Oct 2, 2019

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - 1C_George

Greetings cult brethren! You can find the answers to the majority of the questions you’ve been asking in the discussions and in your reviews for the last few days. You got more questions? Please write them down below this announcement!

PS: Using your own blood would help but is not obligatory.

How does the Radial Menu work?

If you’d like to see what skill usages and interactions are available on an environment item, simply right click on it.

If you’d like to perform a combat ability, use a quick item, cast a quick spell etc. simply right click on the character you are commanding at the time.

How does the Hunger system work?

A unit of rations is automatically consumed at certain intervals of game time. This counter gets paused while you are in the tab menu, in dialogue or in combat.

Only the canned food remaining in Arkham and all the canned food that you find or buy throughout your journey will be exchanged into the common resource identified as “rations”, which is displayed in your inventory as a resource. It is possible to buy canned food from most of the vendors of the game and they are being replenished in time.

If you enter a state of hunger, you get notified through the notification panel above the screen and if do not get nourished for a period of time following that, the hunger state gets more and more severe until the death of the character by a state of HP damage over time.

There is no hunger gauge in the game so it may be a good idea to have a couple of extra rations with you. Some companions like Nameless Soldier do not need to consume rations. Whenever a ration is consumed, the game indicates that through the log on the lower right and with a sound effect resembling a chewing action.

How does the Exhaustion system work?

At each particular interval of game time your characters get a state of exhaustion. Only by resting at a campsite (camping supplies needed) or resting at the Old Eel House are you able to recover from Exhaustion.

A campsite is located in Main Street near the walls of Miskatonic next to the hobos while another one is located in French Hill next to the abandoned house to the Southwest corner of the hub. Others will be discovered by you throughout the journey.

Resting is completely safe in the Old Eel House while the same cannot be said about outdoor areas. There is a good chance that your rest may be interrupted by an ambush even in the Downtown area so using rest activities such as “Keep Watch” and “Scout” may come in handy to get prepared.

If you enter a state of exhaustion, you get notified through the notification panel above the screen and if you do not rest for a period of time following that, the exhaustion state gets heavier and heavier until the character goes insane by a state of Sanity damage over time.

There is no exhaustion gauge in the game so it may be a good idea to have a couple of camping supplies with you.

How does the Sanity System work?

Situations like witnessing horrible events, casting occult spells, encountering supernatural creatures, staying in a dark area for too long, all result in Sanity losses.

If your Sanity drops below a certain level in combat there is a good chance that you are going to develop a panic state. Your character loses control and acts contrarily to your orders in a panic state, causing situations like dropping your gun to the ground while you command to attack.

If your sanity drops below a certain level in exploration, the chance for your character to develop a mental condition rises. The mental condition your character develops is determined according to the actions your character has performed until that time. If the character has killed a couple of NPC’s in cold blood throughout the game, there is a good chance that you will develop Psychopathy or if you have chosen more cautious and inquisitive choices in dialogues, your chances of developing Paranoia gets higher.

Resting, progressing quests, using drugs and alcohol, having sex, roleplaying your belief system correctly by choosing the right dialogue options, all replenish your lost sanity.

The sanity that you gain through roleplaying can exceed your maximum sanity.

If you reach 0 sanity in combat it is game over.

You can not drop below 1 sanity in exploration but whenever you reach that threshold, you gain a state called “At the Mouth of Madness” which makes you accumulate ANGST for a period of time until the effect is over.

But what is this ANGST?

It is some kind of a black experience that you accumulate through enduring painful and disgraceful situations, running away from combat scenarios, witnessing an inhumane act with a Humanistic character etc. Whenever you level up in ANGST you have to choose a Defect which can be defined as a negative perk.

What are those Mental Conditions? How Do They Work?

Each mental condition has its own merits and flaws:

Mania
Increases Action Points but gives the character a small chance to lose control and attack the nearest enemy unit in combat.

