Stygian - Release Day

HiddenX

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Today's the release day of Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones:

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones is a supernatural horror roleplaying video game which takes place in the strange worlds of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Stygian will draw the player into a bleak journey from a ruined Arkham to the very depths of the Abyss.

The gameplay experience promises a mix of rich role-playing and turn based tactical combat in an authentic 2D graphical style reminiscent of 20's illustrations.In Stygian, players create their characters from scratch with a robust selection of archetypal backgrounds with different origin stories, attributes, skills, traits and lastly belief systems which determine how characters replenish their lost sanity, also presenting unique dialog choices.

The narrative of the game is strongly connected to the works of H. P. Lovecraft. In your quest, you'll use the haunted violin of Erich Zann to lure a fiendish deity and convince the poor wretched protagonist of "The Outsider" to join your party among many others.The heavy burden of fighting a desperate battle with forces beyond recognition will haunt you to the end of the game.

Physical combat will be scarce and difficult, spellcasting will have deep and dangerous consequences, sanity loss will leave its marks on characters as mental illnesses and sometimes the best solution will be running away from the terrors that lurk in the night. Stygian embraces the original themes of gothic, pulp and weird fiction, incorporating them into the computer roleplaying genre, promising a fresh (or putrid from another perspective) breath of air for roleplaying fans.



About this Game

In Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones, the player journeys from a doomed Arkham into the depths of the Abyss. Create your own character based on 1920's archetypes and carve a path through a broken and mysterious world.

Your desperate battle against forces beyond comprehension will haunt you until the end. Physical combat will be challenging, spellcasting will have dire consequences, and your sanity will be strained to the breaking point by unknown abominations. Sometimes the best solution will be to flee what lurks beyond the threshold.

Features:


  • A hand drawn 2D world reflecting Lovecraft's themes of cosmic horror and dread.
  • Enemies, environments and storylines inspired by Lovecraft's iconic original works. Take part in quests inspired by your favorite stories and see them play out according to your own decisions and role-playing style.
  • Choose from 8 main character Archetypes, each with its own origin backstory and specialties.
  • A host of weird companions will accompany you on your ill-starred journey: the lonely, antediluvian 'Outsider', a fallen soldier of the Great War reanimated by Herbert West. Recruit these and other outlandish beings to your crew.
  • Your character's Sanity and mental state will influence dialogue options. Mental illness comes with advantages as well as hindrances. Sometimes it pays to be mad in a world gone mad!
  • Stygian's Belief System determines how your characters cope with the warped reality of the new Arkham, as well as the rate at which they regenerate lost Sanity. Belief Systems also offer unique dialogue options, expanding the breadth of role-playing possibilities.
  • A new kind of spell system which sometimes takes more than it gives. Being a master of the occult is not as simple as flinging colored missiles from your fingertips. The black magic of Stygian is potent but may cost you your mind, your health, and possibly even much more.
  • Strategic, turn-based combat from a 2D perspective, similar to the classic Heroes of Might and Magic games.
  • The struggle in Stygian is not to save the world, for that battle is lost already. Pursue your own goals in these end times: salvation, vendetta, or perhaps something darker.
More information.
 
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I've not played it yet, since I rarely play anything on release day, but I did get my key in advance with no issue, so that was nice. That's how it should work, if you support the project early you shouldn't have to wade through mud and ice simply to get your key.
 
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You change your site, Yemeth? It looks fancier than I remember.

Another nice review. Followed the links to Call of Cthulhu and Sinking City, too. Which of those two do you prefer? I'm getting Stygian for sure, but I've been wondering which of these two I should try. I've been leaning toward the one by Frogwares, as I thought they did a decent job with one of their Sherlock Holmes games I played.
 
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You change your site, Yemeth? It looks fancier than I remember.

Another nice review. Followed the links to Call of Cthulhu and Sinking City, too. Which of those two do you prefer? I'm getting Stygian for sure, but I've been wondering which of these two I should try. I've been leaning toward the one by Frogwares, as I thought they did a decent job with one of their Sherlock Holmes games I played.


Hey thanks a lot man! The boss changed the layout around :p
Call of Cthulhu is a more polished experience since it's a very linear game. Almost a walking sim. But enjoyable. Sinking City, on the other hand, is an open-world game and has some technical problems. Personally, I prefer Sinking City due to its ambition and the gorgeous world they built.
 
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Those are good reasons. Atmosphere and ambition are big factors for me, too. Didn't realize The Sinking City was one of Epic's exclusives, so I'll have to wait until next year. So be it. I won't participate in the exclusivity business model that only hurts consumers. If Epic wants to break into the market, spare a few thoughts about your customers while poring over your ledger sheets.
 
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Those are good reasons. Atmosphere and ambition are big factors for me, too. Didn't realize The Sinking City was one of Epic's exclusives, so I'll have to wait until next year. So be it. I won't participate in the exclusivity business model that only hurts consumers. If Epic wants to break into the market, spare a few thoughts about your customers while poring over your ledger sheets.

Personally I share the same opinion.
 
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I don't get it
can oral said:
When I first wrote the script of Stygian, I wasn't aware that its scope would actually be much wider in terms of the playtime than what we envisioned for Reign of the Old Ones. The complete saga that I had written would have lasted around 50 hours to complete but we were trying to achieve a 15-20 hours experience with a lot of re-playability. At some point in the production, I was obliged to make a tough decision (like any good RPG): rushing the last chapter, breaking the pace of the game or complete it on a cliffhanger and leave some space for future installments.

Stygian is not a short game and it definitely can not be categorized as episodic, since it is teeming with content; but I have to state that we won't be solving all the mysteries at the end of this game. Going the other way would have spoiled some really good scenes, characters and situations for the sake of having just a closure.

if its supposed to be a 50 hour game, why not make a 50 hour game?
 
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Another nice review. Followed the links to Call of Cthulhu and Sinking City, too. Which of those two do you prefer? I'm getting Stygian for sure, but I've been wondering which of these two I should try. I've been leaning toward the one by Frogwares, as I thought they did a decent job with one of their Sherlock Holmes games I played.

I played both games back to back a few months ago. The Sinking City is a no-brainer if you like Lovecraft. It's not perfect, but it's definitely worth playing imo. https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061576157&postcount=3065

Ignore Call of Cthulhu unless it's dirt cheap. It's little more than a forgettable adventure game.
 
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Hey, this looks intersti… oh, epic store. Can't be arsed to set up yet another game portal atm. Look forward to reading impressions though for 'one day'. Edit: oh no, wait, that was a different game someone was talking about. Hmm, very tempted.
 
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