Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones – First Impressions 

I’m not really into horror nor a Lovecraft spin doctor so I’m not affected by positive bias on my first impressions of Stygian.

Stygian is an RPG with a turn-based combat system, classic. It takes place in the strange worlds of H.P. Lovecraft where it will draw the player into a bleak journey from a ruined Arkham to the very depths of the Abyss.
I really liked the overall art style, a hand-drawn 2D world that reflects very well the mood of Lovecraft horror stories.
That is to say that the narrative part of the game is good and interesting enough to drain you into the game to know more and more of the story.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the combat system that feels clunky and slow. The game has a slow pace overall, there’s a lot of backtracking, at least in the early game, and the party movement is not so fast. That is why I suffer the slowness of the combat system, I would expect it to be more flawless and fast enough to break a bit the pace of the section where we need to move through the different locations. The combat is neither fun nor rewarding. It’s the weakest part of the game and the game would be better without it (becoming a sort of narrative game).

I enjoyed the story and the artstyle enough to let me continue to play it despite the combat system and some bugs that still are present in the game.

A missed opportunity that can be taken up with a rework of the combat system.