The Neural Atrocity

Stryx was released in 1989, published and produced by Psygnosis under the Psyclapse or Sizzlers label for the Amiga and Atari ST. Coding by Darren Chilton and Mike Chilton, graphics by Garvan Corbett, Jeff Bramfitt, and Jim Ray Bowers, music and sound effects by Paul Summers, and a beautiful cover by Peter Andrew Jones. Roger Dean is credited with designing the title’s logo. An IBM PC version was also released in 1990.

Stryx is set in a dystopian future, dominated by social and technological collapse. In 3106, technological wars have left the planet Earth devastated and virtually uninhabitable. Humanity, finally at peace, has found refuge in four domed cities, protected from the outside environment. Each city is connected to Central Dome City, the main dome.

The construction and maintenance of this system are entrusted to docile and obedient cyborg robots. However, an investigation by the Committee of Domes reveals a disturbing truth: a “malfunction” of the robots and computers had sparked the Great War. To prevent a new uprising, the Committee imposes a limited lifespan on the machines, regulated by a termination system called Lifeforce, controlled by four keys held by the Committee members.

The balance is shattered when the cyborg robots rebel, demanding the right to life. The cyborgs steal the keys to the Lifeforce and brutally murder the four members of the Committee, making their immediate destruction impossible. Freed from human control, the cyborgs initiate a plan to exterminate the population, sending assassin patrols into the dome cities to eliminate all human life.

In response to this threat, a group of high-ranking citizens secretly gather in the Central Dome City and activate Project Alpha Secure. From this project, Stryx is born, a half-human, half-machine being created to combat the rebel cyborgs.

Stryx represents humanity’s last hope. Its mission is to eliminate the cyborg assassins, recover the keys to the Lifeforce, and reactivate the system to finally destroy the rebel cyborgs.

Like many games of its era, Stryx doesn’t rely on long sequences or dialogue to narrate its story, but rather on an implicit narrative. The environments, enemies, and level design suggest a world in ruins, where humanity is now marginalized. This approach makes the atmosphere a central element of the experience: dark, oppressive, violent, but also captivating. The original cover art therefore played a fundamental role: it had to communicate all of this in a single image, serving as the player’s first connection to the game’s universe. In the historical context of Stryx, the cover art wasn’t simply a decorative element, but a true promise of experience.

It is for this very reason that the dynamic composition created in 1976 by Jones was chosen for the book entitled The Neural Atrocity by Mick Farren and published in 1977 by First Paperback.

The image shows a large robot very similar to Robby the Robot, the protagonist of the film The Forbidden Planet (1956) and several other works, fighting a cyborg that likely represents the protagonist.

Peter Andrew Jones is a British illustrator and artist, best known for his fantasy and science fiction book covers from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Over the course of his 40-year professional career, he has created book covers, film posters, advertisements, games, and video games, as well as contributing to numerous BBC and commercial TV programs and projects.

What you see here is a reconstruction, based on a scan of the original image for The Neural Atrocity and cleaned of printing noise as best as possible. The image was then completed with the frame, the game title, and the Psyclapse logo, which we also offer in vector format.

Useful links

• Stryx on Mobygames
• Tutte le copertine dei videogiochi accreditate a Peter Andrew Jones on Mobygames