Indie · September 26, 2019
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones (2019)
In Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones, the player journeys from a doomed Arkham into the depths of the Abyss. Create your own character based on 1920's archetypes and carve a path through a broken and mysterious world. Your desperate battle against forces beyond comprehension will haunt you until the end. Physical combat will be challenging, spellcasting will have dire consequences, and your sanity will be strained to the breaking point by unknown abominations. Sometimes the best solution will be to flee what lurks beyond the threshold. Features: A hand drawn 2D world reflecting Lovecraft's themes of cosmic horror and dread. Enemies, environments and storylines inspired by Lovecraft’s iconic original works. Take part in quests inspired by your favorite stories and see them play out according to your own decisions and role-playing style. Choose from 8 main character Archetypes, each with its own origin backstory and specialties. A host of weird companions will accompany you on your ill-starred journey: the lonely, antediluvian 'Outsider', a fallen soldier of the Great War reanimated by Herbert West. Recruit these and other outlandish beings to your crew. Your character's Sanity and mental state will influence dialogue options. Mental illness comes with advantages as well as hindrances. Sometimes it pays to be mad in a world gone mad! Stygian's Belief System determines how your characters cope with the warped reality of the new Arkham, as well as the rate at which they regenerate lost Sanity. Belief Systems also offer unique dialogue options, expanding the breadth of role-playing possibilities. A new kind of spell system which sometimes takes more than it gives. Being a master of the occult is not as simple as flinging colored missiles from your fingertips. The black magic of Stygian is potent but may cost you your mind, your health, and possibly even much more. Strategic, turn-based combat from a 2D perspective, similar to the classic Heroes of Might and Magic games. The struggle in Stygian is not to save the world, for that battle is lost already. Pursue your own goals in these end times: salvation, vendetta, or perhaps something darker.
Indie releases from 2019
38 Indie titles launched in 2019 — top 6 by review volume.
Community Tag Signals
Tag weights reflect how many Steam users voted each descriptor — larger pills = stronger consensus.
- RPG · 155
- Indie · 114
- Lovecraftian · 112
- Horror · 89
- Turn-Based Combat · 81
- Violent · 56
- Atmospheric · 55
- Adventure · 47
- 2D · 45
- Singleplayer · 44
- Story Rich · 43
- Choices Matter · 39
- Philosophical · 35
- Strategy · 33
- CRPG · 31
Peer Indie titles
Comparable titles in the same genre and review-volume band — ranked by Steam positive percentage.
Position in Indie
| Metric | This title | Genre position |
|---|---|---|
| Review volume | 2.4k Steam reviews | Top 85% in Indie |
| Positive rating | 66% positive | Genre average: 87% — this title sits in top 97% |
| Metacritic | 81/100 | Genre average 77 — top 34% of Indie titles |
| Engagement hours | 8 h average | Top 67% for session depth among Indie |
Reception Metrics
Steam community
66%Mixed · 2.4k reviews
1.6k positive · 829 negative
Metacritic
81/100 critic aggregate
Metacritic user score
8.0/10
Curator recommendations
1.8k
Press Quotes
“This is one nightmare I highly recommend.” 9.5/10 – Gaming Trend “I’m going out on a limb saying that it’s the most satisfying traditional CRPG I have played since Fallout 2 and that was over twenty years ago!” 4.5/5 – DarkStation “Probably the best Lovecraftian game ever!” 5/5 – (RU) StopGame
Localization Coverage
Interface / Subtitles (7)
- English
- French
- German
- Spanish - Spain
- Russian
- Simplified Chinese
- Turkish
Engagement Profile
All-time avg
8h
short (5–15 hours)
Median
5h
Typical completion time
2-week avg
23h
Current engagement
Achievements
98
Steam unlocks available
Release & Availability
| Release date | Sep 26, 2019 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Cultic Games |
| Publisher | Fulqrum Publishing |
| Base price | $3.99 -80% |
| DLC / Add-ons | 1 released |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Estimated owners | 100k–1M |
| External links | Official site · Metacritic page · [email protected] |
Features & Capabilities
Community
- Steam Achievements
- Steam Trading Cards
Other
- Single-player
- Family Sharing
Content Notes
This game may contain content not appropriate for all ages, or may not be appropriate for viewing at work: Frequent Violence or Gore, General Mature Content
Editions & Packages
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