Paranoia
Increases Reaction but gives the character a small chance to attack an ally in combat.

Schizophrenia
Increases Mental Resistance but gives the character a small chance to enter a catatonic state and lose a combat round.

Psychopathy
Increases Critical Success Chance but gives the character a small chance to lose a certain amount of Sanity after killing a foe.

Each mental condition is also represented in the game by their own visual effects. The effect gets stronger in accordance with the degree of your decreasing Sanity. If you are disturbed by the effect, it may be a good idea to use some drugs, or rest to decrease the effects of Madness.

Lastly, a system called “Voices of Madness” enter into play for characters with mental conditions. Some of the regular dialogue lines gets substituted with VOM lines according to the mental state of the character. It is up to you to follow them or not.

There is no curing madness in Stygian.

How does Spellcasting Work?

Only the spells/rituals you have prepared by adding them to your quick spells can be cast in combat and exploration.

You can cast spells through the radial menu by right clicking on your character.

For casting “Tongue of the Dead” on the corpses that you encounter, you can right click on them to view if the spell is available.

In order to learn spells, you have to find or buy manuscripts and then study them through Occult Research rest activity while resting. Only characters with the Occult skill can research Manuscripts and Artifacts.

Casting each and every spell costs sanity and sometimes other resources and components. You can learn all those in detail by clicking on the question mark icon near the spell headlines found in your Grimoire.

How do I make a Progression Escape?

Whenever you deal enough damage to an enemy group that would enable you to break some of the resistance, blue hexes appear on the battlefield, and if you can reach those hexes by moving to them and press the escape button (found at the bottom right corner of the screen), you get out from the combat, thereby gaining the same amount of XP as you’d get by winning the battle and progressing the story, since the worn enemy won’t be following you from that point on.

What good can my companions be to me besides Combat?

They can perform the rest activities that their skills allow. For example Nameless Soldier can be very effective in the “Keep Watch” rest activity while you get to allocate your precious rest points on research or other activities. They can research spells, protect the party, make scientific discoveries and a variety of actions in the form of Rest Activities.

With the 1.0.3 patch they are also able to perform crafting which adds a lot of diversity to the actions they can commit. We always wanted the companions to perform skill checks as well but for the welfare of other systems, we had to cancel that feature.

Also they can be your friends. And in a world which has lost all hope, that may help.

How does Stealth Work?

While in stealth, the game checks your character’s Stealth score for the whole party. If you get too close to a hostile character, you will be spotted no matter what score your character has in Stealth. Some enemies will be patrolling, while some will be able to smell you and change position accordingly. So always try to maintain a safe distance. If you can pass through a danger zone by stealth, you will be awarded with XP.

You can bypass 90% of the main quest battles in the game with the help of Stealth skill so if you are not the combative type, that may be a good skill choice in which to allocate some points.

What the Hell! Am I an Addict Now?

Yes, you are. Your tolerance against it is directly affected by your Will value. After using the substance to which you are addicted, everything will go as usual for a while until Withdrawal (which is a negative state) kicks in. If you are in withdrawal, do not use the substance, since the negative state will get stronger until you use the substance you’re addicted to. If you can endure the state of Withdrawal without using the substance for a time period (which is determined by your Will again) you will be cured from addiction.

Artifacts

Each artifact in Stygian has a Power and a Malediction. The artifacts that you buy from vendors come with their Powers unlocked. Both the Powers and Maledictions of the artifacts you will find in Arkham and Beyond will come locked. You can discover the power of artifacts by either making Isidore decipher them or by studying them with Occult Research (studied either by you or your companions). The malediction of an artifact cannot be discovered through deciphering so you’ll need your or your companions’ faculties to learn them.

Beware! An artifact’s power and malediction takes effect the moment you equip them, whether you unlocked them or not.

How Does Scientific and Medical Research work?

