Styx Master of Shadows is a steal sandbox game where you sneak from A to B as you complete objectives. Utilize your dagger and amber clone to assassinate or distract guards. Careful to not bring any attention to yourself because guards will call out for help and it will be the end for you. Patience and timing is the real challenge as you have little defenses against multiple enemies.



Follow my step-by-step guide on installing, configuring and optimizing Styx Master of Shadows in Linux with PlayOnLinux.

Note: This guide applies to the Steam version of Styx Master of Shadows. Other versions may require additional steps.

Tips & Specs:

Try SteamPlay before using this guide as Valve now uses a fork of Wine called Proton and should run most Windows games.

To learn more about PlayOnLinux and Wine configuration, see the online manual: PlayOnLinux Explained

Mint 18.2 64-bit
PlayOnLinux: 4.2.12
Wine: 2.15-staging

Wine Installation

Click Tools
Select "Manage Wine Versions"


Look for the Wine Version: 2.15-staging
Select it
Click the arrow pointing to the right


Click Next

Downloading Wine


Extracting

Downloading Gecko


Installed


Wine 2.15-staging is installed and you can close this window

Downloading Steam

Go To: http://www.steampowered.com
Click Install Steam


Do not click "Install Steam Now"
It will automatically install Linux Steam
Select Windows Steam instead
click "Windows" under the green button


Navigate to your desktop
Click Save


PlayOnLinux Setup

Launch PlayOnLinux
Click Install


Click "install a non-listed program"


Click Next

Select "Install a program in a new virtual drive"
Click Next


Name your virtual drive: styxMOS
No spaces
Click Next


Check all three options:

• Use another version of Wine
• Configure Wine
• Install some libraries

Click Next


Select Wine 2.15-staging
Click Next


Select "32 bits windows installation"
Click Next


Configure Wine

Applications Tab
Windows Version: Windows 7
Click Apply


Graphics Tab
Check: Automatically capture the mouse in full-screen windows
Check: Emulate a virtual desktop
Desktop size: 1024x768
Click Ok


PlayOnLinux Packages (Libraries, Components, DLL's)

Check the following libraries:

• POL_Install_corefonts
• POL_Install_d3dx9
• POL_Install_d3dx10
• POL_Install_d3dx11
• POL_Install_tahoma
• POL_Install_vcrun2010
• POL_Install_vcrun2012

Click Next


Note: All packages will automatically download and install

Installing Steam

Click Browse


Navigate to your desktop
Select: SteamSetup.exe
Click Open
styx15.png

Click Next

Click Next

Check: I accept the license...
Click Next

Click Next

Click Next

Click Install

Click Finish

Updating Steam


Click the "X" to close Steam login


PlayOnLinux Shortcut

Select Steam.exe
Click Next


Name your shortcut: Styx Master of Shadows
Click Next


Select "I don't want to make another shortcut"
Click Next


PlayOnLinux Configure

Back to PlayOnLinux
Click Configure


General Tab
Arguments: -no-dwrite -no-cef-sandbox
This fixes any missing font problems and the Store problem (Windows needs to be set as Windows XP)


Note: Click the + to download other versions of Wine. Click the down-arrow to select other versions of wine

Display Tab
Video Memory Size: Select the size of Memory your video card/chip uses


Close Configure

Launching Steam

Select Styx Master of Shadows
Click Run


Note: Click debug to see errors and bugs.

Click "Login to existing account"


Login


Find Styx in your Steam Library
Click Install


Uncheck "Create desktop shortcut"
Uncheck "Create start menu shortcut"
Click Next


Click Finish
Wait for Styx to download (About 9 Gigabytes)


Optimization

Click options


Click Graphics


Adjust:

• Global Settings
• Full Screen
• Resolution
• Brightness
• Sync. Vertical
• Light Shafts
• Anisotrophy
• Quality of Textures
• Dynamic Shadows
• Depth of Field
• Motion Blur
• Bloom
• Distortion
• Distant Objects

Rule of Thumb:
High settings = More detail, lower frame rates
Low settings = Less detail, higher frame rates

Conclusion:
Styx Master of Shadows is made with the Unreal Engine and (as always) plays well in Wine. I didn't have any major issues configuring graphics in-game or problem playing on my GeForce GTX 1060. I did have to turn down the Anisotrophy a bit, but otherwise... performance was GREAT.

Gameplay Video:



Screenshots: