Worth playing before the second or just skip

[Shlone]

I see both on sale, is the second an improvement or are both recommended?

[D'zen]

I'd say both are recommended, especially for the stealth games enjoyer. First one is much more dark/grim with a richer story, second offers much more freedom and is quite brighter thematically

[ed]

I would recommend playing the full series in release order: Of Orcs and Men, Styx Master of Shadows, Styx Shards of Darkness. In particular, Master of Shadows does not stop to explain things you're already supposed to know from OOAM, which I've seen confuse a lot of players over the years. (This is the main reason I also strongly advise people against playing the series in "chronological" order - that is, MOS, SOD, OOAM. The story was just not written to be best experienced that way.)

If Of Orcs and Men is not to your tastes gameplay-wise, I believe the story is still available edited together as a movie on youtube. Additionally, as much as I have a soft spot for OOAM, as the first game it did have the lowest budget and the English script is a bit clunky in places; it's probably best picked up on sale.

[Archdeacon Monseigneur]

i would argue master of shadows is actually BETTER than shards of darkness, but that's a matter of taste.

shards of darkness addressed a few issues that master of shadows suffered from, but the voice acting in shards of darkness is awful.
maybe its just because i prefer the funny/goofy sounding brit noises in master of shadows, but i tried shards of darkness several times and despite getting far in the game i never completed it because i keep getting disinterested every time i play it.

the atmosphere of "master of shadows" definitely much better than "shards of darkness" though.

[Bandy]

Originally posted by Archdeacon Monseigneur:

i would argue master of shadows is actually BETTER than shards of darkness, but that's a matter of taste.

Forum here seems quite reasonable, LOL, if asked to choose between Dark Souls 1, 2, or 3 it can get ugly...

Anyways, is there any reason not to pick up a game in Styx series based on modern hardware incompatibility? Like so many older games can be hamstrung.
Thank you!

EDIT: Styx bundle collection does NOT include 'Of Orcs and Men', but has 'Master of Shadows' and 'Shards...' so what's up with that bundle?

Of Orcs and Men is what Styx series spun off from perhaps? Sorry, I usually search myself but just not a good time.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/216910/Of_Orcs_And_Men/

[ed]

Originally posted by Bandy:

Of Orcs and Men is what Styx series spun off from perhaps?

Basically, yes. OOAM came out first, featuring Styx as sort of a secondary protagonist/sidekick/narrator to introduce him (and the setting) to the audience and lay the initial groundwork for everything.

I assume they only considered his solo games for the bundle, and also because it's a different genre (more of an RPG brawler with a simplistic stealth minigame component), but I do think it's a shame if they left the actual first game out completely in such a confusing way.

Anyway, to answer your other question, I am running Windows 10 and can still play all of them. I can't speak for Windows 11 or whether some brand new high-end hardware component might have an issue, but I would hope Win11 still has compatibility modes or something.

[Bankai9212]

To answer op, not really outside if one level callback to a character the games plot never mentions the events of the previous.

[Bandy]

Thanks ed!!!

[Sea Prince Gillywix]

Originally posted by Archdeacon Monseigneur:

i would argue master of shadows is actually BETTER than shards of darkness, but that's a matter of taste.

shards of darkness addressed a few issues that master of shadows suffered from, but the voice acting in shards of darkness is awful.
maybe its just because i prefer the funny/goofy sounding brit noises in master of shadows, but i tried shards of darkness several times and despite getting far in the game i never completed it because i keep getting disinterested every time i play it.

the atmosphere of "master of shadows" definitely much better than "shards of darkness" though.

What do you dislike about shards? I think it is an improvement from the first in almost every way except story. The themes are different but not inherently bad. Styx MOS is more medevil fantasy. The second game is more adventure fantasy.

[Archdeacon Monseigneur]

Originally posted by Sea Prince Gillywix:

Originally posted by Archdeacon Monseigneur:

i would argue master of shadows is actually BETTER than shards of darkness, but that's a matter of taste.

shards of darkness addressed a few issues that master of shadows suffered from, but the voice acting in shards of darkness is awful.
maybe its just because i prefer the funny/goofy sounding brit noises in master of shadows, but i tried shards of darkness several times and despite getting far in the game i never completed it because i keep getting disinterested every time i play it.

the atmosphere of "master of shadows" definitely much better than "shards of darkness" though.

What do you dislike about shards? I think it is an improvement from the first in almost every way except story. The themes are different but not inherently bad. Styx MOS is more medevil fantasy. The second game is more adventure fantasy.

well you basically pointed it out.
the atmosphere and story (and voice acting) in shards of darkness is inferior in my opinion.
the mechanics are better, but i really dislike most other things about it.
the fact i've played styx master of shadows through 4-5 times by now, and haven't even completed styx shards of darkness even once is a good indicator that something is wrong with the 2nd game in the genre.

don't get me wrong, i like some things about the 2nd game, such as the ability to switch between different sidegrades of daggers to fit better with playstyle. so i am not dunking on it by any means.
yet somehow it fails to maintain my interest.

[Captain Rhodes]

I like the first game more, though there are improvements to the second. Story is better in 1. If this series were divorced from good storytelling and character writing I can see why one might skip ahead for refined gameplay experiences, but it's not.

[StickyPawz]

Stronger story, more interesting levels and snarkier Styx in "Master of Shadows"

While still fun, "Shards of Darkness" felt less challenging overall. Never had to worry about supplies or hiding spots.