Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones

Lore & Background

The game takes place in the 1920s, where the town of Arkham is transported to an otherworldly location amid the awakening of Cthulhu Mythos deities. In the resulting chaos, organized crime seizes power, a powerful cult rises, and many inhabitants go insane. Players control a resident who follows hints left by a figure called the Dismal Man, seeking answers. Characters can be custom-created or chosen from pre-made options, with backgrounds including occultists, scholars, and criminals. Choices during character generation affect dialogue and gameplay. Additional characters can be recruited from villagers and Lovecraftian fantasy races.

Reader's Guide

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones received positive reviews on Metacritic. RPGamer praised its writing, role-playing potential, and complexity, but criticized the combat, the need to manage multiple health scores, and the ending, which they described as 'incredibly rushed'. Rock Paper Shotgun commended the game's focus on role-playing and its depiction of Lovecraftian horror. Bloody Disgusting called the combat a poorly-explained chore, but recommended it to fans of atmospheric and slow-paced role-playing games. The game's development was funded via Kickstarter in 2016, and it was released on September 26, 2019 for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its legacy lies in its attempt to blend tactical combat with deep psychological mechanics, though its combat and ending drew mixed reactions.

Did You Know?

• The game was funded via Kickstarter in 2016.
• Combat is turn-based and uses a hex grid.
• Sanity is measured like hit points and can be recovered by resting, solving quests, or role-playing.
• The developer modeled gameplay after Fallout, Baldur's Gate, and Planescape Torment.