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

[Young_Hollow]

Its being bundled on Fanatical : https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/guardian-bundle-2

 

[lycanwarrior]

Enjoyed my time with the game but it was definitely not complete with its abrupt ending that doesn't even feel like a cliffhanger whatsoever. Unfortunately, the developers will never to fully complete it to the end either. Such a shame and a waste.

 

[Fedora Master]

Never Trust Turks.

 

[HoboForEternity]

it was really interesting but i dropped it eventually because the combat was dog shit

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Such a waste

 

[Thac0]

I finished it today, I wanted to wrap this up before the steam sale today. Took me 16 hours, but I restarted once upon seeing that the aristrocat has a mandatory companion you can not dismiss, whom I did not like.

It was ok. It really hurts the game that it still postures as a much longer game. The setup is clearly solve the mysterious riddle with four phrases, then you enter the finale. The finale however starts after two phrases in the riddle solved, which makes you feel like you just got ripped off of half the game you purchased. The pure entertainment factor without that feeling was adequate, 15 hours of generally high, but sometimes very marred by bugs and strange design decisions, enjoyment.

I played an Occultist, which is one of the classes hurt by the budget cuts the most. There was an entire spell upgrade system in the game before, of which I only learned after googling if I can savely sell Black Ectoplasm. All of that got scrapped.

Still combat was adequate. The biggest problem was the enemy design, usually it was just 3-5 enemies of the same type, and every enemy type was restricted to a location. Mix and matching the enemy types with more distinctive design would have gone a long way to make combat more satisfying. But every enemy being a melee bruiser with mediocre ranged options as backup was enough for the progression system to feel meaningfull. Getting better knives, spells and pistols (the weapon types I specialised in) felt meaningfull, as they made the enemies fall faster and with less expendure of resolve and health. Especially as the game is a bitch about allowing you to regain your ressources through resting.

The progression and specialisation is a high point of the game. You only get enough points to really spec into two skills, maybe three. I took Occultism, Investigation and Rhetoric. Your two backup characters usually know one non combat skill, so I had science and medicine from them.
All of those were checked frequently, and felt meaningfull to have and balanced against each other. And the game taunted me with other options aswell, I wish I had survival and lockpicking as an example.
Gaining negative feats as your fear rises is clunky as fuck, but overall it somehow works aswell.

Overall the game is janky, buggy, lost potential and a bit cartoony, but there is still some fun to be had with it. The RPG systems, despite being a confusing mesh of overlapping systems, work well.
Given that you basically get it for free as the developers scrounge for money for their next scam I'd say it is worth the time, and maybe even worth the money.

 

[Roguey]

Mix and matching the enemy types with more distinctive design would have gone a long way to make combat more satisfying.

Verisimilitude is more important.

 

[Grauken]

They want more of that sweet Kickstarter money

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1698219403/stygian-a-lovecraftian-computer-rpg/posts/3424491

POLL: What would you expect from us?

Posted by Cultic Games
Feb 8, 2022

Greetings Brethren!

We meet at a crossroads deep within the lightless data tunnels once again.

In these days that we are working on the final chapter of our current game Cats and the Other Lives, we wanted to contact you, our backers, since you are the fulfillers of our feverish dream of becoming game designers. We still owe you for that...

And we have a rather curious question for you:

If we ever make another Kickstarter project, which of the scenarios below would excite you most?

A) A Legacy style Lovecraftian Board Game that continues the themes of Stygian while presenting an interesting mix of tabletop role-playing and board gaming.

B) A CRPG like "Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones" but in another unexpected and fresh setting with unique mechanics.

C) A CRPG to be the spiritual successor of Stygian which continues and expands the themes of Stygian. (The decision for Stygian 2 is not entirely up to us)

You can simply write your preference on the comments section below. Any and all feedback is welcome! What kind of a board game? What kind of an RPG setting? What may work and what may not?

Lastly, we have another announcement to make, blood brothers and sisters. The beta build of "Cats and the Other Lives" will be available for all our backers and you will be able to play the entire game before everyone else. Get ready for some bug hunting though!

Until we meet again, do not forget to make your choice. Just like - just like in a game! Like in one of those games that you ROLEPLAY a character from another time and space! Like in one of those games you play w-within your own head which have CHARACTERS whispering to your ear every now and then, telling you that it is a marvelous idea to open up your neighbor and see if everything's safe and secure...

Oh? You don't play those games?

Your loss then...

Team Cultic

A Very Important Note: There is no planned campaign, no pre-production work done or anything like that so far. This poll is just for us Cultic Games to understand what kind of content you would expect from us and to see if you still support our passion of making weird-ass games with bitter smiles, eaten hearts and a lot of tragedy.

Some nice backer comments

How about you finish the last game and deliver what you promised there?

