KickStarter Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - a Lovecraftian Computer RPG

[Iluvcheezcake]

It's made by a team of artists who needed a technical person who understood how to build a game in unity. Honestly, as a first attempt (I think it was all of the team's first game), it's good. Hopefully they can reflect and acknowledge the deficiencies so their next game caries the spirit they put into Stygian, but with better technical execution.

https://mobile.twitter.com/catsvideogame

 

[Diggfinger]

This game looks so many different flavors of awesome I don't know where to begin.

If that trailer represents real game play they sold me for certain already. Looks very immersive and Lovecraft theme is a win. Also anything without rendered graphics nowadays is a huge plus. Love that handpainted Charles Addams look.

Will get this as soon as it comes out.

So Cleve, what is your final opinion on Stygian?

I just played it recently for the first time.

 

[Cleveland Mark Blakemore]

This game looks so many different flavors of awesome I don't know where to begin.

If that trailer represents real game play they sold me for certain already. Looks very immersive and Lovecraft theme is a win. Also anything without rendered graphics nowadays is a huge plus. Love that handpainted Charles Addams look.

Will get this as soon as it comes out.

So Cleve, what is your final opinion on Stygian?

I just played it recently for the first time.

Great artwork, great design, great concept, great setting.

Actual engine ... urgh. Needed a lot of work. Game mechanics were pretty rough and seemed like they were not tested at all.

 

[Tacgnol]

This game looks so many different flavors of awesome I don't know where to begin.

If that trailer represents real game play they sold me for certain already. Looks very immersive and Lovecraft theme is a win. Also anything without rendered graphics nowadays is a huge plus. Love that handpainted Charles Addams look.

Will get this as soon as it comes out.

So Cleve, what is your final opinion on Stygian?

I just played it recently for the first time.

Great artwork, great design, great concept, great setting.

Actual engine ... urgh. Needed a lot of work. Game mechanics were pretty rough and seemed like they were not tested at all.

Sums up a lot of Kickstarter games sadly.

 

[V_K]

Needed a lot of work.

How many microissues?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Needed a lot of work.

How many microissues?

All

 

[waken]

It's made by a team of artists who needed a technical person who understood how to build a game in unity. Honestly, as a first attempt (I think it was all of the team's first game), it's good. Hopefully they can reflect and acknowledge the deficiencies so their next game caries the spirit they put into Stygian, but with better technical execution.

https://mobile.twitter.com/catsvideogame

Will Lovecraft's cat make an appearance?

 

[Fedora Master]

This game looks so many different flavors of awesome I don't know where to begin.

If that trailer represents real game play they sold me for certain already. Looks very immersive and Lovecraft theme is a win. Also anything without rendered graphics nowadays is a huge plus. Love that handpainted Charles Addams look.

Will get this as soon as it comes out.

So Cleve, what is your final opinion on Stygian?

I just played it recently for the first time.

Great artwork, great design, great concept, great setting.

Needed a lot of work.

Yea, ACTUALLY FINISHING IT for example.

 

[lightbane]

This might be of interest to someone. He did a LP of Numanuma too!

https://lparchive.org/Stygian-Reign-of-the-Old-Ones/

 

[baud]

This might be of interest to someone. He did a LP of Numanuma too!

https://lparchive.org/Stygian-Reign-of-the-Old-Ones/

There's already one on the Codex, though: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/stygian-the-reign-of-the-small-font.130129/

 

[cruel]

The game is 80% off on Steam right now.

Still, not sure if I should buy it, seeing all those reports about game breaking bugs and the game being half finished. But maybe worth it just for the atmosphere?

 

[Zombra]

I would say there's easily $6 worth of fun here as long as you don't have a completionist attitude and insist on finishing.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[ERYFKRAD]

don't have a completionist attitude

Why even bother

 

[Roguey]

Still, not sure if I should buy it, seeing all those reports about game breaking bugs

In my unpatched run I came across no game-stoppers.

But maybe worth it just for the atmosphere?

Oh sure.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

But maybe worth it just for the atmosphere?

Oh sure.

