Lovecraft and Video Games

[dariusdax]

What a great thread! Best of luck with your thesis.

I don't think anyone has mentioned Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land

This game makes interesting use of the Mythos, something along the lines of Call of Cthulhu in the trenches of WW1. The turn-based tactical gameplay works surprisingly well for horror - as in the original X-Com games you have ample time to imagine far worse things in the shadows than can be shown on screen. To proceed you must choose to commit irrevocably to decisions made with those fears in mind.

There are dream sequences in which you desperately (and usually hopelessly) defend yourself against eldritch abominations. These use the same engine and mechanisms as the regular gameplay, which definitely adds to the eeriness. Whether done to save development effort or by design, it works.

The game would benefit greatly from a bigger budget and better writing*, however the devs evidently have a deep admiration for Lovecraft that shines through. Cosmicism is hurt by the requirements of gameplay - not leaving the player character an unresisting gibbering wreck immediately and unconditionally - but the atmosphere of a doomed struggle against uncaring and alien powers is evoked very well.

* The same could be said for H.P. himself

 

[Coppernerves]

This might be a little off topic, but I've recently been playing SWAT 3

Despite being a shooter it's a game that encourages you to be careful, methodical, thoughtful, to keep your team, suspects, civilians, and hostages safe.

Playing it, I really wish there was a mission where you have to deal with some kind of human sacrificing cult, and when you get there, you find they've actually done their ritual.

Then things start to get weird...

Radio contact with high ground, and the outside world is lost, the architecture becomes geometrically impossible, and the focus goes from completing the mission, to getting out alive.

Maybe there's a mod out there, I don't know.

 

[hazabaza1]

Clive Barker's Undying [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Barker's_Undying] is somewhat Lovecraftian, if I'm getting these sorts of definitions right.
There's a big scary monster with unclear intentions trying to fuck shit up, creepy magic and weird stuff, and you get a spell called "scry" (I think) which basically lets you see hidden truths. It's mainly alters paintings into being really fucking weird looking and just changing how stuff looks.

 

[Clura]

There's a list here, some repeats, some new ones:
http://www.hplovecraft.com/popcult/games/computer.asp

also Scratches
and another text adventure:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorhead

Insmouse No Yakata (Virtual Boy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWcpMyf9HvI

 

[tangoprime]

How about the Penny Arcade OtRPoD games, especially the first one? Those things ooze lovecraft... wow, that sounded terrible. But really, those are great, cult of mimes worshipping an elder god from the sea, ancient evils too difficult to imagine, a trip to a good ole' 20's era asylum and some electroshock therapy (in the form of a pretty fun minigame), you should check them out.

 

[Zitterberg]

Thanks to everyone for helping me find video games with Lovecraftian influences. I apologise for the slow reply, but this website simply hasn't been online for the past few hours. I'll check out each and every one of your suggestions. In the meantime, if anyone else would have any further ideas, please feel free to submit what you think is Lovecraftian horror in a video game!

 

[DioWallachia]

You may ALSO think of taking a look at Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishement.

The messenger of the Outer Gods has taken an....interesting form.

Spoiler

This will help you out too: (look in the antagonist section)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/Persona2

 

[Zitterberg]

You may ALSO think of taking a look at Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishement.

The messenger of the Outer Gods has taken an....interesting form.

Spoiler

This will help you out too: (look in the antagonist section)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/Persona2

What does Adolf Hitler have to do with anything?

Wait. Nyarlathotep is Hitler?

Japan, what the hell were you thinking...

 

[DioWallachia]

You may ALSO think of taking a look at Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishement.

The messenger of the Outer Gods has taken an....interesting form.

Spoiler

This will help you out too: (look in the antagonist section)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/Persona2

What does Adolf Hitler have to do with anything?

Wait. Nyarlathotep is Hitler?

Japan, what the hell were you thinking...

From the Tv Tropes description:

Spoiler

Nyarlathotep (AKA "The Crawling Chaos") is a Shapeshifting entity who stands opposite to Philemon. Unlike Philemon's rule of neutrality, Nyarlathotep can manifest in the real world and assume the form of anything he chooses. In Innocent Sin both he and Philemon are performing an experiment to see if humanity will become enlightened or ultimately destroy itself. Nyarlathotep decides to push things in his favor by placing a curse on Sumaru City, causing rumors to come alive and guiding humans toward self-destruction. Despite appearing only at the tail end of both stories, he is nevertheless a prime mover in the overarching storyline, and is retroactively named as the puppeteer behind the first Persona.

Nyarlathotep corrupts the memories of Jun Kurosu, leading him to believe that Tatsuya Suou and the rest of the Masked Circle killed their "Big Sis", Maya Amano. With this, Jun gave in to Nyarlathotep and became the Joker, creating a corrupted adult version of the Masked Circle with the intent to raise Xibalba, the alien ship upon which Sumaru City rests, and create a superior human race. Nyarlathotep took the form of Jun's father, who died long ago, but with all the ideal traits that Jun desired in a father. Besides this default form, he also manifests as Adolf Hitler, as well as Jun's own Persona.

