Where's the lovecraft/Occult/Horror love?

markh777

I am a huge fan of Lovecraft, the Occult especially Enochian and Golden Dawn Lore. I am surprised at the lack of horror/occult games. Ya The Secret World does that but in my opinion, it does not do Lovcecraft/Crowley/Golden Dawn any love. Imagine, if you will, a game with a decent horror type "wow that was wicked" along with your character learning certain lore to attack/defend such stuff. Add in the old Cthulu (spelling probably wrong, no offense) game thing where seeing certain entities caused you mind damage in the form of insanity. We have had our fill of fantasy/steampunk/sci fi/stupid that we need a game that not only is challenging to the mind but to our senses. Imagine a game where learning the Tree of Life or Enochian magick is esstentiall, ya ned to read and learn to use effects, spells, knowledge to survive.  I now open this up to debate. Yes I am Pagan and would love to see a game that combines real Lore/Knowledge/Magick and uses it to advance in game. Thoughts?

 

Deddpool

Sounds pretty, but you are talking major niche, doubt anyone trying to make money would develope it.

Bladestrom

Love love craft. A mmorg where you are transported to an alien hostile Planet full of love craft alien cultures and ruled by living gods, now that would be interesting.

desdecardo

Secret World touches on this a little (very little).  I too would love to see a total lovecraft game.  Hasnt been one in ages.  And there isnt one you can find to download.  Cant remember the name of it, came out a few years back.  Occasionally on "Scarriest Games of All Time" lists.  Dont know if anyone can help me on the name of this game.  

Wolfenpride

Originally posted by desdecardo
Secret World touches on this a little (very little).  I too would love to see a total lovecraft game.  Hasnt been one in ages.  And there isnt one you can find to download.  Cant remember the name of it, came out a few years back.  Occasionally on "Scarriest Games of All Time" lists.  Dont know if anyone can help me on the name of this game.  

The only lovecraft game I can recall right now is Call of Cthulu, if that's the one you are looking for.

ignore_me

I think the genre doesn't lend itself well to MMOs. The driving force of those stories is supposed to be fear, which precludes many other tenets of game worlds (achievement of power, mastery over foes, knowledge of environment). An unrelenting video-game Hell that somehow continues to hold that fantasy is not possible, so you would just have a darker looking setting that did the same thing as the rest of the games.

There was a PnP RPG for Lovecraft's setting, but games tended to be either dead ended (your character sees too much stuff and goes insane), or the rules would get warped so that players could have shoot-em-outs with zombies to keep them interested.

tom_gore

The Secret World has the right atmosphere...

... which is totally ruined by the characters going rambo and killing all mobs without any trouble.

danmax67

It's a board game, but  if you like Lovecraft, you might enjoy http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15987/arkham-horror

Bladestrom

Originally posted by ignore_me

I think the genre doesn't lend itself well to MMOs. The driving force of those stories is supposed to be fear, which precludes many other tenets of game worlds (achievement of power, mastery over foes, knowledge of environment). An unrelenting video-game Hell that somehow continues to hold that fantasy is not possible, so you would just have a darker looking setting that did the same thing as the rest of the games.

There was a PnP RPG for Lovecraft's setting, but games tended to be either dead ended (your character sees too much stuff and goes insane), or the rules would get warped so that players could have shoot-em-outs with zombies to keep them interested.

I had not thought about that before, your right on the money there +1.

ShakyMo

Desdarco

You are thinking of eternal darkness on the game cube

bakabröd

problem isnt a game with cthullu mythos in game.

problem is the players and such.

pvp and whatnot, balancing and forgetting about the lore.

 

i played secret world and its somewhat touches lovecrafts idea soflty.

but then miss rambo comes running about with a bigass rocketlauncer and kills the monster with one shot.

totally removes the scare factor from the game.

 

dunno its gonna be hard to maintain a scary game with players naming their toons xXlovecrafterXx and more "funny" names.

its my somewhat rusty two cents.

 

 

Nibs

Originally posted by desdecardo
Secret World touches on this a little (very little).  I too would love to see a total lovecraft game.  Hasnt been one in ages.  And there isnt one you can find to download.  Cant remember the name of it, came out a few years back.  Occasionally on "Scarriest Games of All Time" lists.  Dont know if anyone can help me on the name of this game.  

