Stygian - Review @ PC Invasion

PC Invasion has reviewed Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones:

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones review | 1920 blaze it

Get high, punch Cthulhu

Eldritch horror! It’s all the rage these days. Poor ol’ Lovecraft could have hardly hoped to leave such a long-lasting legacy. However, we don’t often get RPGs that so directly interact with the source materials of the Mythos. For the longest time, one had to resort to pen and paper RPGs. Today, on the other hand, you can play Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones.

In Stygian, you play as one of the luckless Gilded Age people who found themselves in Arkham on the Black Day. This fictional Massachusetts town is integral to H.P. Lovecraft’s stories, and now, it has found itself ripped from Earth and hurled somewhere else. Life is hard in this maddening dimension, and by the time you start the game, everything has gone to pits. Yet the mysterious Dismal Man appeared in your dream last night, and you now have a clue to follow. Try not to lose your head – literally and metaphorically.

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Conclusion out of space

Here is where I should note one thing: the game is shorter than you’d expect, and it ends somewhat abruptly. The developers addressed it in a Kickstarter update dated five days before release. All in all, I accept their reasoning. I enjoyed Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones and wish it had gone on for double the length. As it stands, the 15-20 hours of gameplay don’t cover the entirety of the planned 50-hour plot. I can only hope that the rest will be introduced as DLC or a sequel.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed every moment of playing Stygian: Reign of Old Ones. There may be questionable decisions in including such a wide variety of mythos creatures in a single release, but the decision to set the game basically after the end of the world (as far as Arkham is concerned) is a fresh take. Stygian oozes atmosphere, craft, and effort. I love it, it’s great, and you should play it.

Score: 9/10