In Eternal Punishment, Nyarlathotep takes advantage of Tatsuya Suou's mistake of becoming a paradox in the recreated world. He starts by restoring the memories of King Leo, one of the key figure that led to the Other Side's destruction, as well as bringing his former host, Takahisa Kandori, back to life. The New World Order, a parallel to the Other Side's Masked Circle, is established as a result. Xibalba is revived as the Ameno Torifune, an ancient Mayan machine buried underneath Sumaru City.

 

[nasteypenguin]

I'm not sure what it's like now, but on release Guild Wars 2 had given away quite a few screenshots and information and on all of their ingame big bads (the ancient dragons) with the exception of the water based one. The intention was to keep the big evil water monster as much of a mystery as possible to give the open ocean a sense of foreboding and dread, you can see the correlation there. Slightly dulled by the fact he was called Bubbles, however.

 

[ratzofftoya]

Hey everyone!

I'm currently writing my final thesis paper at university about the influence of H. P. Lovecraft in video games, and I might expand on this concept and write a book about it (you never know).

But in order for me to make a good thesis paper devoted to this subject, I'd need to be aware of what Lovecraftian elements in video games that I haven't played.

Have you ever seen an amorphous, grotesque, multi-tentacled and potentially insanity-inducing monstrosity from Beyond in a video game in which your likeliest odds for survival is running away in fear, cowering in a corner (e.g. SCP, Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the Penumbra series)? Have you every played a video game where godlike creatures or actual gods are described and portrayed as unfathomable and powerful beyond the feeble imagination of your character (e.g. the Daedra and Hermaeus Mora in particular The Elder Scrolls)? Or have you just seen an old (and I mean really old) cosmic force with mysterious and incomprehensible motives cause unimaginable horror and destruction with a cephalopodic design (e.g. the Reapers from the Mass Effect series [pre-Mass Effect 3])? Or have you seen a horror video game with the name of one of Lovecraft's Creations in it (e.g. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth)?

Note: this does not include games like Cthulhu Saves the World. It should (partially) reflect Lovecraft's philosophy of Cosmicism (I added "partially" because barely any video game has succeeded in doing so, in my opinion) or exhibit similarities and traits with the concept of an amorphous/tentacled otherworldly being.

Well, that's Lovecraft's influence and that's what I plan to write about. So please, write down whatever title comes to mind and briefly explain why you believe it to be Lovecraftian (linking a video from YouTube would be helpful).

Thank you all in advance!

P.S.
Your name will be mentioned in the "thank you" page of my thesis paper and, if I write it, the actual book when it gets published. Do it for good old Grandpa Theobald!

What's your thesis?

 

[Zitterberg]

What's your thesis?

H. P. Lovecraft's influence in video games both philosophically (narrative, plot, dialogue, lore et cetera and how it reflects the values and principles of Cosmicism or "Yog-Sothothery" or not) and aesthetically (environment, design of characters, tentacles et cetera). It's probably going to expand beyond the 25-30 page BA thesis, though. This subject's too big for just a thesis paper.

snip

That's not helping making it sound any less ridiculous, I'm sorry. Still, I'll definitely check it out - thanks for the help!

 

[Clura]

I was not going to reply to the posts about Lovecraft's racism since it seems to be par for the course but it was bugging me so here goes.

It is easy to demonize Lovecraft's views on race today. However, it is also fundamentally intellectually dishonest. Sure, presentism is fun but what purpose does it serve? If I wanted I could write an essay on just about any great author decrying his racism. Did not Shakespeare himself write a play centered around an angry black man? Better stop reading him then!

Racist interpretations of Lovecraft's stories are easy. That does not mean they are correct. Nor does it mean they reflect the author's intention. Yes, Lovecraft started out racist, his 'On the Creation of Niggers' confirms as much. However, to call it the worst thing you've read is hilarous. 'OtCoN' pretty much reflects the views of its time. People still clinged to the idea of the Great Chain of Being. The idea can be traced in biological writing, church doctrine and public opinion even long after Lovecraft's death.

I could go on and discuss the various fallacies and inconsistencies involved in Lovecraft's condemnation, but that seems somewhat futile. As I said, it's all par for the course...

What truely annoys me, however, is people claiming the moral high ground and then making fun of Lovecraft. I saw a tweet on your feed Zitterberg:

..., I hugely respect you and admire you, but please refrain from using such ableist terms ...

It's okay, just know that this is very hurtful for some. It would be a shame if people stopped listening because of ableist slurs.

Let's say Lovecraft's sex life was anybody's business... and let's say he was one of the people that is asexual (, according to Kinsey approx 1.5% of the population). How exactly is it ok to ridicule him for this?

So I would like to express a similar sentiment as you did in those tweets.

That being said, I'm looking forward to reading that article when it's done.

 

[Innegativeion]

edit: baaaah ninja'd.

Persona 2:

Nyarlathotep is referred to by name as humanity's collective persona of dark thoughts.

He's a tentacled beast with faces running up and down his skin, who employs mind rape as his primary weapon to break protagonists of games he features in.

http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Nyarlathotep

The header image is for non-Persona appearances. Scroll down to the Persona section for more info. Scroll to the bottom images for better depictions of him.