Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones is a classic two-dimensional cRPG with a turn-based combat system, set in a world created by the legendary American writer H.P. Lovecraft. The game was created by an independent Turkish studio, Cultic Games, and its production was partly financed thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.

Story

Action game Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones takes us to the town of Arkham, which one day was detached from the Earth and moved to a strange and dark place, somewhere between dimensions. Since that memorable event, called Black Day by the inhabitants, the familiar world has disappeared, and the ghost of ancient, dark forces is looming over the town, having awaken after centuries of sleep. During the game, we play the role of one of the survivors of Arkham, who tries to find an answer to the question of what actually happened to his world and whether it is possible to oppose evil by restoring the old order of things.

Mechanics

Stygian's gameplay formula refers to classic cRPG productions from the late 90s, such as Planescape: Torment or the first installments of the Fallout series, on which the game developers themselves grew up. While playing, we are engaged in exploration, conducting extensive dialogues and performing subsequent main and side tasks, practically always rooted in the rich work of H.P. Lovecraft. When we enter the game, our first task is to create our own hero using several available character archetypes with different origins, attributes, skills and belief systems. This element significantly modifies the style of the game and the methods, in which our character will be able to cope with the difficulties encountered. Each of the archetypes has also received a slightly different prologue, combining with the main plot of the game. As the game progresses, our party can also be joined by numerous and very original NPCs.

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones does not lack opportunities to fight, although it is a rather rare element and often a more profitable solution turns out to be to escape. On our way stands a whole lot of monsters not from this world, as well as mysterious cultists and other enemies. The battles resemble combat in the famous Heroes of Might and Magic and take place in a turn-based system, on separate screens divided into hexagonal fields. During the fight we can use the skills of individual heroes, as well as different types of white and black magic. An interesting fact is, however, that the use of magical abilities affects our character,having a negative impact on their physical or mental attributes.

As befits a cRPG, Stygian also has an extensive character progression system. To a certain extent it is determined by the character's archetype chosen at the beginning, but it does not limit us completely, allowing for a lot of freedom to develop and combine different skills in order to achieve various effects. One of the essential elements of the game, taken from more modern productions, is also a complex system of crafting. By using our knowledge and skills to combine items, in the game we can create not only weapons and equipment, but also spells.

Technical aspects

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones is characterized by isometeic hand-drawn two-dimensional visuals, unusual for a contemporary cRPG, made in a style similar to illustrations from old books. The whole thing combines inspirations from the works of H.P. Lovecraft with historical knowledge concerning the period of the 1920s presented in the game.

Last updated on March 8, 2020