If you're looking for DTI codes, IGN's got you covered! In this article, you'll find a list of all the active and working Dress to Impress codes in February 2026 that you can redeem for free rewards and bonuses in DTI, including outfits and accessories like hats, bags, and jewelry.
Active Dress to Impress Codes (February 2026)
Here are all the active Dress to Impress codes in February 2026 and the free rewards you get for redeeming them:
LIONDANCER - Lion Dancer set (NEW!)
LNY - Lunar New Year clothing (NEW!)
BHM26 - Dress and jacket
CA11MEHHALEY - Bear dress, bear ears, bear onesie
CH00P1E_B4CK_AGA1N - Choopie set rework
2YEARS - Dress
2GETHER - Classic DTI Doll
RDC2025 - Lanyard and belt accessory
VANILLAMACE - Headscarf
PIXIIUWU - Dress
ANGELT4NKED - Helmet
3NCHANTEDD1ZZY - Wand
ELLA - Skirt
1CON1CF4TMA - Sweater dress
MEGANPLAYSBOOTS - Boots
CH00P1E_1S_B4CK: Streetwear outfit set
S3M_0W3N_Y4Y: Axe
KREEK: Bear hat
LANA: White shorts, shirt, and legwarmers
LANABOW:White bow
BELALASLAY: Black jacket with pink halter top
LANATUTU: White dress
IBELLASLAY: Red, green, and blonde hairstyle
M3RM4ID: Orange mermaid set
TEKKYOOZ: White handbag
LABOOTS: Black boots
ITSJUSTNICHOLAS: Black jacket
ASHLEYBUNNI: Bunny slippers
LEAHASHE: Sweatshirt and sweatpants
KITTYUUHH: Black cat
C4LLMEHH4LEY: Puffy dress and bear headband
SUBM15CY: Necklace and eyelashes
D1ORST4R: Bag and bow
All Expired Dress to Impress Codes
Below, you'll find a list of expired DTI codes that no longer work and can't be redeemed as of February 2026:
SWEETHEART (was only redeemable between February 15 and February 16, 2025 at 8AM PT)
YEAROFTHESNAKE
NY2025
WINTERUPDATE(was only redeemable between 8 AM - 11 AM PT on Saturday, 14 December!)
4BILLION
CHOOPIE10K
THEGAMES
EYELASHES
REWARD4CLASS1C
Roblox Gift Ideas
How to Redeem Dress to Impress Codes
Follow the steps below to redeem Dress to Impress codes and claim free rewards in DTI:
Open the Dress to Impress Roblox Experience.
Click on the handbag icon on the left-hand side to open the DTI Codes menu.
Enter your code in the "Type here..." field.
Check for any spelling mistakes or errors.
Click the checkmark icon to redeem the code.
Why Isn't My Dress to Impress Code Working?
If the code you're trying to redeem in DTI isn't working, it's likely because of one of two reasons:
The Dress to Impress code is expired
There's a spelling mistake in the code
When inputting a DTI code in Roblox, make sure it's spelled correctly (for example, a capital I isn't a lowercase l, 0 and not O, and vice versa) and that there are no spaces before or after the code. We'd recommend copying and pasting codes straight from our article to ensure they're correct as we've tested and verified that the codes on this page are working ourselves.
If your DTI code still isn't working after checking for typos, it's more than likely expired and can no longer be redeemed in Dress to Impress.
How to Get More DTI Codes
To get more Dress to Impress codes, the best way is to join the official DTI Discord server. While we check for new codes daily, the quickest way to know about new Dress to Impress codes is to follow the Roblox experience's official Discord server where updates are posted in real time.
We currently don't know of any upcoming DTI codes now that the two-year anniversary codes have been released. We'll update this article once we find out more information on new Dress to Impress codes.
What is Dress to Impress in Roblox?
Dress to Impress is a popular dress-up Roblox Experience available on PC, console, and iOS and Android mobile devices. In it, you put on your best outfit to complete a specific theme and walk the runway in a bid to earn votes from other players and become a top model. As you gain votes, you gain ranks and can access more clothing and accessories, so make sure you're truly dressed to impress! Also, for toy lovers and collectors, you can now pre-order a mystery pack of 2 Dress to Impress minifigures right now for $30 at Walmart.
