Stirring Abyss Reviews

A simple turn-based tactical game with a Cthulhu theme. In Story-mode it is rather easy. The basic game loop is 1. go on mission 2. improve characters 3. build your base 4. research 5. go to 1. The missions are short, maybe 15 minutes each. Story missions can be longer, maybe up to 30 minutes. During the missions you move your crew over a battle map in turns. Stirring Abyss employs a system not unlike XCOM, two action points. Most actions use one point, some actions use all remaining action points, e.g. firing a spear gun. During missions you complete objectives and gather resources for base building and research. Your crew is made up of three classes: sailor (melee), officer (melee/ranged and buffs), and scientists (ranged and different buffs). The skill trees for each class are different and random for the individual character. However, diversity is low, so expect the same builds over and over again. Early in the game you gain access to mutations, which are random (get two or three, pick one) and range from very useful over useless to just bad. Based on my single playthrough I'd say you can probably do without mutations, but since they are essentially for free, why would you? You have a base, your submarine, the USS Salem. You build up the base between missions, there are four very useful rooms available, the other seem a mixed back. Unlike the tutorial I suggest postponing building the control room and build an infirmary first. The control room allows you to use special abilities on missions and on the map (later more) and to do research on the "enigma board". The enigma board is your research. During missions you collect clues and between missions you can use them to beef up your party. Depending on your strategy you can research better fighting abilities, bonuses to your team's stats or improve your eldritch powers. You get eldritch powers on missions by investigating altars. I have hardly used them and I'd say you can do without them, but since they use a free resource (invocation points), again, why would you? There is a map where you pick missions, which are also not very diverse. Once you realize you have to walk towards the yellow cross, it becomes almost braindead. The story missions are a liitle bit different (with timers, waypoints and stuff) but the scenery does not change very much over the game. There are only three or four sets. Same is true for the monsters. I think there are 11 different ones and it quickly beomes kind of repetitive. Once you know them, they hardly pose a challenge. On the plus side, the game does not annoy you with the staple of "just send more" Now, this all sounds pretty boring, but I still recommend the game. The graphics are cute, the ambient sound is spooky, the story is solid (and mostly told through logbook entries), and the low difficulty makes it easy to just fire Stirring Abyss up and run a mission for a short break. I enjoyed it and it runs flawlessly out of the box on Linux. It has a launcher, and I don't know why ;)