General advice and interface | Tips Styx: Shards of Darkness Guide

Here's the small interface you'll be seeing during the game:

1. Amber bar - the power which Styx uses to clone himself or use invisibility;

2. Health bar - you can restore it using vials, but it will also regenerate itself at the beginning of a new mission (just as Amber);

3. Visibility meter - the darker it is, the better. It shows how visible is Styx due to lighting conditions. If the bar is bright, see the screenshot, enemies will be quicker to identify and detect him, even at long distance;

4. The icon shows the currently equipped item and its number in your equipment.

The game epmploys stealth and action game elements. Most of the locations on the map can be reached in many ways. Rooms can be entered through door, windows, attics, and even basements or small passages, often hidden under tables.

In most cases, the best route to the objective leads along the edge of the map. There's usually only few enemies guarding them. The second advantage is to use height: you're mostly safe on attics and invisible on the rooftops, from which you can safely observe the situation and come up with a plan. What's more, various useful things tend to be located above the ground level, such as chandelier mounts, or barrels that can be pushed down on enemies.

It's good to gather resources, but do not forget about your objectives. All resources are easily and commonly available. Remember that your inventory is not reset between the missions: what you have collected in one of them you will have in another. Furthermore, the Health and Amber bars will be refilled when you begin a new mission.

Remeber that you can also throw objects when behind cover

The protagonist can attack from behind cover. What's interesting, such an attack is always silent, and it's the fastest way to kill someone. Use it whenever you can. And here's an useful trick: open a door and hide behind the door frame. Often an enemy will come over to check it out, allowing you to eliminate him from behind your cover.

There is no map in the game. This prevents you from easy navigation, so watch where you're going and plan your actions.

Rolls are the perfect method of moving between covers

Don't forget to roll (right pad button / F key). They will enable you to quickly cover a short distance, i.e. by jumping from behind one cover to another. Note, however, that Styx makes some noise when rolling.

Traps

Chandelier is a typical trap - makes a lot of noise but it kills enemies, not to mention literally putting their lights out

Traps - they are one of the most interesting elements of the game, allowing you to eliminate enemies without a fight and have some fun while you're at it. Here are the basic trap kinds you should know:

• Exploding barrels - green, can often be found on rooftops or stairs. After they fall and explode they will disperse poison, sometimes eliminating several enemies at a time.
• Chandeliers - the basic trap, killing anyone unlucky enough to be caught under it after you destroy the mount (which takes a few seconds, though, so it needs to be anticipated). The mount can be damaged directly, by your clone for example, or by hitting it with a bolt. A falling chadelier is rarely written off as an accident, making the enemies rather uneasy.
• Alarm sabotage - when outside, you will often encounter small alarm towers, comprising of a lever and a bell on a beam above it. To sabotage them, you'll have to approach the lever and fiddle with it for a few seconds. Once you're done, any person who'll try to use the alarm (including you) and flips the lever will be crushed by the falling bell.
• Poisoning water and food - it can be done instantly, but requires some time for the effects to be visible. Enemies that find a body of a poisoned comrade won't be very frightened. Note, however, that not all guards who walk by a cistern or a pile of fruits will feel the urge to taste them.

Amber

Amber is the equivalent of mana for Styx. It represents his energy, which he can spend to use cloning or invisibility. It is displayed as a yellow bar under the health bar. By deafult the protagonist may carry a supply of three vials of amber, each of which restores four pieces of the bar. To use them, open the inventory menu, from which you can use a vial to restore health and/or amber.

Sometimes you will encounter raw amber, a crafting component - bottled amber is much harder to find. That's why it is good to unlock the Amber Distillery skill in the Alchemy tab early on. It will allow you to craft amber vials on a workbench. You can have up to 15 pieces of raw amber in your inventory, and if you're the type to gather everything you can from the game world, you will quickly run out of place if you do not process it.