Is it though? The aesthetics are nice and all, but the game itself is just too barebones and the ending section (from the mental asylum onward) feels just rushed.

 

[Roguey]

Is it though? The aesthetics are nice and all, but the game itself is just too barebones and the ending section (from the mental asylum onward) feels just rushed.

I wrote a review.

 

[newtmonkey]

I bought this a while ago but finally put some time (roughly 3.5 hours) into it just now.

It's not bad. I have the sneaking suspicion that a lot of the choices you select are not really choices, though I did have one encounter that used my soldier background so there's that. It seems like the game might be worth replaying with a different build, but it might just be smoke and mirrors. More importantly, I like the scenario and all the little references to Lovecraft stories are fun. What can I say, I am a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan.

It's got actual resource management, at least early on, so I give it props for that. It's also got party-based, turn-based combat so that's like an extra 3/10 points in its favor as far as I'm concerned. Having said that, combat might be trash... it's hard to say only a few hours in. Either way, it's waaaaay tooooooo slooooooow. After a year and half of playing old DOS RPGs, having to wait anywhere from 3-8 seconds for every single animation of every single character is torture. Even the simplest of encounters takes at least 10 minutes. It seems like a massive waste of time, as enemies were dancing around the screen and then doing 1 damage to characters with 40-80 HPs. What's the point?

I think I like it enough that I'll finish it. A cliffhanger ending doesn't bother me much at all.

 

[V_K]

It seems like the game might be worth replaying with a different build, but it might just be smoke and mirrors.

It's not smoke and mirrors. There really is a shitload of alternative build-dependent solutions in every quest, as well as some optional build-related content. It's very similar to Quest for Glory in that regard.
The first half of the game is absolutely great, one of the best RPGs in recent years. But after about 10-hour mark it starts declining, and then utterly fails to land the ending.

 

[newtmonkey]

V_K
Thanks for information. It's good to hear the game is not just pulling my leg.
It's interesting you mentioned QfG, as I was thinking while playing it that it seems more like an adventure game with RPG elements (ala QfG) than a "pure" RPG.

 

[V_K]

Well, personally I consider QfG a much purer RPG than many games where all the build difference boils down to whether you hack a goblin with a sword or shoot him with a fireball.

 

[newtmonkey]

GfQ is indeed a fantastic RPG!

 

[chuft]

Bought it for $6. Think I'm going to get a refund. Most of the trial period has been spent trying to figure out the character creation (no clues given - is a 6 in something exponentially better than a 5, or a minor incremental difference, or a total cutoff value like in Wasteland 2 for locks). Was going to be a depraved occultist till I realized it seems to give you a penalty in occult research, which seems dumb.

First convo is with the bartender, who says my female character reminds him of a "cornuto" and then explains that means cuck, and curses constantly. About the least Lovecraftian 1920s dialog I can imagine. Leave memes out of the "atmospheric" game please.

Then I realized this is a real time game and I am taking starvation damage despite starting with several rations and buying more. What were they thinking. Who wants to have a buggy food/starve system in a game where you want to read dialogue and admire the art and it doesn't pause?

I don't think I would want to play this even if it was free.

 

[Roguey]

Most of the trial period has been spent trying to figure out the character creation (no clues given - is a 6 in something exponentially better than a 5, or a minor incremental difference, or a total cutoff value like in Wasteland 2 for locks).

Look at your derived stats..?

First convo is with the bartender, who says my female character reminds him of a "cornuto" and then explains that means cuck, and curses constantly. About the least Lovecraftian 1920s dialog I can imagine. Leave memes out of the "atmospheric" game please.

"Cuckold" isn't a meme, it's a word from the 1200s; cornuto from the 1400s. But yes, they weren't trying to go for a fictional sanitized 1920s.

Then I realized this is a real time game and I am taking starvation damage despite starting with several rations and buying more. What were they thinking. Who wants to have a buggy food/starve system in a game where you want to read dialogue and admire the art and it doesn't pause?

Should have read my review!

 

[Delterius]

who says my female character reminds him of a "cornuto" and then explains that means cuck

thats not a meme you uncultured swine