Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Lovecraft, H(oward) P(hillips) (1890-1937), American writer of fantasy and horror.
Games based on Lovecraft's themes and the Cthulhu mythos have been attempted a few times in the past, and it looks like one will be attempted again, from recent reports. Hoping this thread can be a centralized place to discuss them. Searched to find if this was done already, please lock if I am representing only redundancy. Judge kindly, this is my first NeoGAF thread.
For those who have read Lovecraft, or perhaps can't enjoy his works due to his writing style, I can also recommend the works of August Derleth. Derleth was the most prominent of Lovecraft's "champions," a group of people who began writing further fiction within the various fictional frameworks he developed, leading to his great posthumous popularity. Personally I recommend The Cthulhu Mythos:
http://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Mythos-August-Derleth/dp/0760702535
As for upcoming game projects:
Future
It looks like Guillermo Del Toro, who has been working with James Cameron to produce an adaptation of a Lovecraft story, will be producing a Lovecraft-inspired game. Not hard to imagine the two projects will be linked.
Movie: James Cameron backs Guillermo Del Toro's 3-D adaptation of 'At the Mountains of Madness'
http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=33704
Movie: Del Toro looking to snag Tom Cruise for 'At the Mountains of Madness'
http://www.collider.com/2010/09/02/james-mcavoy-tom-cruise-at-the-mountains-of-madness-guillermo-del-toro/
Another Article
Movie: http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/49406846.html
Game: UPDATE 12/16/2010:
http://www.1up.com/news/thq-insane-trilogy-del-toro
Hmm. Silicon Knights made Eternal Darkness, and then moved on to Too Human, which they originally announced as a Trilogy. Now THQ and Volition pitch the upcoming Lovecraftian horror game 'Insane' as originally designed as a Trilogy, and a "multimedia event," with Del Toro retaining film rights. Del Toro: "With this new series of video games, I want to take players to a place they have never seen before, where every single action makes them question their own senses of morality and reality."
http://www.1up.com/news/guillermo-del-toro-announces-insane
Guillermo del Toro uses an appearance at the Spike VGA's to announce "Insane," his upcoming Lovecraftian game, with a Teaser trailer that shows nothing but a logo and an anticipated launch date sometime in 2013. Release is expected for PC, XBox 360, and PS3.
Game: UPDATE: THQ responds with cagey "nothing to announce" after MTV Multiplayer posts story on future game:
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2010/09/29/guillermo-del-toro-thq-game/
Game: Del Toro pals with THQ to make "Lovecraftian Horror Game" for 2013 release:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-09-30-del-toro-making-lovecraftian-game
UPDATE 8/7/2012 - THQ PULLS OUT OF THE PROJECT:
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/thq-cancels-insane-rights-transfer-to-del-toro/4317/
In older news, back in February Nintendo renewed its trademark for Eternal Darkness, though no news about their intentions with the trademark have come to light since then:
http://kotaku.com/5473079/a-new-eternal-darkness-trademark-whats-that-about
PAST:
Here are a few internet directories for Lovecraftian games you could have, of course, googled yourself, but I saved you some typing.
The Mobygames.com super-complete guide to Lovecraft games that use the official names:
http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/h-p-lovecraft-games
The hplovecraft.com guide that includes less fan projects but more games with oblique Lovecraft themes/references:
http://www.hplovecraft.com/popcult/games/computer.asp
Standouts (for me):
EDIT:
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
I'm sorry I can't resist I have to use the horrible cover art.
Please note the addition of this game to the OP is an EDIT, I hadn't played Amnesia when I first made the Thread, so lots of people will be pointing out that I missed Amnesia. I've played this a couple of times but only in short bursts, and haven't made it very far yet. The atmosphere is great and oppressive. Last time I played it I had a few beers in me so I don't know where I left off. There! I played it.
Good fun searching up people on YouTube who have played this game.
Honestly, though, the mechanic of not being able to fight but just having to run and hide is not really new. I played it in Clock Tower 3 and Haunting Ground. I need to go deeper before I feel I have experience what Amnesia has in store for me, however. I am now also curious to play the Penumbra series.
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
E3 2004 trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2k4-call-of/670
An interesting first-person shooter take on a horror game, Call of Cthulhu was released by Bethesda in 2005, in conjunction with 2K games, after being developed by Headfirst, out of Great Britain. I found it to be unusual for a first-person game, involving stealth elements and waiting much of the game before actually putting a weapon in your hands. The game's story weaves elements from a few Lovecraft stories. It is primarily set in the main location of "The Shadow over Innsmouth," but the opening chapter and plight of the primary character is also taken from "The Shadow out of Time." Additional plot points are taken from a module for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game called "Escape from Innsmouth."
