Greetings The RPG Site Forum dwellers,

We are a gaming studio called Cultic Games. As a team we're developing a Lovecraft themed computer RPG called "Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones". We hope that horror literature admirers like you (and like us can get interested in our game. You can find some screenshots and info below. We want to create the best possible experience with your feedback. Let's be in touch!





INTRODUCTION

   "Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones" is a supernatural horror roleplaying video game which takes place in the strange worlds of Howard Philips Lovecraft. Stygian will draw the player into a bleak journey from a ruined Arkham to the very depths of the Abyss.

   The gameplay experience promises a mix of rich role-playing and turn based tactical combat in an authentic 2D graphical style reminiscent of 20's illustrations.In Stygian, players create their characters from scratch with a robust selection of archetypal backgrounds with different origin stories, attributes, skills, traits and lastly belief systems which determine how characters replenish their lost sanity, also presenting unique dialog choices.

   The narrative of the game is strongly connected to the works of H. P. Lovecraft. In your quest, you'll use the haunted violin of Erich Zann to lure a fiendish deity and convince the poor wretched protogonist of "The Outsider" to join your party among many others.The heavy burden of fighting a desperate battle with forces beyond recognition will haunt you to the end of the game.

   Physical combat will be scarce and difficult, spellcasting will have deep and dangerous consequences, sanity loss will leave its marks on characters as mental illnesses and sometimes the best solution will be running away from the terrors that lurk in the night. Stygian embraces the original themes of gothic, pulp and weird fiction, incorporating them into the computer roleplaying genre, promising a fresh (or putrid from another perspective) breath of air for roleplaying fans.





HISTORY

   Your former life was in bliss of ignorance until you've awakened to the darkness waiting to devour our very existence on the doorstep of our fragile dimension. Something terrible left its eons old slumber and the reality as we know it, collapsed. The town of Arkham was pulled to somewhere not from this world and its residents are in the shadow of absolute terror. As a survivor of the catastrophe you should investigate the strange occurrences in the city and survive the rising darkness physically and mentally, if possible...





FEATURES

• A hand drawn 2D world which reflects the mood of Lovecraft and the pulp era of horror.
• Quests and storylines which capture the iconic themes of Lovecraft. Take part in your favorite horror stories and shape their outcome according to your role-playing style.
• Weirdest of the companions will accompany you in your accursed journey. Lonely antediluvian of "The Outsider", a dead WW1 soldier reanimated in the hands of "Herbert West", a psychic narcissistic cat from Ulthar and more will be among your eccentric cast of companions.
• Sanity and the mental state of the character will have influence on the dialog options. Mental conditions create benefits as well as hindrances. Sometimes being mad in a mad world helps.
• Belief Systems determine what the characters find comfort in and regenerate lost sanity alongside providing unique role-playing opportunities. A rational character gains sanity after completing a research on a mythos creature while a divine one gains sanity after converting a lost soul to the path of God.
• A unique spell system which sometimes takes more than what it gives. The black magic of Stygian is very potent but will cost you your mind, health and sometimes your very soul. Being a master of the true occult is not like flinging colorful missiles from your finger tips.
• Turn based strategic combat in beautiful 2D with "Heroes of Might and Magic" like perspective.
• 7 different backgrounds with completely unique prologue stories and specialities to breathe life into the Lovecraftian archetypes.
• The struggle is not for saving the world, that battle is lost already. Track your personal goal for salvation or vendetta in a doomed world.





Acolyte of the unfathomable. Do you dare enter its' den?





Here is the Pickman Ghoul from the Stygian bestiary.





Beware the Esoteric Order of Dagon!!!

Enjoy the "Investigator" Archetype, one among 7 different archetypes which can be chosen by our players.

*Prologue Story: The character is an ex-cop who currently works as a private investigator. The latest case of a missing child turned out to be much more complicated than a common kidnapping.
*Investigation, Firearms and Psychology skills will be able to reach the maximum level.
*An Investigator is more likely to find hidden items and will have unique dialog options with NPC's from the same background.





