Dagon: by H. P. Lovecraft
Beautiful and interesting storytelling of H.P. Lovecrafts ‘Dagon’.
Admission: the knowledge I have of Lovecraft comes from South Park, so I can’t tell if this a faithful interpretation of the book. The developer claims it is, and I take their word for it.
We witness the story of a veteran, who’s addiction to morphine brings him to the point of self destruction. We experience his dream, that consists of a classical Lovecraft world. If you have at least a very remote interest in Lovecraft, you should just play this game. It’s free and short!
– Real player with 2.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Atmospheric Games.
A fantastic homage to the Lovecraftian genre
H.P Lovecraft is not an unrecognizable name. If Shinji Mikami was coined at the grandfather of survival horror, then this man surpassed that even further by being the face of eldritch horror. On the circumstances that you somehow doesn’t recognize the name, perhaps you’re familiar with the creature most associated with him: the Cthulhu. Succumb to madness.
Do not think from my slavery to morphine that I am a weakling or a degenerate
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Dread X Collection 2
Score: 7/10
Dread X Collection games are a great concept. A horror house of mini-games that take 30-60 minutes to finish to unlock a larger narrative. The first game had a lot of duds and a few games that crashed and couldn’t be finished, and the same goes for this collection. There are far better games, but the duds are even worse this time around. At least there’s a larger hub world you can explore and get the games to require solving simple puzzles in a mansion you are locked in. It took me about 20 minutes to solve all the puzzles and find all twelve keys. It really doesn’t take much with some barely even considered puzzles. Each game is on a VHS tape locked in a box in the main room. You put the tape in the VCR and the game will pop up. It’s a neat concept and fun while it lasts, but you will spend the majority of your time with the smaller games. I will go through each one and let you know if they’re worth your time or not.
– Real player with 21.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian Survival Horror Games.
This collection takes place in a house with puzzles that you must solve to unlock keys to be able play the next game you desire. There is a free play mode if you don’t want to deal with the puzzles. There are 12 games in this collection and I will speak of each one in the order that I play them:
Squirrel Stapler
This was my first choice in this collection, its from the creator of DUSK, I enjoyed it. I will agree with a few others that the map seems like it could have been smaller, but at the same time the emptiness aside from the few squirrels and the vegetation and buildings made it kinda eerie to me. I always felt that I was being watched, and I was kinda right to think that. There are notes around certain areas of the map and they mainly have squirrel facts and some other topics. The main premise of the game is that you’re hunting squirrels for an “art project” involving your wife, and meeting god. How sweet of you. The game adds in new weird things pretty much each day, up to 5 days in total. The game isn’t super scary but it got me good a few times, especially the ending. Keep your rifle loaded; God is coming.
– Real player with 18.2 hrs in game
The Terrible Old Man
I never write bad reviews for games, because, if I don’t like one, I usually just put it aside and move along, but I cannot, for the life of me, understand how this game is so highly rated. Am I missing something??
The dialogue was bland and I noticed some very obvious mistakes, which just resonates on the fact that they didn’t put much effort into it.
The portraits were terrifying in an absolutely hilarious way, but it feels unintentional. It gave me serious Legend of Zelda: Wand of Gamelon vibes. The movement was awkward and sticky and there was no. goddamn. plot.
– Real player with 0.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Lovecraftian 2D Games.
This isn’t so much of a “reinterpretation” or “retelling” as it is a straight up clone of Lovecraft’s 1921 short story of the same name with a few unimportant details omitted. It says that it’s “based off” the 1921 story in its credits, but this game easily only uses 2% originality (if that) while the rest of the plot comes directly from Howard Phillips' own typewriter. I thought that this was going to more or less be a point-and-click adventure game with puzzles and various threads you can follow. However, there’s only one path to go down and only one ending that you can get. Sure, you can try all the bits of dialogue with each character (of which there are a few), but there’s only one selection per character that’s actually correct. You can easily find the correct answer by process of elimination. While you are supposed to go back and talk to people you’ve already annoyed or conversed with, this isn’t so much a “puzzle” as it’s something that players assume that they already need to do from the get-go (especially with point-and-click interactive fiction adventure games). Just so you know: I don’t care that this isn’t a puzzle game. What I care about is getting invested in a game whose plot from its original source material can’t just be looked up on Google in 10 seconds. If everything that’s going to happen can be revealed with a couple mouse clicks, I feel like something is definitely wrong with the game in question. I genuinely was looking for my expectations to be subverted, and they were not. Although I rather enjoyed the art design (the people’s faces were brilliantly scary and had a unique clay-like quality to them), it still wasn’t enough to keep me interested for longer than its expected 25 minute length. Maybe a longer game with more paths to go down could be worthwhile.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Call of Cthulhu®
Lovecraft would be proud!