You can study the items that you find in the world in an attempt to discover new blueprints or formulas that would enable the crafting of wondrous devices and concoctions with the help of Scientific Research and Medical Research rest activities. With each rest, you will progress towards a certain discovery until the research bar is full. By research, you can discover new solutions to your old and nightmarish problems.

What the !!**/!! with the Save System!?

There will be a manual save function in the upcoming patch. Ouch! That one hurt!

Until we meet again to unveil more mysteries beyond the stars!

Team Cultic

Sep 30, 2019

First update is NOW OUT - 1.0.3!

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - 1C_Dan

Greetings to you all!

It has been an incredibly wild ride, these four days... We have listened, analyzed and discussed a LOT. We have been humbled by your outstanding interest but also learned a lot of lessons and still do in the process. We are collecting tons of feedback provided by you, which is extremely helpful as it allows us to improve the game.

We'd like to announce that we have released our very first patch, which will solve some major issues such as resolution issues on Mac computers, companions not being able to craft, a common and nasty reload (R hotkey) bug and others. You will find the complete list of the fixes at the end of this message.

We will also be releasing another update tomorrow and have plans for more coming in the upcoming days. Including improving Spanish and Chinese localization!

We have started working on a 'save anywhere' feature which will be accompanied by the familiar autosave and story save slots. It will arrive in the future patches when we're done testing it.

We will work on speeding up the combat but some blockers that you have addressed are our top priority at the moment.

We know that some of you really enjoy the veil of mystery on some of the game's mechanics but for our other players we'll pretty soon have a game guide that teaches about some of our systems in depth.

One last thing, ladies and gentlemen: Stygian is a labor of love for us and it is priceless to see that you feel so strong about our game. Rest assured that we want you to live this experience as deep and as immersive as it could get, as it was the fundamental idea all along. Of course, during our testing process we have identified plenty of bugs and issues that we were able to solve before the release, but the game’s complexity and the number of variables in place make it difficult for an indie team to process them all but we've also never had thousands of curious players reporting all of these to us before.

Now we do.

And we will work on them.

And we will do our bests to carry this game as close to your expectations as it can get.

Until we meet again in one of the forgotten alleys of our doomed Arkham.

Team Cultic

Changelog v1.0.3:

Changes:

Credits video

Improvements:

Improve inventory active handset sync after combat
Companions can also perform crafting now

Fixes:

Fix combat logs that are appearing on Desktop.
MacOS Retina resolution issues
Fix dropdown does not read display resolutions in settings
Winston and Wilkins spawned in the attic even they are killed
Character Creator summary screen placeholder text removed
Chinese Look-At pop-up display time fixed
Fix tough characters’ throwable issue
Fix dead enemies being looted after combat ends
Isidore's challenge UI must be inactivated if TheBankOfLunatics is active
Fix reload shortcut “R” not working / blocking the game
Sonia Greene Carter intro dialogue 2 token
Grimoire HP Cost Display Issue
Blood Circle wrong spell cost description (numeric)
If an equipped item is not present in inventory, causes soft lock after trading
Outsider Cutscene Issue In Old Eel Attic

EDIT:
For the people who can not venture forth with their starting companions (Werner for Aristocrat and Winston the hound for Explorer), we'll have another patch tomorrow that will solve the issue completely along with a good number of issues with the Chinese and Spanish localizations.

Sep 28, 2019

Pro Tips - A How to Survive Arkham Guide

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - 1C_George

The right mouse button is your best friend. It opens a radial menu with all abilities and skills applicable to the chosen object or character. It can be used both in and out of combat. Make sure to right-click all objects you find curious.

Choosing your PC’s Belief System is a big decision. It’s an important gameplay mechanic. Make sure to choose the one you are actually going to roleplay most of the time. Don’t make everything harder for yourself by roleplaying a materialist with a humanistic PC.

Make sure to avoid fighting if possible. Combat is the main source of ANGST points. ANGST points are like negative experience points. The more of them you get, the more defect and traumatized your PC will become.

