Lovecraft and Video Games
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... I was the only one who played Splatterhouse all the way through, huh?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cek3YnryR2M
5:10 to about 5:55, that's Cthulhu floating around in that huge green tank to your right, as you run down the stairs. Or, in the case of this video, the large glass case that Spazzy McTwitchstick thrashes around while swinging wildly at crates. You can see the Great Old One's bright green eye early on, and then see snatches of him through the glass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cek3YnryR2M
5:10 to about 5:55, that's Cthulhu floating around in that huge green tank to your right, as you run down the stairs. Or, in the case of this video, the large glass case that Spazzy McTwitchstick thrashes around while swinging wildly at crates. You can see the Great Old One's bright green eye early on, and then see snatches of him through the glass.
Hmm.... there's The Void. A very... unique adventure game made by the same guys that did the Syberia series.
Its about... bringing light and life back to a dark and lifeless universe...
trouble is... just about every character you meet is an actively hostile Eldritch Abomination that will not hesitate to murder you and your only friend in a number of nasty ways.
Then, there's Lone Survivor and parts of the Silent Hill series... which imply that all the monsters you've been fighting might not be monsters, but normal people, and you're just a mad little bastard.
A key aspect I think you're neglecting about Lovecraft's brand of horror (from what I can interpret from the OP), is that it isn't so much about tentacled monsters or forces of nature as it is..
the entire universe being a cold, uncaring, and on the whole, hostile place to live in, and the horror comes in with our futile struggle for survival.
EDIT:There's also a touch of Lovecraft's influence in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2...
what with Darth Nihulis being a nearly unstoppable (at least in the lore) world-devouring humanoid abomination.
Also... ever play Telltale's Sam and Max series? By the end of Season 3 (spoiler warning) you've basically become friends with Yog-Soggoth, and Max (the rabbit-like... thing) has turned into a giant cthulhu-esque monster.
Fallout 3 had the Dunwich building (complete with mysterious Obelisk) and that side quest from Point Lookout where you were basically hired to find the Necronomicon for someone.
The Binding of Isaac has a very subtle Lovecraftian feel to it... with all of Isaac's nightmares being turned into Eldritch Abominations for you to fight... most of which are implied to be his aborted or stillborn siblings, that didn't quite make it... and then there's the fight with Isaac's mom.
Also... there's Slender, but if you include that, then you'd have to research the entire Slender Man mythos (or at least the most prominent series in it, like Marble Hornets, Everyman HYBRID, -though Caught Not Sleeping also did some interesting things with the concept), and the Slenderman Mythos is basically a sequel to the Cthulhu mythos.
Its about... bringing light and life back to a dark and lifeless universe...
trouble is... just about every character you meet is an actively hostile Eldritch Abomination that will not hesitate to murder you and your only friend in a number of nasty ways.
Then, there's Lone Survivor and parts of the Silent Hill series... which imply that all the monsters you've been fighting might not be monsters, but normal people, and you're just a mad little bastard.
A key aspect I think you're neglecting about Lovecraft's brand of horror (from what I can interpret from the OP), is that it isn't so much about tentacled monsters or forces of nature as it is..
the entire universe being a cold, uncaring, and on the whole, hostile place to live in, and the horror comes in with our futile struggle for survival.
EDIT:There's also a touch of Lovecraft's influence in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2...
what with Darth Nihulis being a nearly unstoppable (at least in the lore) world-devouring humanoid abomination.
Also... ever play Telltale's Sam and Max series? By the end of Season 3 (spoiler warning) you've basically become friends with Yog-Soggoth, and Max (the rabbit-like... thing) has turned into a giant cthulhu-esque monster.
Fallout 3 had the Dunwich building (complete with mysterious Obelisk) and that side quest from Point Lookout where you were basically hired to find the Necronomicon for someone.
The Binding of Isaac has a very subtle Lovecraftian feel to it... with all of Isaac's nightmares being turned into Eldritch Abominations for you to fight... most of which are implied to be his aborted or stillborn siblings, that didn't quite make it... and then there's the fight with Isaac's mom.
Also... there's Slender, but if you include that, then you'd have to research the entire Slender Man mythos (or at least the most prominent series in it, like Marble Hornets, Everyman HYBRID, -though Caught Not Sleeping also did some interesting things with the concept), and the Slenderman Mythos is basically a sequel to the Cthulhu mythos.