This game is not like most games that claim to be Lovecraftian but are just strange, horror games with no real plot or story-line. This one is quite the opposite. This game creates a rich story-line that gleans themes from many of Lovecraft’s most loved works, and it has the best sanity mechanic in a game I have played! As someone who has read all of his stories (multiple times) this game is as close as they come.
Pros:
Story-line, soundtrack, ambiance, sanity mechanic, replay-ability.
– Real player with 32.0 hrs in game
It’s aite.
Like just aite. Nothing else, nothing more.
It be like that sometimes.
“Scripted insanity is just middling sanity”
– Real player with 15.8 hrs in game
The Shore
Opening/ Information
Reading a review is not enough? Want to see some footage? Check the link and watch some game footage for yourself and decide if this game is worth your time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LT0M3aWkDI
The Shore is a running simulator with most of the mandatory Lovecraft Creatures (the old ones) and a protagonist who will not die automatically by looking at them.
This is the first game developed by Ares Dragonis who is entering the world of Steam with this game.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
Review of the initial release.
Ebbs and Flows
Introduction
The Shore is a Narrative-driven Walking Simulator with some light combat and puzzles, heavily inspired by H. P. Lovecraft. You are Andrew looking for your daughter, Elle, on an island known for its unique geographic makeup; black sand and jagged, protruding rocks. And home to many shipwrecks. You’ve come to this little, unusual island in hopes of finding your daughter, only to find a bounteous sweeping phenomenon beyond the importance of your daughter.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
Call of Cthulhu®: Dark Corners of the Earth
OLD STYLE HORROR… Oh Yea!
Intro:
This game is based on the works of H. P. Lovecraft, author of “The Call of Cthulhu” and progenitor of the Cthulhu Mythos. It is a reimagining of Lovecraft’s 1936 novella The Shadow over Innsmouth. Set mostly in the year 1922, the story follows Jack Walters (previously a police detective) and now private detective who is trying to solve cases even when there wasn’t any evidence. On September 6, 1915, he was called by the police to investigate a decrepit manor where gunshots were heard. A group of an unknown cult (Fellowship of the Yith) lived there and it’s leader, Victor Holt, demanded the police only send Jack in exchange for their cooperation. Strangely, Jack had never met or heard of Victor Holt before. As Jack entered the manor’s compound, all hell broke loose and both the police and the cultists started shooting at one another. You take it from here. All hell is about to break loose in the game.
– Real player with 35.6 hrs in game
I am a fan of both Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s fantastic literary body having read most of his work and also the Role playing game the Call of Cthulhu (the table top one not the new one). I very much enjoyed this game despite the glitches (should you wish to play without the glitches I would suggest that you either buy this game on good old games or install the patch that can be found online, and turn down the resolution for the very last bit of the game to the lowest setting).
I have to say that don’t go into this game expecting something akin to one of Lovecraft’s stories word for word, while it deals with the same themes and even one of the same characters this game is a bit of Lovecraft salad. You get bits from The Shadow over Innsmouth, The Call of Cthulhu, The Shadow out of time, Dagon, At the Mountains of Madness and even some references to The
– Real player with 33.7 hrs in game
Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet
First of all, this game was made for those that are familiar with the works of H.P. Lovecraft, so if you have not read his work, you may want to before purchasing. It will give you a greater understanding of the themes and key players in the game.
First lets cover the many positives. This game is genuinely creepy, from beginning to end. The pixelated art is beautiful, if you appreciate pixelated art. I would have done so many screenshots, but sadly with DOSBox I was unable to. The town of Innsmouth is charming, yet you can definitely sense the sinister presence that surrounds and invades the town. The people themselves are also not quite right. It’s fun trying to discern who is there to help, or bring about your demise. The soundtrack is very creepy, letting you know that you are about to enter a world of nightmare. The sound effects are also great. There are times when you are walking through a forest, and you can hear the animals, which can create either a very pleasant or sinister effect, depending on when you go. There is an instance when you have to visit a cemetary, and there is no soundtrack. The sounds of what you would expect to hear in a cemetary at night is all you need to set the mood. The voice acting, for the most part is pretty good, with just a hint of cheese. You can either read the dialogue, listen to the spoken dialogue, or use both. If you use both, expect lag. The written text stays much longer than what the actors say. You can right click if you want to skip the awkward pauses. This really is the only technical hiccup, and I find it forgivable, since there are other modes available.