NEW CHARACTER ANIMATION!!!
NEW CHARACTER ANIMATION!!!
NEW CHARACTER ANIMATION!!!





Here's the "Academic" Archetype.

*Prologue Story: The character was a researcher at Miskatonic University. When he was sent to a remote expedition, he couldn't be aware of the doom waiting him patiently under the frigid wastes.
*Science, psychology and medicine skills will be able to reach the maximum level.
*A character with academic background will benefit more from books and have unique dialog options with npc's from the same background.





Seeking answers in fungi infested moon of Nithon.





Here comes our next selectable Archetype; "Secret Society".

*Prologue: The character is a member of a hidden order. The backing of the order made the life easier so far, but the initiation rite to the inner circle may involve some complications...
*Occult, investigation and medicine skills will be able to reach the maximum level.
*A player character with a Secret Society background is less likely to suffer from the negative effects and costs of spells and have unique dialog options with npcs from the same background.




Our next archetype is the "Aristocrat".

*The character is the sole remnant of a noble family. The return to the family manor after the loss of the mother may not bring pleasant memories.
*Finance, speechcraft and occult skills will be able to reach the maximum level.
*A character with aristocracy background starts the game with a special henchman and have unique dialog options with npc's from the same background.





"You will feel despair."




Survival against Mi-go on a distant moon. Will the dark arts help you?





Nameless Soldier will be among the most eccentric of your companions. He is a lost soul who was re-animated at the hands of Dr. Herbert West during the World War I. Nameless Soldier is doomed to re-live the hell of the front-lines in his trapped mind. He is proficient with firearms and more enduring than the most physically advanced player characters. Sadly, he has a tendency to re-live his memories and lose control of himself in battle.





We'd like to share some of our influences on Stygian. These books and games are what we call designer protein. We hope you got a taste for an elegant turkish carpet as well.

Note: After the decision of creating Stygian, no designer opened the cover of CoC role playing game in order to separate our vision from Chaosium's. The book is over there just to show our respect. Stygian project travels back to the roots and is solely influenced by the works of H.P.L. himself when it comes to Mythos territory.





"SLEEP NO MORE."

http://www.stygianthegame.com

Here's the "Criminal" archetype;

*The character is a hired gun for a mafia boss. The last stop on a long night of collecting tribute was a nightclub which is known for its patrons' rather peculiar taste for entertainment.
*Subterfuge, firearms and stealth skills will be able to reach the maximum level.
*A character with crime background gains more money from stealing and have unique dialogue options with NPCs from the same background.

Quote from: Scrawled;893260As a team we're developing a Lovecraft themed computer RPG called "Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones".

HOLY F*! This looks sweet! :jaw-dropping:

It reminds me of Arcanum, one of my most favorite cRPGs ever.

Tell me, please: whether the party number will be limited to [x at time], or there will be possibility to gather all companions and together roam the world?

Also, some links, project's site?

Seeing how you first posted screens of combat rather than perhaps investigative minigames or dialogues - I'll pass.

Enjoy the "Investigator" Archetype, one among 7 different archetypes which can be chosen by our players.

*Prologue Story: The character is an ex-cop who currently works as a private investigator. The latest case of a missing child turned out to be much more complicated than a common kidnapping.
*Investigation, Firearms and Psychology skills will be able to reach the maximum level.
*An Investigator is more likely to find hidden items and will have unique dialog options with NPC's from the same background.





NEW CHARACTER ANIMATION!!!
NEW CHARACTER ANIMATION!!!
NEW CHARACTER ANIMATION!!!





Here's the "Academic" Archetype.

*Prologue Story: The character was a researcher at Miskatonic University. When he was sent to a remote expedition, he couldn't be aware of the doom waiting him patiently under the frigid wastes.
*Science, psychology and medicine skills will be able to reach the maximum level.
*A character with academic background will benefit more from books and have unique dialog options with npc's from the same background.





Seeking answers in fungi infested moon of Nithon.





Here comes our next selectable Archetype, "Secret Society".

