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Watch trailer on Steam ↗Cyclopean II: The Dreamlands
Schmidt Workshops · Published by Schmidt Workshops
Last updated 28 Sept 2026
Cyclopean II: The Dreamlands takes you into the dark fantasy setting described in H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath and other stories of his Dream Cycle.
Adventure, Indie, RPG · More free games
Embark on a surreal journey through Cyclopean II: The Dreamlands, an indie RPG where you explore the dark fantasy realms inspired by Lovecraft's writings.
About this game
Welcome to the Dreamlands
The Dreamlands are a vast realm with many regions, villages, cities and other, lesser known locations to visit and explore. There is no specific quest or story provided to players, rather what is provided is a realm within which to find a quest or story. It may be different for each player and will depend on how players approach the game.
Cyclopean II: The Dreamlands continues in the tradition of its predecessor, Cyclopean: The Great Abyss, in that it may seem simple at first. However, the gameplay becomes more complex as players learn the intricacies of its various systems. Read the in-game dialogue and text carefully, and you may actually learn some useful things.
A Variety of Strategies
Although combat plays a role in the game, it is not the only means of achieving one's goals. Players may find it much more useful to use a combination of combat, stealth and/or dialogue to deal with the inhabitants of dream. In fact, the game will punish you severely if you try to fight everything as a low level character, so try to manage your gold, health, alliances and sanity carefully as you traverse the Dreamlands.
Old School CRPG
The first Cyclopean followed the tradition of early CRPGs like Ultima, Questron, and Legacy of the Ancients (among others) in that it presents two differing views of the game world. Outside of dungeons, you see your character from the top down in a 2D display of the map. Whereas, in dungeons, the view changes to a 3D, first person perspective. Cyclopean II continues this approach, and adds several cities: 2D areas which are more densely populated, separate from the main map.
Choose Your Dreamer Carefully
When you start the game you will be presented with a random dreamer, with basic abilities and equipment, and any alliances they have. You can choose to play as that person, or "reroll" to see if you can find a better option. Cyclopean gives you the freedom to choose from a wide variety of stodgy sounding English upper class gentlemen to play as.
Turn Based Gameplay
The gameplay and combat is all turn based, allowing you to make strategic decisions. Enemies are dangerous, but polite, and will wait their turn.
Alliances
Some characters will start the game with an alliance in place. This can be very helpful in the early stages, especially for new players. Alliances allow you to have some of the various denizens of the Great Abyss join your party, and help to fight other enemies. New alliances can be formed during the game by finding and reading the right books.
Game Manual
There are many other game mechanics and other things that are described in the game manual. The manual has been fully integrated with the game, so you can bring it up at any time, to learn about the various game mechanics available.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- OS *: Windows XP / Vista / Win 7 / Win 8 / Server 2008 / Server 2012, 32 Bit or 64 Bit
- Processor: AMD Athlon or Intel Pentium
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: 64 MB video card
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Storage: 500 MB available space
- Sound Card: Yes, if you want to hear anything.
Recommended
- OS *: Windows XP / Vista / Win 7 / Win 8 / Server 2008 / Server 2012, 32 Bit or 64 Bit
- Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 or Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz
- Graphics: 256 MB video card
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Storage: 500 MB available space
Supported Languages
Latest news
AnnouncementsOfficial
New Progress Report
I am making slow but steady progress on the game. Almost all the game's areas are there, but still rough and unfinished. I am also having this conflict where I want to show all the new stuff, but I don't want to give spoilers, hoping players will enjoy discovering these places and creatures in-game. Please check out the video and comment there if you want to help boost the game's visibility!Read full article on Community Announcements (MKSchmidt)AnnouncementsOfficial
Progress Report
Lot's Going OnThere is a lot of work being done on Cyclopean II every day. But it is almost entirely art production related, and not actually being incorporated into the game yet. I have been designing all the cities of the Dreamlands. It is a time consuming process, since Lovecraft decided to write about each one in such detail, and I've realized that this particular city is all wrong! Still, I might keep it after making some modifications... Originally I was going to just make up a few city designs and re-use them like any sane game developer would do. But I've read the story a few too many times and have become attached to a lot of the descriptions for each location. A recent re-read of the Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath has convinced me that each region needs to have its own, unique architectural style based as closely as possible on the story's descriptions. Otherwise ... what am I even doing?Read full article on Community Announcements (MKSchmidt)AnnouncementsOfficial
Demo Updated to 0.1.39947
Mousey MouseI just updated the demo to attempt a different mouse control scheme. The Windows Mouse option is unchanged, but the standard mouse controls were altered slightly, and I set the base framerate to 120, since that seems to help. I will also look at Windows Mouse next. It is supposed to reset to your default settings when exiting the game, but if you use alt-tab or something that might not register properly, and your windows mouse might get slowed down as a result. Leaving the game properly should prevent this. But I will try to see if I can prevent these edge cases from having a loophole.Read full article on Community Announcements (MKSchmidt)AnnouncementsOfficial
Demo Updated to 0.1.39946
Rename CrashI think I have fixed the crash that happens when attempting to rename a save file. There is some issue with the file saving and directory creation that keeps cropping up. I have had to adjust it a few times and whenever I do, it seems to break some other part of the game. The two areas which seem to effect the game's stability (so far) are when renaming a save file, and when going to full-screen mode (specifically when you have a non 16:9 screen ratio).Both these situations seem to be working currently so hopefully it remains stable. I will try to remember to test all of these things whenever I update the game. But if it happens again, please don't hesitate to reach out and let me know.Read full article on Community Announcements (MKSchmidt)AnnouncementsOfficial
Demo Re-Activated
I re-activated the demo! Smooth MoveI have also made a pretty big change to the way the game handles camera movement. A lot of people did not like the "lerping" effect of the movement. I personally liked it, but I am willing to listen to folks. Now the camera will move at a steady speed, and stop immediately when it reaches its goal. It also uses this new effect on the surface. Depending on any feedback, I may re-introduce the old camera movement as an optional setting. I think this new method is better overall, and it feels less ... spongy? Let me know what you think.Next StepsNow I am planning to begin adding content to the game. There is a pretty big map with many cities, dungeons and outdoor regions. There are lots of different inquiries to add, as each area will have its own unique topics of discussion. I also have a lot of different npcs, monsters and other unique beings to add to the game. I am also considering an Early Access phase. I did not think I would need one, as I believed I had ironed out all the game mechanics in the first game. But this game is so much bigger, I am getting the feeling that the current set of mechanics are not really complex or deep enough to justify the size of the game world. I also have a few interesting ideas for more complex game mechanics, and these would require a lot of testing and feedback. A lot of players were offering ideas and suggestions during the Next Fest demo, and many of them were quite compelling. I am interested in hearing your feedback on this, and whether you think an Early Access release would be a good idea or not.Read full article on Community Announcements (MKSchmidt)
