Lovecraftian Games: A Series of Short Reviews
Pulled from the R#d%t archives. Lightly revised.
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A while back I awoke with a maddening urge to play some Lovecraft-inspired video games and in a frenzy I picked up a half dozen titles inspired by the groundbreaking horror author's works, followed by another handful more over the course of a year.
Here are some of my thoughts:
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones (2019)
An absolutely brilliant turn-based cRPG heavily based on various H.P Lovecraft stories, Stygian has you take on the role of a character thrown into the city of Arkham - a city that, many years ago, mysteriously found itself transported to an other-worldly dimension. The artistic direction is breathtaking, the characters and plot are riveting, and the mechanics of the game are deeply thought out and interesting (and too extensive to sum up in a quick review).
Personal Highlights: the sanity, combat and angst mechanic is pretty cool. Basically, your character has a sanity meter that is affected by various events, ranging from witnessing lovecraftian horrors to casting spells. If your sanity gets too low, you suffer a permanent "madness" condition that affects your actions/dialogue. Run out of sanity completely, and you die. Combat also encourages a "fleeing" mechanic to preserve sanity and gain all XP/loot you would gain from a normal victory, but at the cost of angst (too much angst nets you a negative perk).
Criticism: the game is not without bugs, occasionally even some game-breaking ones (I had to reload one boss-fight multiple times because the plot-item they were supposed to give wasn't showing up in my inventory). And the main story ends very abruptly (according to the developers they had to make a tough decision and cut the game short with plans to introduce the missing segments in future titles). Also, the endgame is awfully frustrating and confusing (albeit visually stunning).
Sunless Sea (2015)
Sunless Sea is an incredibly charming survival/exploration sailing game with a very lovecraftian atmosphere. While it’s core mechanics center around managing your ship, crew, and resources, what makes the game truly shine is it’s narrative and story-telling. I’d go so far as to say it’s more of a visual novel than a survival/exploration game. You take on the role of a captain in Fallen London commanding a ship and her crew through the Unterzee, visiting various ports across the vast underground ocean and interacting with the citizens you find along the way.
Personal Highlights: the game is (oddly enough) highly calming, in no small part due to the atmosphere and amazing soundtrack. Sailing across the pitch-black seas, with the breathtaking music and captain's log updating every now and then is just really neat. And as already mentioned, the stories are superbly written and immersive.
Criticism: the game doesn't do a great job of explaining all its elements. I still don't really know what the difference between a ""Zee-Story"" or ""Memory of Distant Shore"" is and what good they are for (other than trading them in for currency). And while the captain's journal is one of my favourite aspects, it could use a touch-up - after a while exploring, you will have memorised all possible captain logs (there aren't too variations).
The Last Door: Collector's Edition (2014)
The Last Door is an episodic psychological horror pixel point-and-click adventure that has you take on the role of Jeremiah DeWitt after he travels to an abandoned mansion upon receiving a mysterious message from the owner, an old schoolmate of his. The game is absolutely charming in its execution, the puzzles are demanding enough to keep you on toes, and the horror and dread is palpable. As a bonus, there exists The Last Door Season 2: Collector's Edition (2016) which takes place after the events of the first game and has you take on the role of the original protagonists's psychiatrist.
Personal Highlights: the tone and atmosphere of the game is just brilliant. And on more than one occasion I was legitimately creeped out - there is at least one instance of a jump scare and I found myself pleasantly surprised that pixel graphics could even achieve that.
Criticism: the only ""criticism"" is the game's length, honestly. It is indeed a very short (but sweeet) adventure. Some may argue because of this, the price isn't worth it, but I'd disagree.
Link: Steam, GOG (Currently on Sale!) Bonus: The Last Door Season 2: Collector's Edition is ALSO currently on sale
The Shrouded Isle (2017)
The Shrouded Isle is a management simulator in which you take on the role of a cult leader doing their best to keep the cult happy each season while also appeasing the gods with a worthy sacrifice, as well as managing mysterious afflictions within the community and rooting out a traitor in your midst. It has a great artistic style, music, and a very thorough and interesting game mechanics.
