Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones

It's good, they should have finished it! But I understand, sometimes things don't get finished...

„I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked“ - Allen Ginsbergs „Howl“

Lovecraftowski klimat, gdzie każdy ma zły dzień… a ty masz najgorszy możliwy 😄 Próbujesz ogarnąć świat, ale im więcej rozumiesz, tym bardziej tracisz sanity — czyli dokładnie odwrotnie niż w życiu (albo i nie 💀). Rozmowy dziwniejsze niż twoje sny, decyzje bez dobrych zakończeń i poczucie, że cokolwiek zrobisz… i tak kosmiczne coś już ma na ciebie wywalone 😅

So I just finished my first playthrough with the Esoteric Background. I can definitely say it was an interesting experience. The developers have so much potential with their storytelling, and for what seems to be their first foray into this type of game, with such a small team at that, it has done wonders. However, I feel there are some things that aren't fully explored. Now, I could just not be looking well enough while playing, but it never seemed that many of the divergent storylines really came together, rather all just seemed to end rather abruptly. Mind you, that is somewhat poetic in the case of ever present monstrosities and esoteric nightmares the likes of which no sane person could ever withstand, but it more caught me off guard. I wanted to hear more about what or whom the Outsider was, or help Sonia do more to find her lost lover, though knowing Randolph as he is, his truest fate was far more grim than what she could have found. Either way, decent game, not bad for it's price, but you should get it on sale if possible.

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 If this game were a person they would be a Dungeon-Master with a doctorate in the same from Harvard or better yet Oxford or a Wordsmith at the Royal Academy of Arts & Sciences with another doctorate in Female Pleasure studies from Cambridge or Harvard. A must buy if not for you then for the pizza you never bought your dog or cat or for the seed you never fed those always starving wild birds. Wordlow Oliver 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Un GDR investigativo con elementi di combattimento tattico a turni e survival, è molto difficile rendere l'atmosfera di lovecraft ma questo gioco ci riesce bene. Il fatto che non sia localizzato in italiano è una pecca, anche se basta un inglese base per riuscire a goderselo, mi spiace solo che i compaesani appassionati di lovecraft che non conoscono l'inglese possano trovarlo poco accessibile. Se devo trovargli dei difetti, le animazioni non mi piacciono (non amo l'effetto dei pezzi "incollati" come le marionette) e in genere il bilanciamento sarebbe un po' da rivedere, perché passi dal molto difficile al molto facile se fai qualche scelta più ponderata. Nel complesso, lo consiglio anche agli amanti di lovecraft che desiderano anche solo un'avventura narrativa, i combattimenti sono più come dei puzzle mentre il lato survival con qualche furberia si risolve facilmente. Tralasciando le animazioni, i disegni sono davvero molto belli ed adatti al contesto e l'atmosfera.

noioso

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tl;dr: Best Lovecraftian game, which I would totally recommend although it's story is sadly unfinished. This game evoked very intensive but also ambivalent feelings in me. It is by most the best Lovecraftian game adaptation I have played until today: It has a really tense and desperate atmosphere, a beautiful and horroesque scenery, detail-oriented word building and literature references and weird, eccentric companions, who can truly grow dear to your heart. The early game is just great. You get a natural feeling for how things work (at least most of the time) and the story developement feels very naturally and smooth. All these different quest, encounters and small pieces of the picture, which seem to stand alone and for themself in the beginning, come together as the game progresses. Surviving felt hard, but not impossible. You have to make sacrifices and compromisses but you can live to see another day, beat another fight etc. The story makes you want to know and experience more of it and this diretly connects to the sad and tragic downsides. Because of different reasons it couldn't get the ending, it deserved and while it is a understandable decision to cut some point of the story and preserve it for a possible Sequel, it left the game feeling really unfinished and a bit dissatisfying. Not because it ends on a cliffhanger, but because you feel, that this was not intended originally. The last part of the game breaks the previous natural flow of events and the quest are not as good designed as before. The main questline remains open and the character progression (stats, perks etc.) at this point feels a little useless. But the most and utter disappointment is the fact, that it seems as there is very little hope for a sequel from the same studio and for the finishing of the story the game deserves. (If somebody has specific information on this, please let me know but after all these years, it would be a miracle to get a second part.) Stygian made me feel like falling in love with something, you know isn't going to last. A feeling which fits really well in it's dark and hopeless world of eldritch horrors.

Nice Drawing/Story its for a real lovercraftian .