The game also included an "insanity" system, much like Eternal Darkness (below), yet I found its use much less interesting. Essentially, when your character witnessed something horrible, your field of view would become very distorted to represent the hit to your sanity. This, to me, presented the unfortunate side-effect of blurring up the graphics for the exact parts of the game you'd like to see clearly. This was never more evident during a portion in a church when you were tasked from escaping from the tainted Innsmouth resident by climbing across beams in the rafters. When looking down at the beams (where your feet would be if they had been rendered), the extreme height would distort the appearance of the narrow beam you were expected to navigate.
Having been developed for quite a while, certain tropes in the game felt ancient when juxtaposed against other, more recently developed portions of the game. As mentioned, Half-Life 1 style climbing and navigation without feet (including a long climb down--and through--a rope hanging down an elevator shaft) seemed more out-of-place after an earlier, extended cut-scene involving an escape from a hotel room where your character's well-rendered hands rubbed sleep from his eyes as the townsfolk came to kill him.
Many memorable sequences redeem any inconsistencies, including the afore-mentioned scene of being chased by the fishy townspeople, an underground battle and escape from a Shaggoth, and a boat-based battle against a giant minion of Cthulhu, Dagon.
Headfirst had a series of plans for sequels. However some after their new publishing partner Hip Games folded, Headfirst's efforts were unable to continue, and they closed in 2006, ending those hopes. The closure of Hip Games also torpedoed the release of Geroge Romero's City of the Dead, dealing a double-blow to horror-game fans. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6134506.html
A trailer for the first sequel, Call of Cthulhu: Destiny's End, was released, but nothing more was heard of it:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/trailer-cthulhu-destinys/6445
Amazingly, the official site of the game is still up:
http://www.callofcthulhu.com/home.html
Rebel FM tackled the game in their first edition of Game Club (iTunes link):
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=301774100
Direct link, Episode 1: http://media.libsyn.com/media/rebelfm/Rebel_FM_Game_Club_--_Call_of_Cthulhu_--_Episode_1_--_02_16_2009.mp3
Direct link, Episode 2: http://media.libsyn.com/media/rebelfm/Rebel_FM_Game_Club_Episode_2.mp3
Direct link, Episode 3: http://media.libsyn.com/media/rebelfm/Rebel_FM_Game_Club_Episode_3.mp3
Direct link, Episode 4: http://media.libsyn.com/media/rebelfm/Game_Club_031609.mp3
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/trailer-2-eternal-darkness/1214
Developed by Silicon Knights, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem has the distinction of being the first M-rated game published directly by Nintendo. It was released in 2002 for the Gamecube, to positive critical praise, but faint sales. The game was originally developed for the Nintendo 64:
N64 footage 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koBEIdTuaIQ&
N64 footage 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVh_yJvsQKs&
N64 footage 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSD9iG7hdUQ&
N64 footage 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onK8uGjtwL8&
N64 footage 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WIDWoefpAc&
I really enjoyed this third-person action title. It is set across the span of hundreds of years of history, allowing you to experience the story through the viewpoint of a multitude of characters that intersect with the plans of one of "the Ancients" to defeat its rivals and consume our reality. The gameplay includes both melee and firearms combat, with targetting of an enemies individual body parts allowing you to slow an enemy, impede their specific attacks, or behead them before finishing them off. For those of the Romero slant, zombies are plentiful as well. A fascinating and memorable magic system is here as well.
Most well-known about the title are the "sanity effects," an innovation which Nintendo attempted (successfully?) to patent, which involved various audio and video effects coming into play when your protagonist's sanity meter was driven too low by seeing the monsters and traumatic events around you. Silicon Knights had some difficulty convincing Nintendo to allow some of the more radical of these, which included simulated audio and video problems with the game, the deletion of your entire inventory, or a mock crash of the entire game.
I really, really enjoyed this title, playing through it three times to get the "real ending." Casual players would be best advised to try to grab the green artifact. Silicon Knights' Dennis Dyack has often mentioned affinity for the game, but cannot be pinned down to committing to a sequel. Given that that studio moved allegiances to Microsoft, and published the relatively panned Too Human, no one is sure whether they will be able to revisit the title, especially since Nintendo holds the trademark to the game.
