The Temple of Styx is Meh?

[Crossgen]

The Temple of Styx has nice look and interesting enemies. I just find the type of combat required for that area feels like the opposite of what Hades has been training you for.

All 3 prior levels were about using space and speed to fight your enemies. The Temple of Styx changes that and while a part of me likes it, I still feel the Temple of Styx is a strange curve ball that's out of place with the rest of the experience.

And that tiny rat boss is hard to see!

Does anyone feel the same? Or do you disagree and why?

[TyresTyco]

Well.. it is some kind of storage. So most of it kinda makes sense. I however think they could nerf the hp of everything but the bomb things slightly. You can get overwhelmed if you lack the dmg, the pinpoint laser snake obilisk dudes also can ♥♥♥♥ you over very easily in one of the end areas there. And that feels cheap sometimes.

But like with everything. Certain combos makes it ofc far easier than without. Not even talking about the poison ticks. A mechanic like this in a time where you need every single hp is... (without getting full hp via fountain) is.. meh. At least there are some charon pools sometimes.. which yet again mostly work against you lol.

[Specific Beef]

I love the Temple of Styx because it often reveals surprising things about the build I've got, and there's this risk/reward thing about whether to clear every corridor or just the ones I need. On top of that, there's a strategic thing about the choices — I tend to pick the highest risk lanes because these almost never have the sack behind them, and I'm running a gamble that I can get through the whole lot inside one life in order to pick up the Satyr sack and health fountain as my last/close to last corridor. I like looking at my cash and figuring out whether it's worth doing another run to get a little bit more cash that might push me over the [x] Gold I need to get one more item from Charon.

But I really like the gameplay as well, and I think it is relevant to what I've been pushing towards since it will let you know if you've maximised your damage against multiple targets or not, and maximised your speed of damage application. It's either a challenge as you earn the finishing touches to your build, or it's a validation that becomes an outright treat as you add your final powers. I love it when I go into Styx with so much power that I'm clearing rooms with ease, and then pick up one more boon that tips me over the edge into full-blown devastation. With certain builds, you're clearing rooms in literally three seconds, and it's a great buzz. And even with that kind of power, there's usually a certain strategy to it where you dispense your attacks in a certain way that keeps you unscathed and stops the enemies from retaliating. And the final fights in each corridor are much more interesting to me than the other boss fights, since there's more environment to use and more accuracy required.

If the Temple wasn't there, I'd find the run quite boring by now, I think. Yes, it's a curveball in some ways, but the game needs one right there.

[eta] It's also an opportunity to prune your boons, of course; you can use the Sell stations from the end of Elysium onwards to allow you to change your build in the Styx Charon shop and whatever's in the corridor rewards. The opportunity to refine is very useful, particularly if your build took a left turn and now has boons you don't need or bonuses that don't apply anymore (if you took a replacement offer, for instance).

[Lord Nightcrest]

In one way, Styx is a strength/constitution (effective dps/effective hp) check. But in another way, it's also an intellect (correct choices) check.

Styx is the biome that makes you make the most informed decisions. What do I buy from Charon? Which rooms will I go to? Do I really need that +50HP/+200Gold from the elite room? Should I clear all rooms by going whatever-Elite-whatever-whatever-whatever or should try to minimize the damage I'll take by going Normal-N-N-E-E? etc., etc.

At the same time, if your damage is too low to clear fast or your defenses are too weak to negate enough damage, you will die to a Satyr dart or a Snake beam.

I like the overall idea of it and I think it serves a valid gameplay purpose.

At the same time, I really haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate that once you finish your first room, you more or less know if you will finish the run or not. Your very first experience in Styx is very telling of the final outcome of the run in its totality. The excitement ends there pretty much. Everything after your first room, feels like a chore (even the fight with Hades).

Styx needs something that can allow you to reroll the dice for one final time. The Anvil was a fantastic addition (although it would not be necessary if you were allowed to roll fated dice on the hammers).

Maybe an item that would force you to "forget" your boons from a specific god and get new boons from the remaining gods you have already encountered could add another layer of complexity and perhaps give you hope for an otherwise doomed run.

If not that, then maybe a hand mirror nicknamed "The mirror of almost Night", could be at the Charon's shop (or it could be an interactable on his counter) that could allow you to change 1 or 2 basic traits once before the last fight. For instance, change cast related traits if your build ended up needing them/not needing them, or changing fated rolls if you would end up having the wrong kind of rooms but you were fine with your build already.

TL;DR

Styx is good but it needs some additional chance-related run saving graces.

[squat_instructor]

as long as I get sack in rooms 2-3 it is fine as is

[Blink4aMoment]

I disagree I find it very rewarding to lose a run because the sack was in the final room, after finding 4 wells and re-rolling 2 without getting a touch of styx. Seriously though, I think the smaller rooms force you to actually dump out your damage in the most efficient way rather than kiting enemies. I also find the floor more interesting than just a shorter but more difficult elysium, which is likely what we would have gotten if styx wasn't in its current state. I also find the enemies in Styx to be far more fair enemies than the shades in Elysium as they have more obvious start ups and more time to play around. Half the time I get hit by a shade i disagree with it. They break this huge design choice where they just seem to be allowed to have a dramatically shorter start up animation to make them feel like your equal the first time you fight, they also just take more time to kill safely than ANY other enemy in the game. Like I have gotten through every floor other than elysium in 4 and 5 minutes with an average of 6. I ALWAYS take 6-7 (or more) minutes in Elysium and that time is pretty reliant on how often the game decides to throw shield Shades at me. I've counted ffs, and if you go there without aoe it's going to take even longer.

[Washing Machine]

Only thing I'm peeved about is that the sack apparently can't appear in the 1st room.