Meg Koepp is a Guides Editor on the IGN Guides team, with a focus on trends. When she's not working, you can find her playing an RPG or making miniatures.
I would not be in this line of work without The Legend of Zelda. It’s my favorite franchise of all time – video game or otherwise – and it’s the series that will always draw me back into gaming and Nintendo, no matter what. My story is not unique; I know several IGN editors who feel the exact same way.
It’s not a secret to anyone that Zelda is critically important to so many of us here: we’ve awarded seven different Zelda games a 10/10 since IGN was founded in 1996 (the most of any franchise), we were one of very few outlets to recognize Tears of the Kingdom as Game of the Year in a packed 2023, and we crowned Breath of the Wild as the greatest game ever made on our most recent Top 100 Games of All Time list, compiled in 2021. It’s a series that’s constantly growing alongside us: how many franchises contain a game that’s essentially redefined a genre? You could argue Zelda would appear on that short list at least twice.
So as The Legend of Zelda celebrates its 40th anniversary this weekend, a few of us wanted to share our personal memories of this beloved franchise that we hold most dear. These are our legends of Zelda.
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - By Seth Macy
There aren't a lot of people whose first exposure to The Legend of Zelda franchise was The Adventure of Link. I'd go so far as to say, for most normal, well adjusted people, playing Zelda's NES sequel as their first foray into the series would turn them away from it forever. But not me. No. I was completely hooked.
I rented Zelda 2 for a weekend and, when I went to school the following Monday, my thumbs hurt from playing for so long. And the thing is, I didn't really even understand what the hell was going on. I just fell in love with the setting, the weird way it transitioned from an overhead map to self-contained battles, and the massive castles filled with opportunities for Link to die. It set my young imagination on fire and I became obsessed with it from a stylistic and presentational point of view.
I need to point out, at no point did I actually like the gameplay. It was, and remains, brutally difficult, practically impossible for a kid to complete over the course of a rental weekend. The Death Mountain section was where I hung it up many times out of sheer frustration. And even though I was so angry and defeated and saddened to be unable to get through to the end, I still could not resist renting it week after week. I pored through the tattered rental store copy of the manual, captivated by the art style – so distinctively Japanese and at the time, so new and exciting. I borrowed concepts for my own middle-school drawings and rudimentary pen and paper role-playing creations. I also didn't realize it at the time, but that top-down world view and the experience point grind had awakened in me a love for JRPGs I didn't even know existed at the time.
It wasn't until 2018 I finally beat The Legend of Zelda: The Adventure of Link, playing through the version available on Nintendo Switch Online, and only because I spammed the hell out of save states. Still, even all these years later, my imagination roars to life when I look at those classic illustrations, and I get a weird inkling to start up another playthrough. Then I remember how brutally unfun it is and I play something else. But man. What a world changing experience it was when I was a kid.
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening - By Brian Altano
I hated school. OK, maybe "hated" is too strong a word. I strongly disliked school and it probably didn't like me very much back. To give the place some credit, I loved cracking jokes with my friends before class started. I loved that the cafeteria sold warm, three-for-a-dollar Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. I loved every art class, the only class where the teacher didn't have to call my parents after and say "Brian is smart and creative, he just doesn't seem to care about this class." See, in 1993, I didn't want to be in school. All I wanted to do was play video games, talk about video games, read about video games, draw video game characters, and eat video game-themed breakfast cereals.
A particular video game that I could not stop reading about (specifically in a Nintendo Power preview article that made frequent trips with me everywhere in my school backpack) was The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, the first portable Zelda game ever made, which was making its way to the Nintendo Game Boy. The idea of a Zelda game that I could bring with me everywhere was absolutely mindblowing at the time. I would hop off the school bus every day to do chores, scrounge for coins in the couch cushions, and save money until I had enough to buy Link's Awakening.