You don’t have to kill everybody in order to win struggles and progress forward. The longer you fight the better chances you will get an open window for a Progressive Escape. If you see blue cells on a battlefield, rush to them and press the escape button. You will win the fight and keep all the loot you’ve salvaged.

All quests and challenges in Stygian can be solved by at least four approaches: direct, cunning, intellectual and costly. Be attentive because almost any character builds, especially non-combat one, can solve most of the challenges without either fighting or spending money.

Every character class has three skills which can be maxed out. We recommend spending most of your skill points on them for the better RPG experience.

Science, Medicine, Survival skills have separate crafting branches. We recommend using all advantages from crafting if your character class allows it.

You can’t complete Stygian and not to go nuts a couple of times. Drug issues, alcoholism, mental disorders - all of this is a part of the game. It is also a part of your PC which can even make him or her even stronger. Don’t be afraid and bravely walk into the abyss.

Skills checks usually involve both skills and attributes. There is no point putting skill points into Subterfuge if your character has low Agility.

Take a closer look at possibilities which resting gives to you and your companions. For example, studying new spells, scientific research and artifacts deciphering are available only when your party is resting.

Always hide your identity before directly opposing the Mob. Wear a mask. Like a swimming mask or a burglar mask. A gas mask will do too.

A lantern is the best way to save your sanity in darkness. Make sure you have it and a kerosene supply before exploring the warehouse.

Try to keep your sanity level above 50% to lower risks of acquiring a mental condition.
Some classes have unique companions from the start. Try out the Explorer to get our favourite dog companion!

You will find all kinds of dark essences during your journey. Make sure to use them in order to upgrade yours or your companion's spells in grimoire.

Russian version here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1874672027

Sep 24, 2019

UPDATE 4 - A Detailed Look at Character Creation and Inventory

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - 1C_Dan

We greet you, Blessed of The All-Seeing Ones

You can't imagine how pleased the Old Ones are to see you all gathered around the altar that bear the unimaginable likeless of their immortal aspects. Bang the drums brethren, so they shall resonate to the primordial rhythms of all time and universe and thus precipitate The Awakening, to whose advent we shall dance madly till we shed all that we inherited from that pestiferous thing called “humanity”.

In this update we'd like to offer a brief introduction to character creation. Let’s take a peek at our demonstrative clip:

Character Creation consists of the following steps:

0. Indoctrination (Optional)

This is the step you say good-bye to your loved ones, shut all your doors and windows, fanatically repeat your "Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh" prayers and fast for weeks until you remove the last traces of your current identity.

1. Gender Selection

The horrors of Stygian do not discriminate based on your character’s gender.

2. Age Selection

In Stygian your character's age is not just a cosmetic element. It plays two important roles. First, your age changes your starting statistics, second it changes the reaction of the world to your character.

[OUT OF TUNE SINGING] I know what it is to be young but you don't know what it is...

3. Archetype Selection

Jungian archetypes or Stygian archetypes?

This where you select your Archetype and its related background. You can have more information on Stygian's archetypes from our campaign page here.

4. Belief System Selection

Think like your character, act like your character.

As you probably know, Belief Systems determine how your character gains her lost sanity in the doomed Arkham along with providing you new ways to role-play your character. You can have more information on them here.

5. Portrait Selection and Character Identity

You'll be able to choose the portraits of some Stygian backers. Devoted cultists they are...

All of our portraits will be available to both genders.

6. Stat Allocation

Please roll three six sided die and write the results to the back of your character sheet.

This is the step you finally get into the fantastic world of numbers and shape your character's attributes and skills according to your taste. Only the skills your background contributes to can exceed 2 points at this stage.

7. Character Summary

At this final step, you'll be able to have a look at all your choices one last time and make the necessary changes if the need arises.

Now let's look at the inventory system that we've designed meticulously to serve the needs and conveniences of the player.

