Cultic Games’ Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones is currently on Kickstarter. Don’t worry, though, they’re not barely making it or just getting by, in fact they’re doing quite well due to the fact that a lot of people apparently want to see their horrifying vision of a turn-based, RPG Lovecraft game become a reality for PC gamers.
Stygian has already amassed more than half of its goal, resting at just over $34,000 of its $61,000 goal, as of the writing of this article. It’s a very different kind of RPG, from the art-style to the turn-based combat, to the story itself.
Players will gather their party and face off against some of the horrors from a long forgotten time, but every battle will come at a cost. Similar to games like Darkest Dungeon, Stygian will see players battling against the loss of sanity itself.
Cthulhu horrors and Eldritch abominations will attempt to drive the player’s party mad, and it will be up to players to hone the skills of their team, using the dark magic to drive back the Old Ones. However, the magic is not risk-free, and it can have damaging effects on the characters throughout the game. It’s an interesting look at how dangerous and demonic powers can lure you into a sense of strength, only to swiftly pull it out from under your feet.
You can get a taste of what the gameplay is like with the trailer below.
The art-style is definitely one of the things that stands out the most when it comes to the presentation. Using an illustrated, Gothic-ink style to bring the world of Lovecraft to life, the game manages maintain the strange and horrific sense of wonder one would expect from a Lovecraft title, while at the same time having a style all its own.
The turn-based combat is also similar to hex-based CRPGs, but it has the added benefit of environmental cover similar to XCOM. There’s a lot of possibilities that could be present using a combat system like that, and hopefully Cultic Games takes full advantage of it.
They mention on the Kickstarter page that the title will see players experiencing some of the strange horrors lifted directly from the Lovecraftian lore, and that they really want to bring them to life with an aesthetic centered around 1920s New England….
“The works of H.P. Lovecraft are elaborately woven into Stygian’s narrative. For example, you’ll use the haunted violin of Erich Zann to lure a fiendish deity, and convince the wretched protagonist of ‘The Outsider’ to join your party. Our goal is to blend the culture and social reality of 1920s New England with cosmic horror to create a living, breathing anti-Utopia.”
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones allows players to create their own character and develop their own personality through various traits, skills and archetypical backgrounds. The game sounds very promising and what they’ve showcased in the demo footage so far looks good.
If you’ve been itching for a horror-themed, turn-based RPG, you might want to consider checking out Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones. The game has already been Greenlit to appear on the Steam store and they still have 24 days to go finish up the Kickstarter project. They have a tentative release date set for November, 2017. You can learn more by visiting the Kickstarter page.