Indeed. There's a whole string of Lovecraft-inspired quests in the humongous Solomon Island questing zone featuring a large variety of barnacle-encrusted sea critters with pincers and tentacles, and the accompanying dungeon - I believe it was called Polaris Nightmare - has several bosses pretty much ripped directly from Lovecraft lore in terms of visuals and attacks; the final boss in particular, called the Ur-Draug, basically looks like Cthulhu himself.Gabanuka said:
Other especially tentacly gribblies were the Draug and Feigr mobs.
Draug Warmonger
Feigr Lord
Feigr Lord
The Chaos Gods from 40k. Tzeentch in particular is often depicted as a great mass of ever changing faces, leering eyes, gaping maws and writhing tentacles due to his nature as the Lord of Change. Everything from the Warp seems very Lovecraftian in general.
The post above (At present) seems to nail it. The cosmic monstrosities that simply are massive and dwarf the puny microcosm of our existance, once again 40k in general eptomises this but the creatures of the Warp are the perfect example. With names like Khorne, Slaanesh, Nurgle and Tzeentch you know things are wierd.
In fact I have a specific example, taken from text from Dawn of War: Dark Crusade.
I can't remember it off by heart but the gist of it is that a lone human is haunted within a blighted area by an apparation of Slaanesh, a Daemonette to be specific. The apparation would appear every night, beautiful and terrifying at the same time before vanishing. The human narrates that he woke screaming every morning but longed for the daemonettes touch every night.
The post above (At present) seems to nail it. The cosmic monstrosities that simply are massive and dwarf the puny microcosm of our existance, once again 40k in general eptomises this but the creatures of the Warp are the perfect example. With names like Khorne, Slaanesh, Nurgle and Tzeentch you know things are wierd.
In fact I have a specific example, taken from text from Dawn of War: Dark Crusade.
I can't remember it off by heart but the gist of it is that a lone human is haunted within a blighted area by an apparation of Slaanesh, a Daemonette to be specific. The apparation would appear every night, beautiful and terrifying at the same time before vanishing. The human narrates that he woke screaming every morning but longed for the daemonettes touch every night.
Hmmm... the most Lovecraftian feel I got out of the underrated Clive Barker's Undying. It was gothic horror, acceptable gameplay and wholesale weird-out moments the likes of which I've only seen again in Amnesia.
Oh, another level of true Lovecraftian weird I almost forgot: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem on the GameCube. That one was awesome. It truly put a lot of effort into messing with the player's head.
And... yes, I think Demon's Souls and Dark Souls look, feel and smell very Lovecraft-inspired to me.
Undying - Official Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emJ1nweouss
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - "Sanity Effects" Showcase: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9wSR6uInZ0 (there's a link with ALL sanity effects, but it's a whopping 23 minutes of Lovecraftian madness...)
Oh, another level of true Lovecraftian weird I almost forgot: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem on the GameCube. That one was awesome. It truly put a lot of effort into messing with the player's head.
And... yes, I think Demon's Souls and Dark Souls look, feel and smell very Lovecraft-inspired to me.
Undying - Official Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emJ1nweouss
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - "Sanity Effects" Showcase: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9wSR6uInZ0 (there's a link with ALL sanity effects, but it's a whopping 23 minutes of Lovecraftian madness...)
Thank you all so much for all the help you've given me so far.
Yes, the Reapers will be extensively discussed as an example of Lovecraftian entities done partially right (and then horrible wrong further on in the series) and I have every quote, codex entry and whatnot referencing a Lovecraftian element written down and ready to use for my research.
I'm still considering whether or not to include franchises that initially began as tabletop games (e.g. Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer 40,000) in the research. Both of these franchises are so rich in its characters that werer clearly inspired by Lovecraftian horror that it's a research paper on its own. Hell, even the comic-based video game of The Darkness has some Lovecraftian elements (where there's tentacles in contemporary horror, there's Lovecraft). And when I'd mention The Darkness I would be obligated to include Hellboy - not to mention the fact that the creator of Hellboy has even praised Lovecraft on multiple occasions, illustrated the American horror author or stated him as one of his primary influences.
And thank you, DioWallachia, Fat_Hippo, GunsmithKitten, hermes200 and Tallim, for all the games I either haven't heard of or haven't considered as having Lovecraftian elements.
