Video Games

[yellowish haze]

Yesterday I finished playing Scratches: Director's Cut and can recommend it to anyone who enjoys playing horror/mystery adventure games which use a first person perspective to navigate.
I found the game enjoyable mainly thanks to the Lovecraftian story-line and rich atmosphere of sheer dread - it was probably one of the scariest games I've ever tried, with a very haunting and ambiguous ending. Playing it feels much more like being in a story. The player has to spend some time reading through the pages of diaries, letters, newspaper articles ect. Unfortunately, the puzzles were so difficult that I had to consult a walkthough all the time but I can't say that this has anyhow spoiled the experience.

As I've already mentioned, there are some nice Lovecraftian elements in the game. Here is a short description of the plot:

Quote

The game tells the story of the Blackwood estate on the outskirts of Rothbury, a small rural town in Northumberland, England in 1976. Originally owned by James T. Blackwood in 1963, the house is passed to Christopher Milton after Mr. Blackwood is accused of murdering his wife. A couple of days later, Mr. Blackwood dies of a sudden heart attack though some in the town rumor he might have committed suicide. The police decide to close the case seeing there is no further evidence left. Furthermore, shortly after acquiring the house, Chrisopher Milton inexplicably disappears in 1970 leaving no visible trace. The player assumes the role of the house's next inhabitant, Michael Arthate, an author seeking seclusion to work on his next book. He moves in only to find that the house still echoes its horrible past quite literally as scratches are heard all around, particularly in the basement and fireplaces, and soon becomes more interested in researching the house's history than his writing.

It is clear that the person responsible for the story-line has to be a huge horror fan. At some point in the game the player gets to see the main character's, Michael Arthate's, novel with the following blurb on the cover:
"If HP Lovecraft was alive and suddenly decided to write his take on the Wicker Man, the result would be this book..." - Tales from R'lyeh

Heh, nice one.

[paeng]

There are some more, like the Dark Fall series and Dead Reefs mentioned here: http://www.darklingroom.co.uk/ and http://www.adventurecompanygames.com...efs/index.html.

Readers who don't mind "shooters" might try Bioshock at http://www.2kgames.com/bioshock/enter.html. There's a 1.82 GB demo that's available but computer requirements are high. You can probably test your PC through http://www.srtest.com and by trying the demo.

Finally, here's one article about it: http://www.boston.com/ae/games/artic...rough_fantasy/

[yellowish haze]

Thanks for these links, paeng. Very useful!

From the games listed on the first page I've already tried Dark Fall: Lights out and Barrow Hill. I found the second title quite sucessful - nice puzzles, neat Lovecraftian story-line. Dark Falls wasn't that convincing.
What's with this "The Displacement" game? This sounds like some kind of phantom game. The story sounds extremely interesting, but all the information I can find about this is a walkthrough to a game that seems not to exist. Or have I misspelled something while using google?

[paeng]

I found this article when I searched for XXV Productions Displacement in a search engine:

http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,123

[yellowish haze]

"Darkness Within: in Pursuit of Loath Nolder" is a Lovecraftian first person point and click adventure game. I started playing it two days ago and it will probably take me ages to get to the end as I currently don't have much time to play, so I thought I could share my thought a little bit earlier.
So far the game looks wonderful. The plot is a bit cliche (not a great surprise with this type of games) but overall engrossing. The graphics look perfect and technically the game is very polished. Short animated sequences and sound effects strengthen the ominous atmosphere.

I can see that there is some similarity between this game and the one I mentioned earlier, Scratches. Both of them seem to be inspired by HPL's "The Rats in the Walls". I hope this is some kind of a new trend and that we will see more of such games released in the near future!

[ninjashoes]

Everyone should check out Mass Effect. I would love to see that gametype used for a survival horror game. Can you imagine picking options and either stopping the monster or becoming one.

[paeng]

Here's an interesting aside:

"Yes! Gore Verbinski's 'Bioshock' Movie to Be R-Rated"

News on Yes! Gore Verbinski's 'Bioshock' Movie to Be R-Rated | ESplatter.com | The Guide to Horror Movies

[paeng]

Here's something mentioned by the Shuffle Boil website:

the Graveyard. A Tale of Tales.

[Karnos]

Quote Originally Posted by paeng

Here's an interesting aside: "Yes! Gore Verbinski's 'Bioshock' Movie to Be R-Rated" News on Yes! Gore Verbinski's 'Bioshock' Movie to Be R-Rated | ESplatter.com | The Guide to Horror Movies

I can't believe they're making Bioshock into a movie.

Movies based on videogames are always bad, no exception.

Bioshock is a great game, though. Although I still think System Shock 2 is far superior.

[starrysothoth]

I have recently had an opportunity to play "LSD," a Japanese video game for the old Playstation system (the original PS). It's based on a dream journal made by one of the company's producers. Though I believe I've only scratched the surface, there are a lot of genuinely disturbing aspects to this game.



You move through a series of environments (dreams) in it, each triggered after a number of minutes has passed or you run into an object of some sort. Several environments strike me as Ligottian. One is a derelict Asian village with rows of crumbling houses and boarded up windows. The overhead sky is a sickly, reptilian green. There are no people, just a large set of drums that beat without a musician. In another seemingly abandoned urban dream, deformed faces flicker in the windows of an old tower.

Needless to say, the game is horrible, but very amusing. Despite archaic graphics by today's standards, it works its grim magic. There's a lot of vacillation between levels of overwhelming colors and nonsensical neon surroundings, and those with more "normal" settings like towns and forests. Playing each of them provides its own horrors and unique taste of madness. I think that given his own experiences in youth, Mr. Ligotti would appreciate the drug and dream induced terrors of this video game.

For the curious, finding the game is getting difficult due to its age and relative obscurity in the US. There may be virtual versions floating around somewhere for Playstation emulators though. Also, parts of the game include Japanese writing, though nothing that would inhibit one from playing--after all, there is no plot and no objectives to be met. I feel like I'm personally missing out a little, having no reading knowledge of Japanese myself.

More information on "LSD" can be found here: LSD (video game) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia