Survive a Lovecraftian post-apocalypse in Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
Stygian is a hand-drawn RPG about set one year after Lovecraft's Great Old Ones rose from their slumber.
Between the new Call of Cthulhu and The Sinking City, it's a great time to be a fan of Lovecraft-inspired video games. But you should also put Stygian on your list for a hand-drawn Mythos RPG that might be the bleakest yet.
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones takes place in Lovecraft's Arkham one year after the apocalypse. The city has been dragged into an eldritch realm where ghosts, cultists, and monsters wander the streets. Yet somehow, human life continues, at least for the moment.
When the game begins, you'll create a character based on 1920s archetypes and choose a goal to pursue. Perhaps your hero wants to save themselves, have vengeance on an enemy, or something else. From there, you'll need to explore the post-apocalyptic Arkham, gathering characters from Lovecraftian lore as companions.
Stygian makes one fact clear: you cannot save the world. Only personal goals are possible, and even then, success is far from assured.
As with any true Lovecraft game, sanity loss is a key feature. At character creation, players choose a Belief that determines how you cope with the crawling chaos, and quickly your sanity regenerates. During your quest, you might discover spells that sacrifice sanity for incredible powers. But if your sanity gets too low, dialogue options will also be reduced - or new roleplaying paths might open among the monsters.
Stygian: Reign of the Old Gods will launch for PC in 2019, but you can check out the Steam demo now.