Thank you, DoPo and Lost In The Void for raising my awareness of the Lovecraftian elements in the Dragonborn DLC (wasn't considering buying this because Dawnguard barely had anything of that and I need to be careful with my budget).
Yes, the Reapers will be extensively discussed as an example of Lovecraftian entities done partially right (and then horrible wrong further on in the series) and I have every quote, codex entry and whatnot referencing a Lovecraftian element written down and ready to use for my research.
I'm still considering whether or not to include franchises that initially began as tabletop games (e.g. Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer 40,000) in the research. Both of these franchises are so rich in its characters that werer clearly inspired by Lovecraftian horror that it's a research paper on its own. Hell, even the comic-based video game of The Darkness has some Lovecraftian elements (where there's tentacles in contemporary horror, there's Lovecraft). And when I'd mention The Darkness I would be obligated to include Hellboy - not to mention the fact that the creator of Hellboy has even praised Lovecraft on multiple occasions, illustrated the American horror author or stated him as one of his primary influences.
Thanks!hoboman29 said:
Ah, yes. The Secret World is definitely something I should look at. Thanks for sharing. Also, could you please specify what kind of connections are found in Dishonered? I'm not asking this because I disbelieve you, I'm asking because you're the first I've heard talk about Lovecraftian elements in this video game.Gabanuka said:
This is awesome! One of the first shooters originally began as a Lovecraftian game? That's amazing for my research paper! Thank you, CAPTCHA!CAPTCHA said:
And thank you, DioWallachia, Fat_Hippo, GunsmithKitten, hermes200 and Tallim, for all the games I either haven't heard of or haven't considered as having Lovecraftian elements.
Thank you, DoPo and Lost In The Void for raising my awareness of the Lovecraftian elements in the Dragonborn DLC (wasn't considering buying this because Dawnguard barely had anything of that and I need to be careful with my budget).
ALL the Splatterhouse series is filled with lovecraftian horror.J9ACK9 said:
Hell even the INTRO of the game is harcore:
Behold the last 3 levels of Splatterhouse 2:
Stage 6:
Stage 7:
Stage 8:
Stage 7:
Stage 8:
I'm doing my own thesis on Lovecraft as well, but I'm working off what I'm calling the "Principle of the Forbidden", basically the ages-old trope of the protagonist who enters a room that's clearly made to be ominous in appearance, or who pages through a book with a pretty deathly-sounding title. Different focus, same basic starting point.Zitterberg said:
The Chtulhu Mythos is something that's more coloured the gaming culture in its various facets than has been directly integrated. Gary Gygax wanted to include the Mythos and its critters in a D&D sourcebook, for instance, but copyright claims prevented that. Ultimately, this is what gave us the Mind Flayers. Beyond that, I'd say the idea of impossible non-beings waiting to tear us asunder or make us go bugnuts has as deep a history as gaming itself.
Everyone and their mother will mention the occasionally brilliant "Call of Chtulhu" titles, I'm sure "Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem" has been brought up, "Amnesia: The Dark Descent" is loosely based around Lovecraft's "The Outsider" and, well, the Elder Scrolls' Daedric pantheon includes Hermaerus Mora, the patron of all advanced sciences in Tamriel. Despite the fact that he presides over the Cartesian forces of magic, his design is basically that of a huge, writhing mass of tentacles.
Oh, and Chtulhu is a usable item in most Scribblenauts iterations.
That's just off the top of my head.
Well all the supernatural elements are linked to The Outsider who's true form is apparently a whale.Zitterberg said:
They're referred to as "Great Leviathan", there's a strong link to the ocean as supernatural and such and the whole thing has a Lovecraftian vibe. Might just be me reading into it way too far.
Also whales aren't normal whale. They're huge beasts that seem really Lovecraft inspired. I think eldritch is the word.
Would Hermaeus Mora the Daedric prince form TES count? He is described as green mass of tentacles, and a keeper of forbidden knowledge.
Also the "Pure" Chimera form the Resistance games might count. You never see one but you do see what happens when there DNA is used on a human. It's not good.
Also the "Pure" Chimera form the Resistance games might count. You never see one but you do see what happens when there DNA is used on a human. It's not good.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/DishonoredZitterberg said:
Seek "The Outsider". He might remind you of someone very special.