*Prologue: The character is a member of a hidden order. The backing of the order made the life easier so far, but the initiation rite to the inner circle may involve some complications...
*Occult, investigation and medicine skills will be able to reach the maximum level.
*A player character with a Secret Society background is less likely to suffer from the negative effects and costs of spells and have unique dialog options with npcs from the same background.




Our next archetype is the "Aristocrat".

*The character is the sole remnant of a noble family. The return to the family manor after the loss of the mother may not bring pleasant memories.
*Finance, speechcraft and occult skills will be able to reach the maximum level.
*A character with aristocracy background starts the game with a special henchman and have unique dialog options with npc's from the same background.


"You will feel despair."





Survival against Mi-go on a distant moon. Will the dark arts help you?





Nameless Soldier will be among the most eccentric of your companions. He is a lost soul who was re-animated at the hands of Dr. Herbert West during the World War I.*Nameless Soldier*is doomed to re-live the hell of the front-lines in his trapped mind. He is proficient with firearms and more enduring than the most physically advanced player characters. Sadly, he has a tendency to re-live his memories and lose control of himself in battle.





We'd like to share some of our influences on Stygian. These books and games are what we call designer protein. We hope you got a taste for an elegant turkish carpet as well.

Note: After the decision of creating Stygian, no designer opened the cover of CoC role playing game in order to separate our vision from Chaosium's. The book is over there just to show our respect. Stygian project travels back to the roots and is solely influenced by the works of H.P.L. himself when it comes to Mythos territory.






"SLEEP NO MORE."

http://www.stygianthegame.com

Hails JesterRaiin!

Thank you very much for the compliments. Your party can include 2 additional npcs that you can recruit along the way. Different chapters will have different npcs, all having their unique background stories, motivations, advantages and disadvantages. You may have to leave them behind in some scenes, and some of them will haunt and curse you for leaving or betraying them.

You will definitely have fun managing them and sometimes the right decision to survive will be a hard and painful one. Your companions will live and breathe just like your own player character and they will present lots of surprises as you go along. You will get to experience most npcs in a full game campaign but seeing and experiencing all of them will require you to play the game again and again with different player character archetypes. It will not be possible to gather them all together though, as there is a party limit as mentioned above.

Quote from: JesterRaiin;893540HOLY F*! This looks sweet! :jaw-dropping:

It reminds me of Arcanum, one of my most favorite cRPGs ever.

Tell me, please: whether the party number will be limited to [x at time], or there will be possibility to gather all companions and together roam the world?

Also, some links, project's site?

Quote from: Scrawled;893646It will not be possible to gather them all together though, as there is a party limit as mentioned above.

Damn. This is what drives me insane. Still, the game looks decent enough that I'll consider embracing a little more madness.

btw, nice selection of inspirational material. I'd risk and guess that Arcanum crpg was among games that influenced STYGIAN too?

Kinda looks like a HOMM3 heartbreaker, really.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem are both still easily available.

Holy Crap, Mordheim was released in hardcover? :eek:

Well, it looks interesting and fun enough to me to consider backing, and I've never backed a computer game before. I just hope there's not too much Wraith in there.

Definitely might be fun, and might give you a poke in late beta.

I like the artwork/design and premise of the setting and can't help but think it might also make for a fun tabletop RPG.

Here's the "Performer" archetype;

*The character is an actress/actor for a wandering drama troupee. After arriving in Arkham, a wealthy woman asked for a private performance in her own mansion. How can you refuse such a deep admirer of theater?
*Speechcraft, athletics and stealth skills will be able to reach the maximum level.
*A character with performance background increases the morale of companions and have unique dialog options with npc's from the same background.

Some folks say that she is from a land called Ulthar.
Some say that she was once human, now trapped in a cat's body.
Only Dusky knows the truth and she likes to keep it to herself.
The important thing is that you'll obey her when she desires your submission.
You'll love her, so that she may like you in return.



Dusky will be able to join your party and can help your cause greatly with her psychic powers, but if you do have to refuse her, may God help you....