The steam reviews are in agreement: You released an unfinished disappointment. Fix it before you beg for more money from fans!

Why would I ever give you folks more money? You're basically one cut above scammers. You put out a good idea for a game, collect money, and then produce a buggy demo that is basically unplayable.

Until such a time as you fix Stygian, I won't be backing you and I'll be doing everything I can to make sure no one else does either.

 

[Salvo]

TFW some unwashed polish neckbeards release a mod that's a better game you'll ever make

 

[Verylittlefishes]

They want more of that sweet Kickstarter money

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1698219403/stygian-a-lovecraftian-computer-rpg/posts/3424491

Fix the resolution/font problem, faggots, I still can't see shit in Stygian.

 

[V_K]

Let's not pretend this is some sort of Unknown Realm situation. They released a buggy* game with an unsatisfying ending. Its first 10-12 hours however were pure RPG goodness. As far as kickstarter projects go, this one was not the worst by far.

*though my playthrough was reasonably bug-free, with the exception of one spell.

 

[Grauken]

Let's not pretend this is some sort of Unknown Realm situation. They released a buggy* game with an unsatisfying ending. Its first 10-12 hours however were pure RPG goodness. As far as kickstarter projects go, this one was not the worst by far.

*though my playthrough was reasonably bug-free, with the exception of one spell.

They released half of a game that's buggy. It's not the worst, true, but if they are aiming for that they should stop making games

 

[V_K]

Let's not pretend this is some sort of Unknown Realm situation. They released a buggy* game with an unsatisfying ending. Its first 10-12 hours however were pure RPG goodness. As far as kickstarter projects go, this one was not the worst by far.

*though my playthrough was reasonably bug-free, with the exception of one spell.

They released half of a game that's buggy. It's not the worst, true, but if they are aiming for that they should stop making games

Saying they released half a game is just being edgy for the sake of being edgy. The game is finishable; there aren't any quests you can't complete or areas or NPCs that refer to content that isn't there. It's just that its ending is shit and the ending areas, not very fleshed out. But if we called any game with a shit ending and areas that are not fleshed out enough "half a game", then you'd be able to count "whole" RPGs with your fingers.

 

[Fedora Master]

Never trust Turks.

 

[Grauken]

Let's not pretend this is some sort of Unknown Realm situation. They released a buggy* game with an unsatisfying ending. Its first 10-12 hours however were pure RPG goodness. As far as kickstarter projects go, this one was not the worst by far.

*though my playthrough was reasonably bug-free, with the exception of one spell.

They released half of a game that's buggy. It's not the worst, true, but if they are aiming for that they should stop making games

Saying they released half a game is just being edgy for the sake of being edgy. The game is finishable; there aren't any quests you can't complete or areas or NPCs that refer to content that isn't there. It's just that its ending is shit and the ending areas, not very fleshed out. But if we called any game with a shit ending and areas that are not fleshed out enough "half a game", then you'd be able to count "whole" RPGs with your fingers.

No, I wasn't being edgy. They run out of money and instead of owning up to it released half of what they planned to with an ending that's a cliffhanger and the vague promise we get the rest of the game in a possible sequel that will never get made.

 

[The Wall]

Most comments from their Kickstarter backers support going for option B/C, in other words: another cRPG like Stygian, this time less disappointing and better programmed (they have good art department but terrible programmer, though he should have by now finished his IT college). Stygian was like 5 times smaller then promised, all those who feel game was cut with scimitar in half, feel that way for a reason. Demo was 60% of released game. Classic turkish promise. They should spend less time on Reddit, their writting would improve. Reddit can be smelled from their Kickstarter post's writing, it smells even worse then it used to inside game few years ago

Anyway...Stygian's publisher 1C has strong fetish for Lovecraft, with quite a few published games in that setting. Some even almost good! Hopefully this will be better Stygian:

 

[Morality Games]

They want more of that sweet Kickstarter money

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1698219403/stygian-a-lovecraftian-computer-rpg/posts/3424491

Well, if they make another Lovecraft game, I hope they have a more traditional take on the material where learning even a small detail about a lesser branch of horrors is a big achievement.

I'd be interested in hearing their pitch of a new concept, but taking what they learned from developing Stygian and making another run at it seems like a smarter idea.

 

[Tygrende]

In these days that we are working on the final chapter of our current game Cats and the Other Lives

Ballsy of them to say that when they didn't even finish the final chapter of their first game.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Let's not pretend this is some sort of Unknown Realm situation. They released a buggy* game with an unsatisfying ending. Its first 10-12 hours however were pure RPG goodness. As far as kickstarter projects go, this one was not the worst by far.

*though my playthrough was reasonably bug-free, with the exception of one spell.