That is right, its ME...upss sorry, i mean Nicola Tesla...oh wait wrong again, i mean NYARLATHOTEP
I'm with DioWallachia on this. The incomprehensibility and the utterly alien nature of the Reapers went downhill in Mass Effect 2 only to fall off a mountain in Mass Effect 3. Sure, it had the "dead but dreaming" quote and it had the wonderful line of Harbinger in the Arrival DLC with "You fight against inevitability - dust struggling against cosmic winds" but it immediately lands into the Derlethian area when Shepard outright challenges him and it becomes a petty dialogue:rcs619 said:
"I'll show you!"
"Whatever, I'll, like, totally annihilate all space-faering organic life."
"Nu-uh."
And then they cracked out the insults aimed towards their mothers.
Plus, Sovereign's voice was just so much better than the more human and less intimidating voice of Harbinger.
None of the other instalments even come close to beating the almost "High" Lovecraftian elements in the original Mass Effect. So much potential ruined.
Also, I can talk about for hours on end about the Reapers and what Mass Effect did right (which brings chills down my spine) and what it did wrong (which made me cry at the loss of the Lovecraftian narrative for the sake of Derlethian horror).
Whoa. Okay, now I definitely do need to finish my playthrough. I'm just surprised the ol' Black Pharaoh didn't feel like showing up to Corvo in the guise of a Black guy.DioWallachia said:
If we're talking Lovecraft, Eldritch Racism is par for the course. ^^
I do think "great leviathan" is going too far - Lovecraft didn't coin that word, it refers to large sea creatures.Gabanuka said:
But, yes, the Outsider seems to have connections.
- At the very basic level, looking at the name - he's an outsider, an alien, just like Lovecraftian aliens.
- He...exists, in the Void - a place that's nowhere and everywhere. Those who practice (black) magic draw their power from there. I'm not actually sure on this point, I've not read enough Lovecraft, but is there an established connection between magical powers and the cosmic horrors somewhere? I do recall black magic but not if it was linked to eldritch abominations. But it's a clearly inspired by Lovecraft and filtered down across media.
- He is stated to not be good, neither evil. He just is. Morality does not apply to him
- his "gifts" - runes, charms, powers, knowledge(?) can bring insanity on people. Not the "mind snaps like a twig" thing, it's more gradual, it seems.
- he really resembles Nyarlathothep in motivation. Basically (not a huge spoiler at all) - he goes "Hi, I'm the Outsider, here are some powers. Do whatever you want with them, I just want to be amused".
Another mention is The Orz from Star Control 2. These bastards are quite innocent looking but beware:
The backstory of the Ur-Quan also seems lovecraftian since they were mind controlled for milennias to be obedient slaves. The Arilou (this game version of the trope "The Greys") were tampering with human "smell" since the beggining of our race, to be useful for their unknow agenda.
These creatures appeared in the star system of The Androsyth, the backstory says a race of genetically superior humans that we the original made to be our slaves but then they leave. They were experimenting with interdimentional rifts and then..... something saw them.
15:37
You find out the Orz everywhere in that star system but the Androsyth are nowhere to be found. The buildings are actually intact and no sign of destruction is seen, they just......banished.
There are no more Androsyth, only Orz.
15:37
You find out the Orz everywhere in that star system but the Androsyth are nowhere to be found. The buildings are actually intact and no sign of destruction is seen, they just......banished.
There are no more Androsyth, only Orz.
The backstory of the Ur-Quan also seems lovecraftian since they were mind controlled for milennias to be obedient slaves. The Arilou (this game version of the trope "The Greys") were tampering with human "smell" since the beggining of our race, to be useful for their unknow agenda.
Best of luck to you on your thesis! It sounds promising and I'm perfectly willing and able to help you if you need some advice (not implying that you require it as in me doubting your abilities, just offering my help). I look forward to reading it once it's done.IamLEAM1983 said:
Also, thank you all so much again! You are actually convincing me to turn this thing into a book rather than just an academic thesis paper. And you're all to blame!
Oh god, the racism element. I'd much rather focus on the non-racist issues first as I don't think that allegories of miscegenation resulting in hideous fish-people has remained kosher or as generally accepted like it was in Uncle Howard's day.
Plus, the debate about Lovecraft and his opinions regarding race and ethnicity is an essay-and-a-half on its own.
Plus, the debate about Lovecraft and his opinions regarding race and ethnicity is an essay-and-a-half on its own.