And finally (skipping some titles), the first in this series of games, to my knowledge:
The Lurking Horror
Sadly I haven't shown much patience in going back to play the Infocom classics, but this one, the only true horror title they released, is directly inspired by Lovecraft's work and the Cthulhu mythos. I find it interesting that for the Amiga release of this title, Infocom added sound effects. Not being able to personally testify to the content, I must lame out and point you to the wiki for the title:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lurking_Horror
With so many of Lovecraft's themes involving beasties that drive you crazy if you even see them, and so many of his descriptions and horrific references being oblique and esoteric, it is small wonder that so few non-fan-effort games have tried to convey his unique style of fear into gameplay. If anyone else is down, I have Lurking Horror in a file format I can play in a Z-interpreter, and would not mind braving a playthrough to see how it worked out in text.
I... just... don't want to do it... alone!
HOW CAN IT WORK?
Time to discuss:
Sanity effects. Everybody loved them in Eternal Darkness. They didn't come off so well in Call of Cthulhu. Did Silicon Knights pop everyone's 4th wall cherry, and ensure that those kinds of tricks won't work again? There were some vestiges of that experience in the Scarecrow segment of Batman: Arkham Asylum that seemed to work well. What sort of sanity effects could push the envelope yet again in such a game?
Arkham Horror on XBLA. I recently played the Arkham Horror board game for the first time, and really enjoyed it.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15987/arkham-horror
It was kind of slow to set up and slow to play, though. Does anyone else feel it could work as an XBLA game? Saving your game would go a long way towards actually finishing one.
Finally, my suggestion for cashing in on this untapped niche, big time: Given that Call of Cthulhu is already a popular role-playing game that has spawned a set of video games, I would like to humble put forth into the universe the next big MMORPG...
World of Lovecraft! :lol
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, August 20, 1890, Lovecraft was a sickly, precocious child whose parents died insane. At the age of 16 he was writing an astronomy column for the Providence Tribune. From 1908 until 1923 he eked out a livelihood from occasional stories in little magazines such as Weird Tales. His stories never earned him much, however, and he died in Providence, on March 15, 1937, in poverty and obscurity. About a decade later, his work began to receive serious attention. His tales tell of ghoul changelings, psychic possession, unspeakable evil, and mythical worlds in which time and space are dislocated, as in his Cthulhu Mythos stories. His work had considerable influence on fantasy and science fiction writers. (from http://home.earthlink.net/~presnell/index.html)
Games based on Lovecraft's themes and the Cthulhu mythos have been attempted a few times in the past, and it looks like one will be attempted again, from recent reports. Hoping this thread can be a centralized place to discuss them. Searched to find if this was done already, please lock if I am representing only redundancy. Judge kindly, this is my first NeoGAF thread.
For those who have read Lovecraft, or perhaps can't enjoy his works due to his writing style, I can also recommend the works of August Derleth. Derleth was the most prominent of Lovecraft's "champions," a group of people who began writing further fiction within the various fictional frameworks he developed, leading to his great posthumous popularity. Personally I recommend The Cthulhu Mythos:
http://www.amazon.com/Cthulhu-Mythos-August-Derleth/dp/0760702535
As for upcoming game projects:
Future
It looks like Guillermo Del Toro, who has been working with James Cameron to produce an adaptation of a Lovecraft story, will be producing a Lovecraft-inspired game. Not hard to imagine the two projects will be linked.
Movie: James Cameron backs Guillermo Del Toro's 3-D adaptation of 'At the Mountains of Madness'
http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=33704
Movie: Del Toro looking to snag Tom Cruise for 'At the Mountains of Madness'
http://www.collider.com/2010/09/02/james-mcavoy-tom-cruise-at-the-mountains-of-madness-guillermo-del-toro/
Another Article
Movie: http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/49406846.html
Game: UPDATE 12/16/2010:
http://www.1up.com/news/thq-insane-trilogy-del-toro
Hmm. Silicon Knights made Eternal Darkness, and then moved on to Too Human, which they originally announced as a Trilogy. Now THQ and Volition pitch the upcoming Lovecraftian horror game 'Insane' as originally designed as a Trilogy, and a "multimedia event," with Del Toro retaining film rights. Del Toro: "With this new series of video games, I want to take players to a place they have never seen before, where every single action makes them question their own senses of morality and reality."
http://www.1up.com/news/guillermo-del-toro-announces-insane
Guillermo del Toro uses an appearance at the Spike VGA's to announce "Insane," his upcoming Lovecraftian game, with a Teaser trailer that shows nothing but a logo and an anticipated launch date sometime in 2013. Release is expected for PC, XBox 360, and PS3.