– Real player with 13.0 hrs in game
HOLY SHIT this game sucks!!!!! I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, I played all the Sierra games, King’s Quest, Space Quest, Quest for glory, Black Cauldron, you name it. This game has all of the bad aspects of those games and none of the good ones. The bad aspects are: you can’t progress in the game until you have done certain things. That means you walk around forever looking for things to do. If you didn’t talk to someone, you have to go do it. And you just can’t move on. In the old sierra games, you might have to backtrack in the game to get a certain item or do a certain action. Here, the game does not progress until you are current with the plot. Here’s an example: You go into the woods with your guide. He’s carrying your camera tripod. He runs away. You use 3 branches and a vine to make a tripod. The problem is, if you don’t have those items, the guide never meets you. So you wander around the game with a tripod, wondering why the hell you can’t move on. It was this kind of crap that caused the death of the point and click adventure games. The great thing about the Sierra games was you knew to go back to an earlier save point and look for what you needed (I can’t get by this laser. Wow, it would be great to have a mirror to blow up the laser. Aw shit, I need to back up and find something mirrored). Now let’s talk about the controls. In the sierra games you direct your mouse at the top of the screen and select an icon to do what you want. In this game, you have to press [TAB] to access those icons, and you can’t even point and select like in the classic adventure games. You have to cheat! You have to go on the internet and find out the keys that correspond to each action. And on top of that, the keys are SLOW!!!! You have to hit (L) to see anything, and then walk around it and hit (G) over and over and over, to pick it up. Every action in this game takes FOREVER. Just picking up a branch takes MINUTES. The logic puzzles are fairly straightforward, but because they take so long to carry out, you’re frustrated. You know you need to talk to the dying man, but you have to be standing in exactly the right position, hit (L), to look at him, then (T) to talk to him. By that time you’re so pissed that you don’t even want to listen to what he’s saying, you just want the game to PROGRESS!!! What would be fun adventure puzzles in an old Sierra game just enrage you in this game, because everything is so damn slow. It’s a badly made game and you shouldn’t get it. Shame on Steam for selling this POS. That’s 6 bucks I’ll never have again.
– Real player with 10.4 hrs in game
CHRONOPHOBIA
Driven by grief through the recent loss of his son, Aidan embarks on a time-bending journey in attempts to revive him back from the dead. But by the end of the journey, the horrors that are witnessed will make him question the credibility of his actions.
PLAY AS AIDAN AND TRAVEL THROUGH TIME TO VISIT HISTORICAL PERIODS IN A FUN AND NEW WAY THROUGH A PIXEL-ART STORYTELLING HORROR ADVENTURE!
SOLVE PUZZLES BY COLLECTING AND USING ITEMS IN THE ENVIRONMENT!
AVOID MYSTERIOUS TIME-BENDING MONSTERS IN THIS LOVECRAFTIAN HORROR ADVENTURE!
Hermitage: Strange Case Files
Hermitage: Strange Case Files is not your average visual novel, nor is it your average cosmic horror title. With relaxing-yet-energetic jazzy tunes that’ll have you sipping coffee and pondering the depths of the darkness that resides within the human mind, the game feels oddly comfortable and confusing at the same time. It’s not that I didn’t want Hermitage: Strange Case Files to end — it got to a point where I genuinely didn’t think it would, its unexplained mysteries consuming all that’s left of me (40 hours to complete, y’all). If you’re looking for an interactive visual novel to get absolutely lost in (in every possible sense of that phrase), Hermitage: Strange Case Files has a literal bookstore to delve into.
– Real player with 40.2 hrs in game
Playing status: 100% achievement
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (10 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Guide: Click here
Intro
Hermitage: Strange Case Files is a visual novel about mysterious beings. It tries to mix Lovecraftian lores and investigation elements with a heavy emphasis on the story. There are 6 chapters in total, each focusing on a certain case.
– Real player with 35.3 hrs in game
Thalassophobia
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Thalassophobia
A game that borrows inspiration from the roguelike and survival genre alike and puts you in an instant fight for survival against mysterious creatures, starvation, insanity and more.
Be prepared to fail over and over again while you keep learning how to keep a good balance of yours crews needs and safety.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
I bought this to do a review of it for YT. Never before have I heard myself so depressed after a video. It isn’t from the melancholy of Lovecraftian literature either.
Gameplay:
Aesthetically it reminds me of retro-indie games. Pretty good in that regard. However I’m not a fan of the GUI trying to move out of the way while I’m attempting to use it (infuriating to say the least). It took me about 15 minutes to learn the mechanics and I’m still not sure I have all of it with an hour of playing. I got the furnace once, but I’ve not seen it since and died soon after, considering the game doesn’t teach you how to use it. I tend to succumb to sanity being exhausted, but it’s impossible to keep my crew sufficiently saturated and not crazy. Frankly it’s not fun for me to die and die again with little to no progress being made so I don’t want to play it anymore.
– Real player with 1.0 hrs in game