The game isn't finished, and I'm not talking about the bugs, at the point, when you see the credits, you are only half way through the main quest, and the game just ends.
Real shame, it had some crazy things and wery interesting use of Lovecraftian creatures
From great to ugly and back to great and back in a span of a couple of minutes
I would maybe give this game 3 stars but I want the developers to get more money from it to be able to make the second part better.
Such a great art style(10/10), writing, and so many unique amazing ideas buried under the mound of bugs(the game feels like an early beta), sometimes tedious gameplay(debuffs are fun, aren't they?), and loading screens(it may take up to ten loading screens just to visit a couple of stores to buy supplies).
Also, I would give a suggestion to the developers - cliffhangers must happen after you've given the audience at least some feel of finality.
If they keep the art style and fix the bugs and the loading screens for the next game, I'm definitely buying the sequel.
I'll state first that this game does have bugs at the time of this review, nothing game breaking, but did require me to close and reopen the game. Also I don't tend to type reviews so this will probably be formatted terribly. Sorry.
We seem to be in a renaissance of Lovecraft mythos inspired games right now, from the action oriented Lovecraft's Untold Stories and Tesla Vs Lovecraft, which are fun but capture none of what the Mythos is supposed to feel like, to the story heavy narrative RPGs like Call of Cthulu or Sinking City, which strike the right tone but have some massive flaws. Stygian is a masterpiece in atmosphere, the hand drawn aesthetic paired with the horrific attention to detail means that every area you visit feels so alive! I never thought a top down isometric game like this could spook me, but some parts of the game are downright bone chilling!
The gameplay is divided into 2 main parts, exploration and combat. Exploration is on par with Baldurs Gate. You walk around the ruined town of Arkham, interviewing the weary townfolk and using a variety of investigative skills to uncover evidence. Combat is the second half of gameplay, and is fought turn-based on a hex grid. It's very reminiscent of the classic Heroes of Might and Magic games. It's a little slow and clunky at times, but still plays quite well. The game also focuses on the stress of combat, and encourages you to avoid it where possible. The devs have stated that they wrote every quest to have at least 4 solutions: direct, cunning, intellectual and costly, so even characters with no combat expertise can solve quests with minimal fighting.
In summary, Stygian is a masterpiece in the genre. A horror isometric detective rpg that reuses themes and characters any fan of Lovecraft will recognize, and makes the best use of them to build an incredible world.
TLDR: An atmospheric masterpiece.
This game is frankly a straight up shame. It promises an authentic Lovecraftian experience, but gets in it's own way with bugs and UI issues. It promises to be short and re-playable with so many characters, only the game does nothing to vary the events of the game, only offer other conversation choices in those same events. In essence this game makes a great first impression, but it quickly reveals itself to be a lot of broken promises. Avoid this one.
This game takes a some effort to get a handle on at first in terms of learning the game mechanics, but once you do, a wonderfully crafted adventure lays before you. The experience of this game is not unlike reading an original Lovecraft story; it's short, disturbing, and leaves you with a lingering, unresolved sense of dread at the end. I could not have enjoyed it more.
The RPG side of the game isn't always the strongest. Combat and its related skills can be pretty clunky, and very difficult depending on your character and companions. There wasn't nearly as much combat in the game as I expected, which for me is a plus. I was impressed with how your personality choices at character creation affect the outcomes of your actions in the game. If you choose to be a rational person, then embracing the unexplainable can lead to madness. Speaking of madness, the game's implementation of how madness can overtake your character is well done, slowly taking away your own control of yourself if you don't maintain your mental health.
Technically, I had a lot of problems with the Mac version. So I ended up playing it on emulated Windows, and it played much better. However, it did reset my resolution to the max each time I opened the game, which made the game run super slow, so I had to manually lower the resolution each time I played.
But all technical problems are nothing compared to the experience this game gives you. It's a masterpiece, plain and simple. This isn't a normal game with a bit of Lovecraft lore thrown in for flavor, this feels like the adventure game that HP Lovecraft would have made if he were alive today.