They released half of a game that's buggy. It's not the worst, true, but if they are aiming for that they should stop making games

Saying they released half a game is just being edgy for the sake of being edgy. The game is finishable; there aren't any quests you can't complete or areas or NPCs that refer to content that isn't there. It's just that its ending is shit and the ending areas, not very fleshed out. But if we called any game with a shit ending and areas that are not fleshed out enough "half a game", then you'd be able to count "whole" RPGs with your fingers.

The whole city of Ganezzar has like 3 interactable NPCs and no quests, is AoD an unfinished game?

 

[V_K]

Let's not pretend this is some sort of Unknown Realm situation. They released a buggy* game with an unsatisfying ending. Its first 10-12 hours however were pure RPG goodness. As far as kickstarter projects go, this one was not the worst by far.

*though my playthrough was reasonably bug-free, with the exception of one spell.

They released half of a game that's buggy. It's not the worst, true, but if they are aiming for that they should stop making games

Saying they released half a game is just being edgy for the sake of being edgy. The game is finishable; there aren't any quests you can't complete or areas or NPCs that refer to content that isn't there. It's just that its ending is shit and the ending areas, not very fleshed out. But if we called any game with a shit ending and areas that are not fleshed out enough "half a game", then you'd be able to count "whole" RPGs with your fingers.

No, I wasn't being edgy. They run out of money and instead of owning up to it released half of what they planned to with an ending that's a cliffhanger and the vague promise we get the rest of the game in a possible sequel that will never get made.

Again, if we called "unfinished" every game that didn't deliver on what the devs promised during production, there'd be no finished games.
They had to cut a lot of corners, but they released a playable and finishable game that's even fun for the first 10-12 hours. That's a better track record than many "finished" games out there.

 

[Tygrende]

The whole city of Ganezzar has like 3 interactable NPCs and no quests, is AoD an unfinished game?

Imagine if AoD was exactly the way it is, only difference being you trip and die on your way to Ganezzar. No explanation, no conclusion to the search for the temple, you just die. That's what Stygian is.

Again, if we called "unfinished" every game that didn't deliver on what the devs promised during production, there'd be no finished games.

The game is literally unfinished and the devs admitted as much themselves. It doesn't just have some missing content in it, the entire main plotline never even came close to conclusion. They promised full on fucking all night long but left after five minutes of jerking us off.

 

[Grauken]

Let's not pretend this is some sort of Unknown Realm situation. They released a buggy* game with an unsatisfying ending. Its first 10-12 hours however were pure RPG goodness. As far as kickstarter projects go, this one was not the worst by far.

*though my playthrough was reasonably bug-free, with the exception of one spell.

They released half of a game that's buggy. It's not the worst, true, but if they are aiming for that they should stop making games

Saying they released half a game is just being edgy for the sake of being edgy. The game is finishable; there aren't any quests you can't complete or areas or NPCs that refer to content that isn't there. It's just that its ending is shit and the ending areas, not very fleshed out. But if we called any game with a shit ending and areas that are not fleshed out enough "half a game", then you'd be able to count "whole" RPGs with your fingers.

No, I wasn't being edgy. They run out of money and instead of owning up to it released half of what they planned to with an ending that's a cliffhanger and the vague promise we get the rest of the game in a possible sequel that will never get made.

Again, if we called "unfinished" every game that didn't deliver on what the devs promised during production, there'd be no finished games.

There's a difference between having a critical path for your main plot and being able to scale down by cutting out parts or making them smaller while still telling the whole story, or a chapter approach to stories where you think you can tell the whole story in the next chapter, or the next part of your series and focusing your entire energy on your current chapter/section of the game you develop because you already have something in mind for the ending, you just need more time, space, etc. to tell the whole story. That second approach has never produced greatness. Even when backed by lots of money it leads to series that get hijacked by other producers/other interests. If your game doesn't tell the whole story but banks on a sequel to do that, it's unfinished.

AoD wasn't unfinished, it told the whole story it wanted to tell. Stygian didn't

 

[V_K]

My point is, if we didn't know there was more story planned, we woouldn't really be able to tell. There are very few rather subtle things in the game that point at more, the main offender being the poem. In and of itself, the story of Stygian has a conclusion, it's just not a good one. If I was reaching, I would even say that an ending that doesn't leave everything resolved kinda is a staple of horror genre.

 

[Tygrende]

My point is, if we didn't know there was more story planned, we woouldn't really be able to tell. There are very few rather subtle things in the game that point at more, the main offender being the poem.

Oh yeah, the poem that literally spells out the prerequisites to meeting the mysterious figure from the beginning. Which has been the one and only goal for the entire game from the very start. Very subtle indeed. Couldn't have guessed there was supposed to be more than just collapsing on the floor at the end.

 

[Roguey]

They could have released a finished game if they weren't so delusional about what they could accomplish with the funds they had. At least they were less delusional than the Realms Beyond folks though.