Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones (Demo)

Mendel

Having nothing better to do today, I took a look at Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones.  I downloaded the Demo and played around a bit.

Very nice game, with a few issues.  I *think* this is still an early access / unfinished game, as the Steam Release Date is today.  But the demo was there, and the game looked interesting.

This is a pretty good implementation of a game set in the Chuthu universe, much like the PnP RP game.  There are a lot of choices in creating a character, and a simple stats and skills system, evocative of Fallout 1/2.  You enter the demo in the town of Arkham which has been separated from the rest of the world.  Also, apparently the old secret gods of the Occult have awaken, and may be the cause of this scenario.

Lots of guns and medications.  Plus an extra helping of despair, and borderline insanity.  Most of the NPCs you meet are well written, each with their own personality, goals and desires.  They also change as you meet them again.  Some want to take advantage of you, others just want to find a safe place and await the end of the world.

I don't know how the final game will be (hopefully a bit more polished), but I was moderately impressed with the demo.  Combat can be deadly, and sanity is vital.  The story unfolds through your dialog, and your character creation affects the dialog choices a good bit.  You can build a limited party (of 3), but supplement this with some (paid) henchmen.  (Sorry, no appearance of 21 or 24).

If you're looking for something a bit different in a Lovecraftian RPG with a lot of atmosphere, and set in the 1920s, this one might be worthy of your Wishlist.

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Arglebargle

Impressed so far.  They really got the ambiance down pat.

Mendel

So far, 1 death, 1 successful completion of the demo, and 1 complete lock up.  But even in the little provided by a demo, I sense that there are quite a number of ways to pursue the game.  In the successful run, I was an Investigator and managed to recruit the Outsider into my group.  In the lock-up game, I didn't get the event(s) that lead to the Outsider joining my group, but I was doing pretty good with Sneaking around.  I haven't figured out how to cast a spell at something yet, assuming that doing so is actually a good idea.  So, the interface needs some work.

So, at least the beginning appears to have multiple ways to try to achieve your goals. How that holds up for the entire game could be interesting.  (Too many optional strategies tend to fall back on the "Hit it" solution in games).

fyehu43

Do you have any idea when will it come out of demo?

Mendel

fyehu43 said:

Do you have any idea when will it come out of demo?

That's a tough question.  Steam seems to think the game is released, as the Release Date is now set at Sep 26.  I *may* have stumbled on this right when it was released, but I'm not sure.

The Steam reviews all praise the atmosphere and flexibility of character creation.  However, there are rampant complaints of all manner of bugs, including the game lock I experienced in the demo.  There are concerns about save game issues, and a couple of complaints about the game being half finished and incomplete.  There are rumors that the developers simply ran out of money and released what they had.  Maybe there is work being done, maybe not.

About the worst complaint is the shortness of the game.  The town is small; you see a good portion of the areas in the demo.  Several reviewers comment on how the game feels completely unfinished and how even the main story line isn't finished.  The game is short enough that many, if not most, of the skills aren't as useful as they should be.

Despite my initial impressions, this may be yet another mess of modern game making.  Some good ideas coupled with indifferent execution compounded by an inadequate budget and questionable business decisions.  I'll keep it on my Wishlist so I can follow it easily, but I doubt I'll ever buy this one unless there is some significant work done to flesh out the game.

The good ideas and atmosphere (and source material) will probably keep me interested at the observer level, but not as a customer.