Personal Highlights: really like the artistic direction, colour pallet and the soundtrack. The game is also quite challenging (or maybe I'm just dumb lol) and often requires strategic decisions in order to keep everyone happy.
Criticism: the lack of a proper tutorial at the beginning is quite a big nuisance. Most of the game mechanics are not explained at all. The basic goal is given to you but not much more. Unsure if that's the point, but you will try and fail many times before you finally ""get"" this game. And even then, there are still plenty of unanswered questions.
Link: Steam
Sea Salt (2019)
Sea Salt is a reverse horror pixelated action/horror game in which you take on the role of an Old God exacting revenge upon humanity for denying your demands. As Dagon, you send forth swarms of your servants to slaughter those who stand in your way, choosing a variety of minions to employ (each with their own strengths/weaknesses), as well as choosing an apostle to lead you (granting unique passives and starting abilities).
Personal Highlights: all the minions are really neat and I found the main/background story actually fairly entertaining, sometimes unintentionally (?) hilarious. And as is the case with reverse horror games, the gore and violence in the game is very satisfying and fun.
Criticism: the controls are too basic (you only have a movement, attack, and regroup command) and the swarm you control can be frustrating to command at times (members of my swarm would attack objects when the real threat was the person standing beside them, minions sometimes take detours that end with them walking into a dangerous opponent alone etc...). The price could also be a bit steep for some, considering the length of the game and features.
Carrion (2020)
Another self-described reverse horror, Carrion is a metroidvania-style horror game in which you take on the role of a mass of fleshy tentacles escaping from a lab facility, causing much bloodshed and terror along the way. While the game's main attraction is the fantastically fun and gore-y ride it offers, it also features many puzzles and dangerous enemies to hinder your escape. It is short and sweet (maybe even too short), but ridiculously fun.
Personal Highlights: the controls of the monster are impressively smooth and fun and the pure gore is such a treat. It feels especially satisfying to corner unarmed NPCs and watch them scream and cower while you approach and eventually devour them. Snatching unsuspecting guards from the ceiling is also just too enjoyable.
Criticism: The lack of a map is a fairly annoying aspect. The game requires you to backtrack often to solve puzzles and without a map to guide you, it is possible you'll waste a good amount of time just circling rooms with no clear idea where you should be going. Also, the enemy AI is not the smartest. Their weapons and technology pose a very serious threat to you (especially flamethrowers), but the AI can be dumb af. And due to the short length of the game, some might consider the price a bit steep.
Lovecraft's Untold Stories (2019)
A roguelite horror/action game with RPG elements, Lovecraft's Untold Stories has you take on the role of one of 6 different unlockable characters each with their own unique gameplay style and story that places them in different randomly generated maps based on the works of H.P Lovecraft. The combat is quick and challenging, and the maps are interesting and filled with lovecraftian references. Also, the pixel graphics add a lovely charm to the game.
Personal Highlights: I especially like the text-based ""encounters"" with certain lovecraftian objects, where you have the option to choose how you interact with certain objects (touch it vs leave it alone etc...)
Criticism: I personally experienced some minor, non-game breaking bugs on my end. At one point the language of the map screen switched to German despite everything else being English (luckily I do speak German so it didn't bother me much).
Limbo (2010)
Limbo is a mild horror puzzle-platformer that throws you into the role of a nameless figure in a dread-inspiring yet dream-like world full of nameless giant beasts and wild tribes. The artistic direction is fantastic, and the puzzles are fun and challenging (dying multiple times is to be expected). Another short and sweet adventure.
Personal Highlights: as already mentioned, the artistic direction is superb and strangely calming for such an eerie and creepy world.
Criticism: like many of these games, some might find the short length off-putting when compared to the price.
On My Radar
The following are lovecraftian games I am aware of but haven't played either because I lack the platform (I'm a Mac OSX user), couldn't afford to buy them at the time, or have not found the time to play through them:
Darkest Dungeon
The Sinking City
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Dredge
Subnautica
The Shore
Darkwood
Forgive Me Father
Silt
Dagon by H.P Lovecraft
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