The mist-shrouded town of Kingsport, positioned along a shoreline in the northeast United States, is ready to welcome visitors in Stygian: Outer Gods. The game is available today on Steam, after leaving the Early Access program.

Developed by Misterial Games and set in the Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones universe, Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones introduces Jack Harrison. He headed toward Kingdsport in search of his missing father, and now he has arrived at the mostly abandoned harbor town following a shipwreck.

Kingsport is not the sort of place you would knowingly visit while on vacation. Once prosperous, the town now offers the sort of views and experiences that might lead a person to question their sanity. So it has been for centuries, apparently, but it's only recently that things really went south.

"Will you be able to find your way out, keep your sanity, and prevent the coming of the ancient Outer Gods," asks today's press release issued by publisher Fulqrum Publishing to mark the game's release, "or maybe being insane is the key to salvation?"

A mongrel dog with long fangs is crouched along pale soil with rocks to either side.Credit: Misterial Games/Fulqrum Publishing
A mongrel dog with long fangs is crouched along pale soil with rocks to either side.An old-fashioned room with a tattered carpet. A glowing green figure, human in shape, hangs in the air in front of a fireplace at the room's far end.A mangled tree waits between the viewer and a large boulder, repeating haunting phrases.In a dingy room with wooden floorboards, two figures stand on either side of a circular mark on the floor with a wooden object at its center.Skeletons are posed so they seem to be crawling out of a shallow pit in some reddish soil.A demonic looking figure, smartly dressed, stands in a cabin's open doorway, looking in toward the viewer.In a first-person view, the hero wanders along some wooden planking with a rail that leads over fetid swamp water with skulls hanging from a partially submerged tree trunk.

Stygian: Outer Gods combines role-playing mechanics, "unsettling" exploration, and Lovecraftian horror. For some of us, that's a tantalizing combination. Choices players make apparently have lasting consequences, leading to different outcomes as they follow the branching paths. Players will have to scavenge for supplies, craft tools, and monitor their physical and mental health.

You can pick up Stygian: Outer Gods on Steam or on GOG for $24.99, minus 20% while a launch discount is in effect (that works out to $19.99). A digital artbook is also available, and an arsenal pack for players who think they might need a little help (i.e. people like me).