Preverting Stygian: Reign of the Old One. And Howard will come out? And throw off the silver key?

It would seem how much you can kick the works of poor Howard Phillips Lovecraft and try to make decent games out of them? Almost every year, the creators of the next project claim that they were inspired by the work of the writer, or even directly try to transfer his terrible universe to the screens. It turns out, to put it mildly, not everyone … but perhaps, Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones Another fate awaits.

Announcing trailer for the game

Is there a wager after the end of the world?

Stygian is a two -dimensional role -playing game, which is based on numerous and far from always pleasant events and personalities that are full of Lovecraft measurements. From the point of view of gameplay, it looks like the first two Fallout , and the developers do not hide that they became their main source of inspiration. Unless the combat system, according to their statements, is rather borrowed from JRPG, but in reality this means: “Also as in the first Fallout, only much more variable”.

You will not have to prevent the apocalypse or the coming of some kind of horror: everyone who wanted to come. The city of Arkham sunk into oblivion, a bunch of inhabitants died, and there is no choice but to adapt to new circumstances and try to stretch out as long as possible. True, our character, of course, is not quite like the rest. A certain gloomy man appeared to him and several other “chosen” until the end of the world and ordered him to find him after the Judgment Day.

In the menu of creating a character, you can easily sit in a good half hour, choosing classes and subclasses and distributing characteristics points. Even age has a gameplay value. Everything is like in the best houses!

The main quest of demo consists just in finding a mysterious stranger (demo can be downloaded on the page of the game in Steam if you are ready to play in English: localization will only appear for release). But doing this is not at all necessary. There are enough characters with whom you can chat, and RPG lovers definitely should not miss this opportunity. In almost every dialogue, if not important information or side quest, then at least the opportunity to hone the skills of eloquence or dexterity and gain additional experience. True, it is worth gently selecting the words: the inhabitants of Arkham are not the most balanced interlocutors. Some, after a careless phrase or action, take up the weapon, while others will break their heads against the nearest wall with the same way.

Role elements permeate not only secondary conversations, but also the quest part. Almost always you can solve the problem in several ways, depending on your characteristics (eloquence – our everything!), class or relations with NPC. Maybe you will meet a useful person who will come to your aid for a small fee. Or buy, exchange, steal, in the end, the desired item of the merchant. Or maybe do it yourself-notice something useful in the dust if you are careful enough. But the game is not going to tell what and where to look. Read dialogs and literary texts, carefully look around and build logical chains. One way or another, all fights cannot be avoided – and it is worth worrying here not only about the physical well https://lucky-carnival-casino.co.uk/ -being of the hero.

Residents of Arkham cope with problems in different ways. Some hit the earthly religion, others build monuments to monuments, others took up arms and fight for power over the surviving city, and the fourth simply try to live in the old way and gradually go crazy

Do not dare to bite!

In addition to an ordinary health scale, all characters are expected to have a mental health scale. Anything can affect it: the enemy’s frenzied cry, the type of corpse on the street, inadequate phrases of crazy interlocutors and, of course, a variety of otherworldly game – ghosts, skeletons, multipliers of fangs, tentacles and so on.

Sooner or later you will come across a fight, from which you cannot dodge. Then you will find an additional load, and behind it is a hexagonal grid, action glasses and other elements of the combat system, familiar by the early Fallout. But there are much more opportunities here – in particular, because there is magic in this world.

Your first companion (it is optional, but it is highly recommended to take with you) will turn out to be an adherent of occult arts and instead of pistols and clubs will use magic … Well, its own bandaged bony hands.

True, it is worth remembering that any spell has a possible negative effect. Moreover, some of them are so vile that the allies of the sorceress will receive minus to mental health simply because they are nearby. Add to this additional conventions (for example, it turns out that shooting point blank is ineffective and better to move or switch to near -fight weapons) and get a rather diverse fighting “sandbox”, where you have to think about tactics and run away from the battlefield. sparkling heels.

The developers say that Stygian: Reign of the Old Oones is “the only real RPG by Lovecraft Dimension”. Bold words, but from demo, it becomes clear where they got such a mood: after a couple of hours of playing questions to it almost never arise. Yes, there are technical shortcomings – for example, it is impossible to assign objects in the inventory with a double click – but the answer was one to most of my questions about these inconveniences: we know, we will fix it before the release.

As for the narrative – everything is as if excellent here. You can easily penetrate the atmosphere of the worlds of Lovecraft, just going back and forth along these streets. Talk with a couple of citizens, stumble upon a crazy banker without panties, pay the bodyguard with cigarettes (who needs earthly money in a city mired in someone else's dimension?), and then go crazy and start to flog the terrible nonsense in every sense.

Everything is in order that it can go wrong?

Watering is when you can choose how sincerely you say the phrase "I just wanted to help"

The campaign will take 12-15 hours, but it will have a huge reiglable thanks to a variable editor of the characters at the start. Three global quests, a bunch of side effects and, of course, a dramatic ending, which depends on the previous elections you made. But this adventure may not end: accommodating all Lovecraft stories in one game is unrealistic. So if the “Power of the Ancients” will have an audience to love, they promise to us more than one or two continuations within the framework of the Stygian franchise.

If you like classic role-playing games in the spirit of the first Fallout and the gloomy atmosphere of Lovecraft's works, unequivocally introduce Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones to the “List of the desired”-the release will be held somewhere this year.