Let's start with a video showcasing the system, and then talk more about its features and our design approach.

Stygian's inventory consists of the following sections:

Paper Doll - shows all the items the player currently has equipped, including weapons, outfits, artifacts, a backpack and things of that sort. We are pretty sensitive about customization and aim to display the player's choices with as many visual representations as possible. We're also designing unique models for special items such as rare weapons and gadgets. We are keenly aware of the fact that we RPG players love to play with our dolls, preferably voodoo dolls...

Equip your character, in style...

Statistics - shows almost all of the secondary statistics which affect combat and exploration. Potential effects of the items will be displayed as a tool-tip in the form of colored numeric modifiers.

We haven't forgotten you Min-Max scholars

Party inventory- shows all items in the party's possession. Stygian uses a shared inventory system so you won't need to spend time shifting carried items from one character to another. Less item management, more black magic, count us in!

Did we tell you that we're also fans of adventure games?

Item category tabs - grant easy access to all the items you'll need to prolong your hopeless struggle against the shapeless horrors of the abyss. Tabs are divided into the following categories: Weapons and ammo, outfits, consumables, tools and gadgets, artifacts, books and tomes, quest-related items, miscellaneous, and of course the favorites tab, which can be customized by the player.

Quick items - allows you to set certain items to be instantly available during combat and exploration. Don't forget to add your favorite smokes to one of the quick item slots. Cigarettes are essential for reducing stress but remember not to smoke them all because the Cigs have become Arkham's rising currency!

As you can see, we tried to build upon the inventory features typical of western role playing games while balancing convenience and thematic flavor. We also chose to use larger icons for our items in order to include more detail, increase immersion, and show off the efforts of our talented artists.

Until we meet again in the filthy corridors of Arkham Sanitarium.

Team Cultic

Sep 23, 2019

The Black Day is Almost Here: Release and the Rewards

Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - 1C_Dan

Greetings Brethren!

I know this sounds absurd (it definitely does to us!) but Stygian will be out in 3 days...

First of all, we want to send our deepest gratitude for all the patience you have shown towards us through these long years.

We sincerely hope that we were able to create something that was worth the wait. I personally know that each cultist in this team did his / her utmost best in the creation of Stygian. We fought really hard to fulfill all the promises that we made in our campaign, from the Explorer archetype to the Dreamlands quest.

I'd like to share some insight on the scope of the game as well. When I first wrote the script of Stygian, I wasn't aware that its scope would actually be much wider in terms of the playtime than what we envisioned for Reign of the Old Ones. The complete saga that I had written would have lasted around 50 hours to complete but we were trying to achieve a 15-20 hours experience with a lot of re-playability. At some point in the production, I was obliged to make a tough decision (like any good RPG): rushing the last chapter, breaking the pace of the game or complete it on a cliffhanger and leave some space for future installments.

Stygian is not a short game and it definitely can not be categorized as episodic, since it is teeming with content; but I have to state that we won't be solving all the mysteries at the end of this game. Going the other way would have spoiled some really good scenes, characters and situations for the sake of having just a closure. For better or for worse, I thought you needed to know that.

"And under the hoods they fixeth the bugs."

Now on the rewards, everything is ready except the Special Edition Game Tome DVDs. They are patiently waiting for the gold master copy to get printed. We will start shipping all the rewards together and your precious packages will start leaving us right with the release. We'll have completed sharing your game keys by then, so you can enjoy the game while waiting for your atrocious packages to arrive.

Brethren, we'd like to thank you all for giving us this chance and for being a part of the blackened ritual called Stygian. Forgive us for our faults and wish us good-bye for the journey into the unknown that is ahead of us.

It was an unforgettable experience to build something out of just a fragile dream.

But didn't Mr. Lovecraft take a lot of his inspiration from dreams as well?

Until we meet again in the Dreamlands.

Can Oral

Creative Director

Team Cultic