Bloodborne meets Resident Evil and BioShock in new horror RPG

An upcoming survival horror game looks like a mix between the Lovecraftian dread of Bloodborne and the first-person combat of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, with a little bit of BioShock’s Plasmids-based magic thrown in for good measure.

Stygian: Outer Gods is a story-focused survival horror title from developers Misterial Games and publisher Fulqrum Publishing, set to release on Steam later next month on April 14.

If the title sounds familiar to you, that’s because you may have played the 2019 tactical roleplaying game Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones.

Although Stygian: Outer Gods doesn’t seem to be a direct sequel to Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones, the developers do state that both games are set in the same universe.

I think Stygian: Outer Gods is a prequel based on the description of the story, but to be honest I played Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones around five years ago and barely remember what happened, so take that with a grain of salt.

Although the game has some first-person shooter elements, it sounds like combat is best avoided entirely where possible.

That’s because Stygian: Outer Gods has a sanity system, as the developers state that the perils of combat “will take a toll on your psyche, and your mind may be hurt as well.”

These “mental afflictions” will directly impact your chances of survival, so combating them is only possible by avoiding confrontations and scouring the environment for materials and remedies that can help cure you.

The game will be entering early access on Steam in April, with the “1.0 launch” of the Stygian: Outer Gods set to follow at a “later date”.

However, the publishers have confirmed that both a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S port of the game is in development, although there is currently no word on whether these will launch alongside the 1.0 PC release or not.