But if I’m being honest, the real cash cow was my daily lunch money. Every day I got three bucks for lunch, which back then was enough to buy a sad cafeteria meal and a drink, usually one of those hockey puck shaped breaded chicken patties smooshed between two wet buns with a canned ice tea made by some questionable bootleg brand like “Ol’ Orchard” or “Teaslees” to wash it down. But one day I realized that if I instead bought three Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, I'd A) still be sort of full, B) get to eat cookies for lunch like some sort of child king, and C) save two whole bucks a day to put towards The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. I’d have the game in a few weeks without having to do much of anything for it. There were some downsides to this plan, obviously. For starters, I'd have to hide the money from my parents. I'd also have to find a way to buy the game without them knowing it. And lastly, (and I can confirm this as a father now) there’s a very real science fact that if a little kid eats nothing but sugary breakfast cereals and three chocolate chip cookies all day and then needs to focus on school work, that kid will instead bounce off of the walls like an insane little maniac. By now you’re probably figuring out why my teachers didn’t like me very much.
A few weeks (and probably several detentions and cavities later) I had successfully saved enough money to buy my game. I walked down a highway in New Jersey to that magical, brown roofed, giraffe themed castle known as Toys ‘R’ Us and came home with my treasure tucked inside the big pocket of my winter jacket. To be fair, I paid every penny for it, but by the way I covertly and anxiously snuck it into my house you’d think I stole the thing. To this day, my parents never found out. Dad, if you’re reading this, a different Brian Altano at IGN wrote it, not the one who is your son. He would never steal lunch money to buy a video game. Weird coincidence that there’s two guys here named Brian Altano, right?
Anyway, for the next several months, my Game Boy came with me everywhere, but especially to school. On the bus, I played Zelda. In between classes, I played Zelda. On the playground, I played Zelda. Strangely enough, having video games to play at school between the actual school parts of school helped me focus on my classes more. Instead of day dreaming about when I’d get to play video games next, I’d walk into class feeling fresh after taking down another Zelda dungeon, and then I’d do everything the teacher needed me to do until I could play video games again. My grades started improving and my parents stopped getting as many disappointed phone calls from my teachers. This also coincided with me not eating chocolate chip cookies for lunch anymore, which also definitely helped.
So thank you to Link’s Awakening for being my first portable Zelda game, one of my favorite games ever made, and a game that rescued my academic career and also almost made me fail out of school. Thank you to Otis Spunkmeyer and Geoffrey Giraffe who went on to get married to each other, maybe. Apologies to my teachers and my parents and to the other Brian Altano here who is now in huge trouble with my dad. And happy birthday to The Legend of Zelda, a franchise that I’ll always be there for on day one, to purchase a brand new game with actual money that is no longer earned by eating chocolate chip cookies for lunch.
The Zelda Timeline - By Logan Plant
Spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
Hyrule's history has been passed down countless times from one generation to the next. In that same tradition, I didn't discover my love for Zelda on my own: I inherited it. Just like every child with pointy ears who gets wrapped up in the never-ending battle for Hyrule, this story begins before my time. My dad played The Legend of Zelda at a friend’s house when he and my mom were in college, which led to them eventually saving to buy an NES of their own, just so they could bomb every last wall in that original 8-bit Hyrule.
Fast-forward roughly a decade to when I entered the picture, born the same year as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s launch on N64. My mom tells me I’d sit on her lap and watch my dad explore a new Hyrule, this time in 3D. Like our favorite childhood bedtime stories, I have no recollection of witnessing Link’s journey to stop Ganondorf. I’ve just always known it. This universe of talking trees and evil pigs and boys without fairies carved a home in my mind during my earliest days and hasn’t budged since.
Which is why it should come as no surprise that my first vivid memory comes from Hyrule, too. I’m four now, and my older sister and I are watching my dad fight the final boss of The Wind Waker. The very first thing I remember is Toon Link leaping into the air and plunging the Master Sword straight into Ganondorf’s skull. I was shocked: it was far and away the most violent, gruesome thing I’d ever seen. I recall walking into the living room to tell my mom what had happened, but then everything goes fuzzy again and all I’m left with is the everlasting image of Ganondorf turning to stone.
