Fit check
Is Cyclopean: The Great Abyss worth it for you?
We tell you who should skip it, too.
Play it if you…
Good fit- Players who enjoy old-school CRPGs with turn-based systems and text-based discovery
- Roguelike fans who want optional permadeath and randomly selected starting characters
- Lovecraftian fantasy fans who prefer managing alliances, resources, and sanity
Skip it if you…
Saves you a refund- Players seeking a large-scale CRPG may find the small-scale structure limited
- Players who want forgiving combat may dislike the severe consequences of fighting at low levels
- Players looking for a fully action-based RPG may not prefer its turn-based combat and dialogue-led alternatives
Our take on Cyclopean: The Great Abyss
The store emphasis on strategic choices and layered systems may understate the game’s deliberately small scale. Its progress also depends on reading dialogue, books, and the integrated manual, making text a central part of play rather than a minor accompaniment.
What is Cyclopean: The Great Abyss?
Play as an old dreamer trapped in the Great Abyss, an underworld beneath H.
P. Lovecraft’s Dreamlands. Explore its regions and dungeons while seeking a route to the upper Dreamlands or the Waking World. Turn-based combat is one option alongside stealth and dialogue, while health, gold, sanity, supplies, and alliances require management. Outside dungeons, the game uses a top-down 2D view; dungeons switch to a first-person 3D perspective. Each new game presents a randomly generated dreamer with abilities, equipment, and possible alliances, which can be accepted or rerolled. Alliances may add inhabitants to the party, and further alliances can be found through books. A separate mode adds permadeath, with progress separated from normal mode.
How Cyclopean: The Great Abyss plays
- 01Dual World Views
- Overworld travel uses a top-down map, while dungeons use a first-person 3D presentation.
- 02Multiple Approaches
- Combat, stealth, and conversations can be combined when dealing with inhabitants of the underworld.
- 03Random Dreamers
- New games offer a randomly selected character with starting abilities, equipment, and possible alliances.
- 04Party Alliances
- Allied inhabitants can join the party, and additional alliances can be formed by discovering and reading specific books.
- 05Permadeath Mode
- Roguelike Mode adds permanent death and keeps its games separate from normal-mode progress.
- 06Integrated Manual
- An in-game manual can be opened during play to review the game’s mechanics.
Cyclopean: The Great Abyss compared to similar games
Cyclopean: The Great Abyss focuses on a small-scale, turn-based CRPG structure with stealth, dialogue, resource management, alliances, and optional permadeath. Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition is presented around an unconventional story, characters, and soundtrack, while Back to the Dawn centers on prison escape, investigation, crime, and corruption.
Cyclopean: The Great Abyss: platforms & release
Is Cyclopean: The Great Abyss worth it?
It is worth it if: players who enjoy old-school CRPGs with turn-based systems and text-based discovery. Skip it if: players seeking a large-scale CRPG may find the small-scale structure limited.
Where can I download Cyclopean: The Great Abyss?
Use the Download Now button on this page: it opens Cyclopean: The Great Abyss's store page, where you can choose how to get it.
What platforms is Cyclopean: The Great Abyss on?
Windows only.