Game: UPDATE: THQ responds with cagey "nothing to announce" after MTV Multiplayer posts story on future game:
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2010/09/29/guillermo-del-toro-thq-game/
Game: Del Toro pals with THQ to make "Lovecraftian Horror Game" for 2013 release:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-09-30-del-toro-making-lovecraftian-game
UPDATE 8/7/2012 - THQ PULLS OUT OF THE PROJECT:
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/thq-cancels-insane-rights-transfer-to-del-toro/4317/
In older news, back in February Nintendo renewed its trademark for Eternal Darkness, though no news about their intentions with the trademark have come to light since then:
http://kotaku.com/5473079/a-new-eternal-darkness-trademark-whats-that-about
PAST:
Here are a few internet directories for Lovecraftian games you could have, of course, googled yourself, but I saved you some typing.
The Mobygames.com super-complete guide to Lovecraft games that use the official names:
http://www.mobygames.com/game-group/h-p-lovecraft-games
The hplovecraft.com guide that includes less fan projects but more games with oblique Lovecraft themes/references:
http://www.hplovecraft.com/popcult/games/computer.asp
Standouts (for me):
EDIT:
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
I'm sorry I can't resist I have to use the horrible cover art.
Please note the addition of this game to the OP is an EDIT, I hadn't played Amnesia when I first made the Thread, so lots of people will be pointing out that I missed Amnesia. I've played this a couple of times but only in short bursts, and haven't made it very far yet. The atmosphere is great and oppressive. Last time I played it I had a few beers in me so I don't know where I left off. There! I played it.
Good fun searching up people on YouTube who have played this game.
Honestly, though, the mechanic of not being able to fight but just having to run and hide is not really new. I played it in Clock Tower 3 and Haunting Ground. I need to go deeper before I feel I have experience what Amnesia has in store for me, however. I am now also curious to play the Penumbra series.
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
E3 2004 trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2k4-call-of/670
An interesting first-person shooter take on a horror game, Call of Cthulhu was released by Bethesda in 2005, in conjunction with 2K games, after being developed by Headfirst, out of Great Britain. I found it to be unusual for a first-person game, involving stealth elements and waiting much of the game before actually putting a weapon in your hands. The game's story weaves elements from a few Lovecraft stories. It is primarily set in the main location of "The Shadow over Innsmouth," but the opening chapter and plight of the primary character is also taken from "The Shadow out of Time." Additional plot points are taken from a module for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game called "Escape from Innsmouth."
The game also included an "insanity" system, much like Eternal Darkness (below), yet I found its use much less interesting. Essentially, when your character witnessed something horrible, your field of view would become very distorted to represent the hit to your sanity. This, to me, presented the unfortunate side-effect of blurring up the graphics for the exact parts of the game you'd like to see clearly. This was never more evident during a portion in a church when you were tasked from escaping from the tainted Innsmouth resident by climbing across beams in the rafters. When looking down at the beams (where your feet would be if they had been rendered), the extreme height would distort the appearance of the narrow beam you were expected to navigate.
Having been developed for quite a while, certain tropes in the game felt ancient when juxtaposed against other, more recently developed portions of the game. As mentioned, Half-Life 1 style climbing and navigation without feet (including a long climb down--and through--a rope hanging down an elevator shaft) seemed more out-of-place after an earlier, extended cut-scene involving an escape from a hotel room where your character's well-rendered hands rubbed sleep from his eyes as the townsfolk came to kill him.
Many memorable sequences redeem any inconsistencies, including the afore-mentioned scene of being chased by the fishy townspeople, an underground battle and escape from a Shaggoth, and a boat-based battle against a giant minion of Cthulhu, Dagon.