No matter where I’ve gone, I’ve taken my love for Zelda with me. Breath of the Wild came out when I was in college, and I spent launch night marathoning it on the enormous, blurry TV in the dormitory lounge as my floormates passed by and watched for a bit on their way out to the evening’s events. Once the hall was empty, and the motion-activated overhead lights went dark, there was nothing left but me and the peaceful glow of the Great Plateau. I was confused when my friends returned just a few moments later. “You’re back already?” I asked, only to learn that four hours had glided by in what felt like minutes. That was the first of dozens of long nights with Breath of the Wild, and later, Tears of the Kingdom, which still managed to hijack my sleep schedule years after the days of going to college parties were long gone. Time changes all things, but Zelda has never seemed to mind.
Zelda tells us a tale about an endless cycle of good rising up to ward off evil, and as we eagerly await its next chapter, I can’t help but wonder where I’ll be when a new 3D entry finally arrives. Maybe I’ll have a child of my own by then, and they’ll watch me take my first steps into whatever wild world Nintendo offers us next. Maybe their first memory will be something creepy or strange in a Zelda game years from now. I like to think they’ll play a new Zelda while off at college, homesick for their childhood but equally giddy to be experiencing a brand new take on Hyrule for themselves. And hopefully, they’ll always call their parents and siblings to talk about Zelda, just like I do to this day. That's a cycle I wouldn't mind repeating for generations to come.
Logan Plant is the host of Nintendo Voice Chat and IGN's Database Manager & Playlist Editor. The Legend of Zelda is his favorite video game franchise of all time, and he is patiently awaiting the day Nintendo announces a brand new F-Zero. You can find new episodes of NVC every Friday on the IGN Games YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
Magic: The Gathering’s crossover frenzy continues, and Marvel is landing in June. It includes plenty of heroes and villains, but the chase card will be infinitely more likely to appear in Collector Boosters.
Ahead of the set’s official spoilers and reveals, here’s all we know about Collector Booster availability for Marvel Super Heroes.
Where To Find Magic’s Marvel Super Heroes Collector Boosters
In all honesty, Collector Booster packs are pretty much the only place to find the most desirable cards for the Marvel Super Hero set, but since we don’t know what those are, it’s hard to say what you’ll be looking for.
Thankfully, Play Boosters are more likely to stay at their (much more affordable) MSRP, making them much better for building an instant collection of the new set.
As a reminder, you can find a Collector Booster in a couple of other products with the Marvel Super Heroes set. The first is the Bundle: Gift Edition, which includes 9 Play Boosters and a single Collector Booster, as well as lands and a storage box for $89.99.
Next up, Draft Night is a boxed product that includes 12 Play Boosters for players to use for drafting, with a Collector Booster up for grabs for the winner. It’s $129.99 and available for preorder.
Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.
Modder ‘Zzyxzz’ has just released a new mod for both Skyrim and Fallout 4 that adds to them a realistic weight-based movement inertia system. This mod will make movement in these two Bethesda games feel more realistic. So, let’s take a closer look at it. In both Fallout 4 and Skyrim, player movement feels responsive … Continue reading Skyrim & Fallout 4 Got a Realistic Weight-Based Movement Inertia System→
As the dust settles on Microsoft's dramatic changes at the top of its gaming team, fans are digesting the shock resignation of Xbox President Sarah Bond, after nearly a decade working on the console brand.
Yesterday, IGN exclusively reported that Bond had resigned from her post, despite long being considered to be outgoing Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer's heir apparent. Instead, that job went to Asha Sharma, previously Microsoft's CoreAI product president.
In the hours since, fans have been quick to read between the lines of what has been said — and not said — about Bond's departure, including the belated posting of her own exit note to employees, which arrived some hours after formal statements from Microsoft boss Satya Nadella, Spencer, Sharma and the newly-promoted Matt Booty.
Indeed, Bond's departure was left to be announced by Microsoft within Spencer's own statement — several paragraphs below the big news that he was handing over the baton to Sharma. Here's exactly what Spencer wrote:
"As part of this transition, Sarah Bond has decided to leave Microsoft to begin a new chapter. Sarah has been instrumental during a defining period for Xbox, shaping our platform strategy, expanding Game Pass and cloud gaming, supporting new hardware launches, and guiding some of the most significant moments in our history. I'm grateful for her partnership and the impact she's had, and I wish her the very best in what comes next."
