Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones Preview

The folks over at PC Gamer recently had a chance to check out a playable build of Cultic Games’ upcoming Lovecraftian RPG Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones. As a result, we can now check out their hands-on preview of the game. The preview covers Stygian’s character creation, exploration and combat, and is peppered with a number of quotes from the game’s developers. A snippet:

Along the way I hire a dashing Cuban immigrant named Eduardo, who approaches me in the streets. Henchmen are hireable NPCs whose loyalty is bought and paid for but they have no inventory and can’t level up. Soon afterward we see a creepy figure wrapped in bandages being assaulted by townsfolk. I decide to intervene, drawing us into combat.

Oral describes the combat system as a combination of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and the first two Fallout Games, which is a lot to live up to. We take turns moving on a hex grid, exactly like the HoMM series. Each character has eight action points and I have to balance movement, melee attacks, and ranged attacks accordingly.

The hand-drawn art style suffers a bit in combat with limited animation, and the drab townsfolk aren’t exactly exciting enemies, but I can already see the potential for rewarding tactical combat. With my trusty rifle and Eduardo’s pistol we make short work of the enemy forces. My rifle packs a punch (the perk of being an explorer) but Oral warns that ammo is scarce and expensive.