Headfirst had a series of plans for sequels. However some after their new publishing partner Hip Games folded, Headfirst's efforts were unable to continue, and they closed in 2006, ending those hopes. The closure of Hip Games also torpedoed the release of Geroge Romero's City of the Dead, dealing a double-blow to horror-game fans. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6134506.html
A trailer for the first sequel, Call of Cthulhu: Destiny's End, was released, but nothing more was heard of it:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/trailer-cthulhu-destinys/6445
Amazingly, the official site of the game is still up:
http://www.callofcthulhu.com/home.html
Rebel FM tackled the game in their first edition of Game Club (iTunes link):
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=301774100
Direct link, Episode 1: http://media.libsyn.com/media/rebelfm/Rebel_FM_Game_Club_--_Call_of_Cthulhu_--_Episode_1_--_02_16_2009.mp3
Direct link, Episode 2: http://media.libsyn.com/media/rebelfm/Rebel_FM_Game_Club_Episode_2.mp3
Direct link, Episode 3: http://media.libsyn.com/media/rebelfm/Rebel_FM_Game_Club_Episode_3.mp3
Direct link, Episode 4: http://media.libsyn.com/media/rebelfm/Game_Club_031609.mp3
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/trailer-2-eternal-darkness/1214
Developed by Silicon Knights, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem has the distinction of being the first M-rated game published directly by Nintendo. It was released in 2002 for the Gamecube, to positive critical praise, but faint sales. The game was originally developed for the Nintendo 64:
N64 footage 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koBEIdTuaIQ&
N64 footage 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVh_yJvsQKs&
N64 footage 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSD9iG7hdUQ&
N64 footage 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onK8uGjtwL8&
N64 footage 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WIDWoefpAc&
I really enjoyed this third-person action title. It is set across the span of hundreds of years of history, allowing you to experience the story through the viewpoint of a multitude of characters that intersect with the plans of one of "the Ancients" to defeat its rivals and consume our reality. The gameplay includes both melee and firearms combat, with targetting of an enemies individual body parts allowing you to slow an enemy, impede their specific attacks, or behead them before finishing them off. For those of the Romero slant, zombies are plentiful as well. A fascinating and memorable magic system is here as well.
Most well-known about the title are the "sanity effects," an innovation which Nintendo attempted (successfully?) to patent, which involved various audio and video effects coming into play when your protagonist's sanity meter was driven too low by seeing the monsters and traumatic events around you. Silicon Knights had some difficulty convincing Nintendo to allow some of the more radical of these, which included simulated audio and video problems with the game, the deletion of your entire inventory, or a mock crash of the entire game.
I really, really enjoyed this title, playing through it three times to get the "real ending." Casual players would be best advised to try to grab the green artifact. Silicon Knights' Dennis Dyack has often mentioned affinity for the game, but cannot be pinned down to committing to a sequel. Given that that studio moved allegiances to Microsoft, and published the relatively panned Too Human, no one is sure whether they will be able to revisit the title, especially since Nintendo holds the trademark to the game.
And finally (skipping some titles), the first in this series of games, to my knowledge:
The Lurking Horror
Sadly I haven't shown much patience in going back to play the Infocom classics, but this one, the only true horror title they released, is directly inspired by Lovecraft's work and the Cthulhu mythos. I find it interesting that for the Amiga release of this title, Infocom added sound effects. Not being able to personally testify to the content, I must lame out and point you to the wiki for the title:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lurking_Horror
With so many of Lovecraft's themes involving beasties that drive you crazy if you even see them, and so many of his descriptions and horrific references being oblique and esoteric, it is small wonder that so few non-fan-effort games have tried to convey his unique style of fear into gameplay. If anyone else is down, I have Lurking Horror in a file format I can play in a Z-interpreter, and would not mind braving a playthrough to see how it worked out in text.
I... just... don't want to do it... alone!
HOW CAN IT WORK?
Time to discuss:
Sanity effects. Everybody loved them in Eternal Darkness. They didn't come off so well in Call of Cthulhu. Did Silicon Knights pop everyone's 4th wall cherry, and ensure that those kinds of tricks won't work again? There were some vestiges of that experience in the Scarecrow segment of Batman: Arkham Asylum that seemed to work well. What sort of sanity effects could push the envelope yet again in such a game?
Arkham Horror on XBLA. I recently played the Arkham Horror board game for the first time, and really enjoyed it.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15987/arkham-horror
It was kind of slow to set up and slow to play, though. Does anyone else feel it could work as an XBLA game? Saving your game would go a long way towards actually finishing one.
Finally, my suggestion for cashing in on this untapped niche, big time: Given that Call of Cthulhu is already a popular role-playing game that has spawned a set of video games, I would like to humble put forth into the universe the next big MMORPG...
World of Lovecraft! :lol