No mention is made of Bond in statements from Nadella, Sharma or Booty, who do not reference her departure at all.
"I’ve decided this is the right time for me to take my next step, both personally and professionally"
Hours later, Bond did publicly release her own farewell message — though this time via LinkedIn. Bond's lengthy statement references the fact that it was she who "decided this is the right time for me to take my next step, both personally and professionally," though there's little more explanation as to why.
Bond joined Xbox in 2017 as Xbox’s corporate VP of bizdev and partnerships. She became corporate VP of game creator experience and ecosystem after that before being named President of Xbox in 2022.
Microsoft's new gaming CEO Asha Sharma has responded to concerns around her background in AI and lack of previous roles in gaming, as part of her first major interview since yesterday's announcement that she will replace veteran Xbox boss Phil Spencer.
Now, Sharma has spoken with Variety and addressed the two immediate concerns raised by many Xbox fans last night as the news broke — that Microsoft boss Satya Nadella had chosen the company's CoreAI head of product development to replace Phil Spencer, who previously had no experience running anything to do with video games.
In Sharma's first message to Microsoft staff, Sharma laid out her three main commitments: "great games", "the return of Xbox" and "future of play."
Talking to Variety, Sharma said she believed great games were those with "deep emotional resonance", "a distinct point of view" and experiences with stories that make players "feel something." Sharma then gave the beloved narrative mystery Firewatch as an example of this.
On her track record, Sharma admitted she had "a lot to learn" as an outside to the gaming community, but was a "platform builder" who intended to "earn the right to be trusted by players and developers."
Sharma began her career at Microsoft in marketing, though has spent time at Meta, scaling Facebook Messenger to billions of users, and then retail delivery company Instacart, where she helped guide the business to profitability.
While she has spent two years working on Microsoft's AI push, her initial message to Xbox staff included a pledge to "not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop." To Variety, she claimed similar, saying her stance was that she had "no tolerance for bad AI."
"AI has long been part of gaming and will continue to be," Sharma said, mentioning the need for gaming "growth engines," but that "great stories are created by humans."
Concluding, Sharma teased more news from Xbox would surface next month during the annual GDC conference, before bigger announcements to follow at a new Xbox Games Showcase later this spring.
Modder ‘Cazanu’ has released a pretty cool mod for STALKER 2 that will make its firefights feel more like those of F.E.A.R. or Crysis. The mod pushes the game’s smoke and spark particles to extreme values, giving it a more cinematic feel. Going into slightly more details, the Cinematic FX Mod increases the amount of … Continue reading STALKER 2 Got a Cool FEAR/Crysis-inspired Cinematic FX Mod→
A lot of YouTubers have started using AI to remake old/classic games. Usually, most of them do not look that great. But once in a while, you encounter an AI remake that has the exact art style and aesthetics of the original game. This AI remake for Final Fantasy 8 is one of them. Created … Continue reading This AI Remake of Final Fantasy 8 Will Blow You Away→
In an exclusive story, we reported that Xbox boss and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer is retiring and Xbox president Sarah Bond is leaving her position. Consequently, president of Microsoft's CoreAI product Asha Sharma is taking over as CEO of Xbox with Matt Booty moving up to executive vice president and CCO of Xbox. This shake-up in Xbox leadership was a surprise to many and sent waves across the gaming industry from former Xbox execs to industry veterans alike. We compiled some of the statements made online coming out of the news from key individuals, including what Sarah Bond's had to say upon leaving the Xbox brand.
Sharing with gratitude the note I sent to my team today. Grateful to our players, developers, partners, and team. Forever a fan of Xbox. 💚 ----- Hi team,
I know there’s a lot of news to take in today.
I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built together over the past eight-plus years. PC and cloud gaming are growing faster than ever, our next console is well underway, and together we’ve helped lay the foundation for a more open gaming platform that spans devices and reaches players around the world.
When we announced our intention to acquire Activision Blizzard in 2022, I committed to helping lead Xbox through what would be a critical period of change. Over the past four years, we’ve navigated that moment together and positioned the business for what comes next. We took on some of the biggest challenges this organization has ever faced and did it as one team.