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

Greyface

The only good Lovecraft-themed game that springs to mind is the original Alone In the Dark, and that was ages ago.  TSW scratched that itch a little for me, but I agree that it didn't go far enough.  I'd love to see more; survival horror is really the best genre for it.

I'm not sure including actual Thelemic or Enochian magick in a game would work though -- it's not particularly interesting unless you already understand it.  When gamers think of magic, they expect fireballs and lightning.  A lot of western ceremonial magic looks like naked sudoku.  This is also why there hasn't been a serious movie about the Golden Dawn either, which is a shame because there's a lot of meat on that bone.

ShakyMo

Also try a game called amnesia, its often on offer on steam. Play it in the dark with headphones cranked up. Good preparation for the sequel coming soon - a machine for pigs.

Guaranteed to make you sweat like a weight watcher stood outside a cake shop.

jtcgs

Originally posted by Deddpool
Sounds pretty, but you are talking major niche, doubt anyone trying to make money would develope it.

 This.

That is the reason why DaoC 2 is being made into Elder Scrolls. I mean, if no one is willing to make a game based on an IP with millions of fans like Lovecraft, why would anyone put money into making a sequal to a game that barely topped 1/3rd a million players.

ShakyMo

Lol you really have a bee in your bonnet about daoc dont you.

Look at it this way, if they didn't borrow from daoc (its not a true daoc 2 it has instances for a start), they would have borrowed from bloody wow, AGAIN.

RefMinor

Originally posted by Bladestrom

Originally posted by ignore_me

I think the genre doesn't lend itself well to MMOs. The driving force of those stories is supposed to be fear, which precludes many other tenets of game worlds (achievement of power, mastery over foes, knowledge of environment). An unrelenting video-game Hell that somehow continues to hold that fantasy is not possible, so you would just have a darker looking setting that did the same thing as the rest of the games.

There was a PnP RPG for Lovecraft's setting, but games tended to be either dead ended (your character sees too much stuff and goes insane), or the rules would get warped so that players could have shoot-em-outs with zombies to keep them interested.

I had not thought about that before, your right on the money there +1.

Yes, Lovecraft is a nightmare (off the cuff pun) to design a video game around, it's all small creepy sounds just on the edge of hearing, madness kind of stuff.

AIMonster

Check out the Kickstarter and Greenlight game Asylum.  Claims Lovecraft inspiration:

Kickstarter

Greenlight

Other games inspired by or directly using elements of Lovecraft's work include the Call of Cthulu games, Amnesia the Dark Descent, and The Secret World.  Cthulu Saves the World is another, but a bit of parody of the NES/SNES JRPG era, but obviously takes some inspiration from Lovecraft.  Call of Cthulu: The Wasted Lands was also released recently for iOS and there will be a new Amnesia game in 2013.

(Note:  Used the Wikipedia page as source for some of this information)

There is also a card based flash game call The Necronomican which is rips straight from Lovecraft.

I'm not sure what you are refering to when you talk about "real" Lore/Knowledge/Magick as Magic isn't real.

Nadia

Originally posted by danmax67

It's a board game, but  if you like Lovecraft, you might enjoy http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15987/arkham-horror

offtopic

but boardgame geek is a great site for boardgame enthusiasts

jtcgs

Originally posted by ShakyMo
Lol you really have a bee in your bonnet about daoc dont you.

Look at it this way, if they didn't borrow from daoc (its not a true daoc 2 it has instances for a start), they would have borrowed from bloody wow, AGAIN.

 Barrowed from WoW? What do you think WoW did? They barrowed from DaoC and other previous games. DaoC started the whole instanced/zoned PvP crap that we have today, previous games were open world PvP games. BTW, loved how you made it sound like they had no choice but use another games ideas and not come up with something new...or use something better, great mindset ya got there.

Jemcrystal

Not a big horror fan but I see the OP's point.  Would think there would be something and The Secret World never struck me as even applying for the genre.  I'm a vampire fan (Twilight excluded).  I liked LKH's first novels because she cud mix horror and sex well.  Corse the western world view men as not sexy so that idea meets death.  Back to boring tits and ass shooters.

rpg_gunner

Aren't there a lot of boardgames based on these?