends out energy waves that knock back multiple targets.
The Clone Decoy ability stands out as particularly versatile. You throw down a clone at a chosen location, and it makes noise to distract guards. With upgrades, multiple clones can remain active simultaneously, creating opportunities for complex diversions. Death animations convey brutal elegance, showing Styx grabbing enemies, forcing them to their knees, and ending them with quick throat stabs. It’s visceral without being gratuitously gory.
The Story Setup
Blades of Greed follows Styx as he leads a zeppelin crew in pursuit of Quartz, described as the most precious and dangerous resource in a world teetering on the brink of war between elves, humans, and orcs. The Inquisition is hunting Styx, adding pressure as players navigate between factions competing for control of this valuable material. The narrative framework provides motivation for visiting diverse locations while maintaining the series’ focus on moment-to-moment stealth gameplay over heavy story exposition.
Cyanide Studio emphasizes that freedom and creativity are central to the experience. Levels feature multiple approaches with optional routes, hidden passages, and environmental interactions that reward experimentation. The tutorial introduces mechanics gradually without overstaying its welcome, getting players into actual gameplay quickly rather than holding hands for hours.
What Preview Coverage Says
IGN spent approximately two hours with Styx: Blades of Greed and came away cautiously optimistic. The opening area demonstrates promise for creative stealth gameplay, rewarding patience and observation alongside twitch reflexes. The Wall environment showcases impressive environmental storytelling, with vantage points offering views of the sprawling settlement clinging to mountainsides.
However, significant questions remain. Enemy AI showed early inconsistencies during the preview session, with guards sometimes reacting unpredictably or failing to notice obvious threats. The climbing mechanics occasionally felt janky, with animations moving Styx up surfaces faster than seems physically plausible. Combat is deliberately frustrating because Styx isn’t designed for direct confrontation, making mistakes genuinely punishing.
Why This Matters for Stealth Fans
The stealth genre has been in a weird place for years. Dishonored 2 came out in 2016. Thief reboot disappointed in 2014. Hitman games deliver excellent assassination sandboxes but follow a different formula. Meanwhile, mainstream franchises like Assassin’s Creed evolved away from stealth toward action-adventure combat. Players who love methodical stealth where careful planning and observation matter more than reflexes have had slim pickings.
Styx: Blades of Greed aims to fill that void by refining the formula established in Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness. The focus on verticality, environmental interaction, and creative problem-solving through stealth abilities positions it as a spiritual successor to classic Thief games. Whether it achieves that ambition depends on execution, but the gameplay trailer suggests Cyanide Studio understands what made those classics work.
The Delay From 2025
Originally scheduled for late 2025, Styx: Blades of Greed was delayed to February 19, 2026 to give the development team time to polish everything and tweak mechanics that needed adjustment. This relatively brief delay suggests the game was mostly complete but required additional refinement. Given the technical rough edges mentioned in preview coverage, that extra development time seems justified.
PC Gamer’s Shaun Prescott, self-described as the publication’s number-one Styx guy, noted that both previous games earned review scores in the upper 70s, which sounds about right for games that deliver solid stealth mechanics without the production values of AAA blockbusters. If Blades of Greed can hit that same quality bar while addressing criticisms from the first two entries, it’ll be a success.
No Co-Op This Time
One notable omission is cooperative multiplayer, which was featured in Styx: Shards of Darkness. The second game offered a relatively uncommon co-op stealth experience that some players genuinely enjoyed despite the added complexity of designing levels around two players. Cyanide Studio removed co-op from Blades of Greed to focus on delivering a more unified single-player experience.
This decision makes sense from a design perspective. Co-op stealth requires fundamentally different level design and balancing compared to solo play. Given that true stealth games already target a niche audience, co-op stealth occupies an even smaller market segment. Sacrificing that feature to ensure the core single-player campaign reaches its potential is probably the right call, even if it disappoints players who loved teaming up with friends in Shards of Darkness.
Platform and Pricing
Styx: Blades of Greed launches February 19, 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. Pricing hasn’t been officially announced, but previous Styx games launched at budget prices significantly below typical AAA $70 releases. Expect something in the $30-40 range, positioning it as a mid-tier release that competes on gameplay depth rather than graphical fidelity.
The game targets current-generation hardware exclusively, skipping PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This allows Cyanide Studio to take advantage of faster load times, improved lighting, and more detailed environments without being held back by last-gen console limitations. The verticality showcased in The Wall would be significantly harder to achieve with the memory constraints of older hardware.
FAQs About Styx Blades of Greed
When does Styx: Blades of Greed release?
Styx: Blades of Greed launches February 19, 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. The game was originally scheduled for late 2025 but received a brief delay for additional polish.
Do I need to play previous Styx games first?
While Blades of Greed continues Styx’s story, each game features relatively standalone narratives focused more on gameplay than complex plots. New players can jump in without prior series knowledge, though returning fans will appreciate continuity.
What kind of stealth game is it?
Styx emphasizes methodical stealth inspired by classic Thief games and Dishonored. You’re rewarded for patience, observation, and creative problem-solving rather than run-and-gun action. Direct combat is deliberately difficult because Styx is physically weak.
Does Styx: Blades of Greed have co-op multiplayer?
No, Blades of Greed is single-player only. The previous game Shards of Darkness featured co-op, but Cyanide Studio removed it from the third entry to focus on delivering a more unified solo experience.
What new abilities does Styx have?
New abilities include Invisibility for temporary cloaking, Time Shift for super-speed movement, Mind Control for possessing enemies, Flux Blast for knockback attacks, and Clone Decoy for creating distractions. Grappling hooks and gliders expand mobility options.
Who developed Styx: Blades of Greed?
Cyanide Studio developed Blades of Greed, continuing their work on the Styx franchise. The game is published by Nacon and represents the third entry in the series after Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness.
What platforms is it available on?
The game releases exclusively on current-generation hardware: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. There are no PlayStation 4 or Xbox One versions.
How long is the campaign?
Campaign length hasn’t been officially announced, but previous Styx games offered 15-20 hours for completionist playthroughs with multiple approaches to each mission adding replay value.
Conclusion
Styx: Blades of Greed arrives at a perfect time for stealth game enthusiasts who’ve been waiting years for a proper successor to Dishonored and classic Thief titles. The 10-minute gameplay trailer demonstrates that Cyanide Studio understands what makes methodical stealth satisfying: verticality that rewards exploration, environmental interactions that encourage creativity, and abilities that open up multiple approach options rather than forcing single solutions. Whether the full game delivers on that promise depends on factors preview coverage couldn’t fully evaluate, like enemy AI consistency, narrative pacing, and technical polish. But the foundation looks solid, and for a genre that’s been starving for quality releases, even a good-not-great entry would be welcome. February 19 is close enough that the wait won’t be painful, and if you’ve never experienced Styx before, this third entry might be the perfect introduction to playing as gaming’s most loathsome goblin thief. Just don’t expect to feel good about the horrible things you’ll do to guards who are just trying to earn a paycheck.