With that, I’ve decided this is the right time for me to take my next step, both personally and professionally. We’re living through a transformative technological era that will shape the next generation of our industry, and I’m energized by what’s ahead. This moment also presents a unique opportunity for fresh eyes and new leadership to guide the team into its next chapter. I’ve had the privilege of spending time with Asha over the last few weeks as we’ve planned for this transition, and I’ve seen firsthand her deep commitment to our players, developers, and brand. She brings deep technology and commerce experience, along with a strong track record of building and scaling platforms that the world uses. Xbox deserves this. I’m excited to see her lead this next chapter for our team. I’ll remain on as a Special Advisor to Asha to help ensure a smooth transition and set the organization up for continued success.
I want to thank Phil for his mentorship and friendship over the years. He’s been a consistent champion of this business and the people who make it what it is, and I’ve learned a great deal from the way he leads through both opportunity and challenge. I’m grateful for his trust and support throughout my time on the team. I also want to thank Satya for his sponsorship and support throughout my time at Microsoft.
As I prepare to sign off, I’ve been reflecting on three simple questions I’ve tried to use to guide my days:
Did I bring my best? Did I help someone else succeed? Did I do my best work?
I hope the answer has been yes for many of you. It’s been a privilege to work alongside this team.
Always, Sarah
On LinkedIn, Peter Moore, former VP of entertainment at Microsoft and longtime CEO and EVP at Electronic Arts:
News that Phil Spencer has stepped away marks the end of a significant chapter for Microsoft Gaming and in particular Xbox.
It is easy, especially in today’s climate, to critique decisions, debate strategy, and judge outcomes with the benefit of hindsight. What is harder is to sustain leadership over decades in an industry that reinvents itself every few years. Of that, I’m only too painfully aware.
Phil did that.
From the early days of Xbox through console transitions, studio acquisitions, platform wars, and the rise of subscription and cloud, he was a steady presence in what has often been a turbulent environment. Gaming at Microsoft has never been a quiet assignment. Expectations were immense. Competition was relentless. The spotlight was constant.
I had the privilege of working alongside him during formative years for the business. What I saw was commitment to players, loyalty to teams, and resilience when the noise was loudest. Phil was,and is, a gamer at heart and that showed in everything he did during my time with him.
Leadership in this industry means making imperfect decisions with incomplete information, under extraordinary pressure. It means standing in front when things go wrong, and sharing credit when they go right. That is not easy work.
Whatever opinions swirl today (and I see the boo birds are out in flocks) history tends to be kinder and more balanced. Sustained contribution matters. Building institutions matters. Showing up year after year matters.
A long career in gaming, particularly at the scale of Microsoft, deserves respect.
Wishing Phil good luck for whatever comes next. All the best, mate.
Reggie Fils-Aimé, former president of Nintendo of America:
Congrats @XboxP3 on a fantastic career. The games industry is better because of your contributions. I look forward to celebrating this milestone with you. https://t.co/uJGjlKJJ2c
Greg Canessa, former GM and creator of the Xbox Live Arcade:
Congratulations @XboxP3 on an amazing run leading @Xbox. I have nothing but respect and admiration for what you accomplished, and the industry is better off for you having been in it.
Jason Ronald, VP of Xbox gaming devices and ecosystem, leader on development of the Xbox Series X and S:
Many emotions today, but more than anything I feel incredible gratitude for the years I have spent with both @XboxP3 and @BondSarah_Bond.
Phil and Sarah's impact on the team, the community and me personally are immeasurable. Thank you both for everything you have done for @Xbox. https://t.co/00eeIubq1V
— Larry Hryb, Gamer Emeritus 📱⌨️🖱️🎮 (@majornelson) February 20, 2026
Phil Spencer himself reflected on the 38 years he spent working at Microsoft as well and we broke down his statement in a separate story. He oversaw initiatives such as Xbox Game Pass, the launches of the Xbox One X and the Xbox Series consoles, and several acquisitions of development teams such as Bethesda Game Studios, Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Obsidian Entertainment, and more as well as the industry-shaking $69 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King. We also looked at new Xbox head Asha Sharma's statement about her vision for the platform and her thoughts on AI moving forward.
