Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones Kickstarter Campaign Launched

Following the release of screenshots, trailers, and other promotional materials over the last few months, Cultic Games has made good on their promise to launch a Kickstarter campaign for Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones. The crowd-funding campaign is seeking €55,000 (or $61,312) to bring the horror-themed "Lovecraftian" CRPG to life for Windows, Mac, and Linux, with a mixture of both digital and physical rewards (including a cultist robe!) available for pledges from €1 to €5,000. Here's a bit to get you interested:

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones is a supernatural horror CRPG (computer role-playing game) set in the strange worlds of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Embracing the themes of pulp and weird fiction, Stygian will draw the player into a bleak journey from a ruined Arkham to the very depths of the Abyss.

The gameplay experience promises a mix of rich role-playing and turn-based tactical combat, in a 2D environment with an original, illustrative graphic style. In Stygian, you will create your main character from scratch, with access to several archetypal backgrounds, each with its own origin story, skills, traits, and belief system, the last of which determines how your character replenishes lost sanity as well as presenting unique dialog choices.

The works of H.P. Lovecraft are elaborately woven into Stygian’s narrative. For example, you'll use the haunted violin of Erich Zann to lure a fiendish deity, and convince the wretched protagonist of 'The Outsider' to join your party. Our goal is to blend the culture and social reality of 1920s New England with cosmic horror to create a living, breathing anti-Utopia.

The burden of fighting a desperate battle with forces beyond comprehension will haunt you until the end of the game. Physical combat will be challenging, spellcasting will have dangerous consequences, and sanity strained from exposure to the abominations of the Mythos will leave characters psychologically damaged. Sometimes the best solution will be to flee from the terrors lurking in the night.

Stygian is being crafted by designers who grew up reading Lovecraft and playing Planescape: Torment, the early Fallout titles, Heroes of Might and Magic and the like. We want to create the best possible experience with your feedback. Your interest and support will be invaluable.