Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Website: https://www.gog.com/game/stygian_reign_of_the_old_ones
Price: $29
When I say H.P. Lovecraft, you immediately think of Cthulhu? Right? What if I told you Lovecraft mentioned Cthulhu only in Mountains of madness? Almost everything else you read about the Cthulhu mythos is a community project? This is a shining example of what the community can do. Countless fan fiction that adds to the mythos. Which is another reason I like the Cthulhu mythos, there are so many possibilities. Building on this mythos, is a game at GOG that is Linux compatible. It can be yours for the low-low price of $30, ouch! What?
Let us see if this game lives up to the price tag.
Story:
The adventure is set in the town of Arkham. I’m the Batman! - No, not that Arkham. Here the town is a 1920’s-type town (or shall I say Victorian era?) that is also trapped in another dimension. As with most of the Cthulhu mythos, this story revolves around your sanity. So, it is no wonder the story starts with you in bed, and a creepy character watches you sleep. You follow this character into the shadier parts of town. Until the ‘shrooms kick in and you start seeing things. Okay now….
Gameplay:
Like with most role-play games, you need a character. You can choose from eight pre-made ones, or you can roll your own. The nice thing about this character creation mechanism is that you get to choose things like age, and it has an effect. Backgrounds are not just for show either, they too have an effect. Should you choose the pre-made Sherlock Holmes character, you get proficiencies in guns, investigation, stealth and psychology. This affects your speech options with NPC’s as well, not just combat. Speaking of combat, you do not have to fight immediately, you can sneak and loot and barter. Character perception is investigation and the higher the ‘stats’, the easier you will find hidden items, which can be a real boost. It kind of reminds me a bit of Fallout 1 & 2 , with different graphics, though there is no fast travel. The Archetypes screen offers you a choice of Academic, Aristocrat, Criminal, Explorer, Investigator, Occultist, Performer and Soldier. This will affect how NPC’s respond to you or barter with you. It will also affect how your sanity is measured. The combat is hex based and turn based, with interesting animations. Your actions are determined in action points. You obviously have weapons, but you are armed with spells as well. Different spells, however, have different penalties, for instance blood magic may cost you health as well. You will find obstacles on the “battlefield” too, but they do not provide cover, instead they hinder movement. Sanity, sanity, sanity. You will lose sanity like clockwork. Then, to regain some sanity, you will have to trade off something else, like health. This game is all about choices and lets you think about your choices.
Graphics and sound:
The art style seems hand drawn (maybe?), and the world seems hand-crafted. The only thing that had no consistency was the portraits, though they gave a 1920’s feel. The style had me thinking that the game was a visual novel in the beginning and retains the comic book feel throughout. The voice acting is on the money. There just seems to be a shortage of it. The music and atmospheric sounds fit the game like a glove. Very immersive, to say the least.
Conclusion:
There are some bugs, as the game is quite new. The forums have things like giving a party member something and not being able to get it back. That said, the story seems great (I say seems as I have not finished it yet), the dialogue seems to drive the story, and not every outcome is favourable. Again this makes you think about your choices, unlike other games where you can go through all the choices. The way the dialogue is structured, I suspect there are multiple endings. Character creation options are plentiful and once you have played, you will realise why. You may even be stuck there for a while. 1C is known for their “war” games, and this makes a welcome change. $30 in local monies is a bit much, so I will wait for a sale.
This game is a must for role play / puzzle / Cthulhu fans. I am Cthulhu’d up and will look at Gibbous next.