It might not have the same kind of ambition or bells and whistles as its contemporaries, but Styx holds a special place in my heart as one of very few pure stealth game series we have left. Will you find the incredibly creative scenarios of Hitman or the insane level of polish and replayability of Dishonored? Nope. Instead Styx contents itself with simply being a reliable way for stealth fans to get their fix, and Styx: Blades of Greed is no exception. More often than not, the usual playbook of sneaking around, stealing and assassinating everything in sight, is as fun as it’s ever been, and this sequel makes some important tweaks, like removing weak multiplayer mechanics to refocus on a solo stealth experience and swapping smaller, mission-based maps for absolutely massive regions. But it’s also saddled with quite a few of the same issues it’s always had, finicky movement, performance issues, and an unremarkable story, which are as disappointing as they are completely expected.
Like its predecessor from 2017, Blades of Greed puts you in the leather boots of an elderly, grumpy goblin as you sneak into small spaces, stab humans, elves, and monsters in their soft places, and use an arsenal of gadgets and special abilities to overcome the fact that getting spotted will get you killed in two seconds flat. There are some modest additions, like a couple of new gadgets and abilities that let you do things like mind control NPCs from afar or use a grappling hook to close large gaps in a short period of time, but for the most part there’s very little that’s changed about the moment-to-moment gameplay. You’ll still find, for example, the ol’ reliable ability to turn yourself invisible for a short period of time, and will still find yourself hiding inside closets and barrels before popping out to slit the throat of some idiot guard. Good times. As ever, stealth is absolutely the star of the show, and Blades of Greed has the same high quality sneaking around that you’d hope it would.
The story in Styx has never been very good, and Blades of Greed lives up to those low expectations by having a completely forgettable story in spite of the fact that its protagonist is inherently interesting and unique. After developing a craving for magical abilities granted to you by quartz crystals found throughout the world, you begin a repetitive journey to, well, find more of it, and 90% of the campaign is just going from place-to-place stealing these glowing rocks to power yourself up with little in the way of plot in between those scavenger hunts. You meet some characters along the way, like a gadget-obsessed dwarf and an orc who becomes your spiritual guide, but they don’t get enough screen time to leave much of an impression and what they do get isn’t used effectively, with everyone spouting off explanations of telling you what you need to do next and little else. You’re unlikely to have come to the Styx series looking for an engaging story, but just in case you were hoping to be pleasantly surprised: I wouldn’t count on that.
Though the vast majority of Styx’s bones remain the same, one major change is that instead of treading (and sometimes retreading) through mission-specific levels, Blades of Greed lets you loose in three extremely large maps filled with both mandatory and optional areas to explore, pilfer, and fall to your death within. It’s a neat idea that allows for significantly more freedom over prior adventures, and it’s quite easy to become distracted and assassinate your way through an entire region before realizing you didn’t even really have any objective behind any of it, except that it’s just hard to see a guard walking by unaware and not take him down. These huge levels also allow you to express creativity in how you navigate the area and solve the problem of getting around when every 10 feet there’s someone who could kill you by breathing on you. When you’re staring at an objective that’s a mountain’s distance above you, you’ll need to just creep around and try things to figure out how to get there – maybe you’ll find a nice spot on the side of a tower to make daring leaps while avoiding the notice of guards along the way, or maybe you’ll find a quieter path via a sewer system that leads you to the same spot, but is infested with giant bugs that will swarm you if you get too close.
That can be a really interesting stealth challenge to figure out, but comes with some unique drawbacks as well. For one, it can be exhausting to have to cross such a massive area slowly sneaking along all the while, and if you try to just sprint past everything to get to the objective, you should be prepared to reload a whole bunch as you work through the trial and error process of doing so. That travel time feels significantly less focused and curated than the more linear model for level design as well, and oftentimes you’re kinda just half-assedly sneaking through ruins and across rooftops with no real obstacles along the way until you get to the place that the objective marker wants you to be, at which point things start to feel much more focused. In other words, it’s a whole lot of fat before you get to the meat of the main objectives. I actually spent the vast majority of the more than 20 hours it took me to beat Blades of Greed trying to figure out where exactly my next objective was and how to get there, rather than actually pulling off the heist in question.
