Imagine if you woke up one morning and everything you knew about your world was gone. The world as you know it has been transported to an otherworldy realm. People have lost their minds and twisted creatures not of this world prey upon the city that has been pulled into another dimension. What would you do in this lost city and would you be able to keep your sanity? This is the setting behind the latest epic RPG from 1C Entertainment entitled Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones.
Stygian takes place in the 1920’s around the time of the first great world war and everything reflects this time period. The first thing you will do in this game after watching the amazing intro showing how Arkham was dragged into this dimension is to create a character. There are a few main classes to pick from including soldier, hunter and occultist just to name a few. Each of these classes have sub classes which come with some extra perks and some penalties as well. Your character has not only health but sanity and if it is lost completely your character will go insane and start to see things that are not there. You can lose insanity by witnessing horrific acts or even in combat through some of your enemies’ attacks. However, do not fear as a good night’s rest as well as various potions and tonics you can buy around the world can replenish your health and sanity. The currency of the world is actually measured in cigarettes and you will use these to buy things that you will need during your quest. Everything from weapons and ammo to crafting materials so you can build your own items can be bought and sold at the various shops. Also, each of your characters has a belief system where you will either gain or lose sanity depending on a variety of situations. There are also spells that can be cast however, these come with a price so you need to figure out what you need to cast during combat.
You start off the game in the attic of Old Eel House where you have a dream of a man that visits you without a face. As you follow him you see that the ghosts of the dead are dancing all around you and as you reach the graveyard you wake up with a fright. Going back to that site you find a key with the number 0 written on it. What will you make of this key? Will you be able to find your way back to the real world? Or will you just be another victim of this twisted realm? The combat in this game is turn based as each of the actions that you do cost action points. So you can attack, move or peform magic to either assist your companions or inflict damage on your enemies. There is also a dialogue system that is in place where you can interact with the various inhabitants of Arkham. However, be forewarned as you can offend some of the people you talk to and this will initiate combat straight away.
What is also amazing about this game is that everything is hand drawn and it shows. The environments reflect something out of an HP Lovecraft inspired nightmare as everything is animated and moves as you explore this world. There are creatures that peer from behind buildings and tentacles that erupt from the sea that whip around searching for prey. Also, you can see the effect this has had on the locations as well as once proud white churches that are smeared with red graffiti proclaiming “Where is your god?” Some of the signs have also been defaced by some of the residences as their eyes are smeared with even more red. Banks have crumpled armored cars that are wrecked after they smashed through the front of the banks. This attention to detail makes this game amazing to just look at as you can see the painstaking work that was put into this game. 
I have been playing this game for a few hours now and I have barely made a dent in it and so far it’s great. I orignally created a big game hunter who had a dog as his travelling companion but I think I will do a private eye next to see what else I can do. If you love HP Lovecraft and otherworldly horror you need to check this game out. There is a free demo of this game out on Steam so you can check it out before you buy. For more information on this and other games head over to http://www.1cpublishing.eu/ and get ready to fight against the old ones.