The good news is that each of these maps is pretty awesome across the board. The Wall is an absurdly cool vertical labyrinth of concrete castles and rickety slums, Turquoise Dawn is a jungle of trees, swamps, and massive, deadly roaches swarming in dark areas, and the Akenash Ruins are a ruined, kingdom where everything floats in the air unnaturally and enemies are extremely weird monsters, like something out of Elden Ring. Each visit to these places throughout the story unlocks new areas to explore, though you’ll also do quite a bit of backtracking through areas you’ve already been, which is a bit of a drag. Still, these are some of the more interesting areas I’ve stalked the halls of in a stealth game and highlights the unique, strange, and magically-infused world that this curmudgeonly goblin calls home.
Though the huge amount of space these maps have can be pretty great to explore, they sometimes feel a bit too big for the much smaller objectives within them. The story’s main objectives are much smaller than a typical stealth mission, usually just requiring you to steal a key and open a locked door, or shut down a machine so you can reach your objective – miniature quests that usually only take a couple minutes to complete, if that. Once you’ve checked it off your list, you’re back to the mostly uneventful traveling stealth as you find a way to the next objective, often requiring you to backtrack through some of the same spots in the process, which is how I have spent the bulk of the adventure so far. On the bright side, this format means you’re basically just locked into a constant stream of pure, unadulterated stealth scenarios for hours on end as you work your way through each set of missions, and since that’s Blades of Greed’s strong suit, you’re getting exactly what the doctor ordered.
If you’re familiar with the shortcomings of the previous Styx games, then you’ll probably be less-than-stoked to hear that Blades of Greed doesn’t address most of these. Combat, which is a last resort, but sometimes required, is quite sloppy and overly simplistic, and moving around, especially jumping onto ledges and the like can be finicky at times and caused me to fall to my death or get caught out in the open dozens of times by this point. Worse than those though, are the usual performance issues and technical challenges, like NPCs becoming invisible while talking to them and frames dropping to horrifyingly low levels after extended play sessions. Framerate issues are actually a fair bit worse than I remember them being in previous games, presumably due to the significantly larger maps, and it can get pretty bad for long stretches when there’s a lot happening on screen. Most of these issues are sort of baked into Styx by this point, but it’s still worth shouting out that the bulk of this stuff has mostly gone unaddressed, seemingly.
Sony is reportedly making another Venom movie. This time, it’s going to be animated. How closely the surprise animated project will stick to the events of the recent trilogy starring Tom Hardy, with its plot, casting details, and release date still a mystery for now.
Though the latest Lethal Protector story is still in its early stages, according to the The Hollywood Reporter, it does have some notable names already attached behind the scenes. Final Destination: Bloodlines duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein are set to direct the feature-length animation. The two are newcomers to the Marvel world but saw success with last year’s Final Destination reboot. Other highlights from their joint resume includes the 2019 live-action Kim Possible movie, 2018’s Freaks, and a few episodes of Mech-X4.
The Venom animation is said to have series veterans Amy Pascal, Avi Arad, and Matt Tolmach in the mix, though the extent of their involvement is unclear. While Hardy is also involved in the project, there’s no word on whether he will reprise his role as Eddie Brock after concluding the live-action trilogy as the character in Venom: The Last Dance. No specific writer has been named to pen the film’s script as Sony Pictures Animation gets the ball rolling on its story.
Although it seems possible the animated Venom movie could go a completely new direction with its story and characters, it does have some room to grow should Sony choose to directly build on its live-action trilogy. One major Marvel character the Hardy trilogy only lightly touched on is the symbiote god Knull, with one of The Last Dance's final credits sequences teasing big things in store for that character. The series also notoriously refrained from including much about Spider-Man despite Venom’s strong ties to him (largely due to confusing licensing arrangements), but it’s unclear if traveling to the realm of animation would have the two finally crossing paths.
With so many pieces still coming together, it will likely be a while before we learn more, and it will be even longer before the movie actually premieres. In the meantime, you can read our reviews for Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Venom: The Last Dance. You can also learn about the upcoming live-action Spider-Noir series coming to Amazon’s Prime Video on May 27.
Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
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