While his political views weren't all that great, H.P. Lovecraft has become one of the most influential horror writers of all time, and that influence certainly stretches into the realm of video games. While it's difficult to define fully, Lovecraftian horror often revolves around the fear of the unknown and the madness that's inflicted by it. And there's usually some kind of gigantic eldritch sea monster knocking about as well.
While not everything with a big octopus monster can be considered Lovecraftian, the controversial author's writings have influenced a lot more media than some might realize, and the video game industry isn't safe from its reaches. Lovecraft's influence in gaming can be felt from all the way back in the early 1990s, with Alone in the Dark being one of the first games to really adopt the imposing, intimidating Lovecraftian horror atmosphere. Since then, Lovecraftian horror has been present throughout gaming, though it's particularly prevalent in 2023.
Lovecraftian Horror Is All Over the Gaming Industry This Year
Lovecraftian horror has been slowly seeping into the games industry for a while now, becoming more and more prevalent with each passing year. While there always used to be one or two Lovecraft-inspired games releasing every year, that numbers only continued to grow in recent years, and a lot of that resurgence can be blamed on Bloodborne. FromSoftware's full descent into Lovecraftian madness, Bloodborne is unashamedly inspired by Lovecraft, so much so that its Old Hunters DLC even directly references the author's works with its fishing hamlet location, where all the residents have been driven mad by incomprehensible horrors.
With the success of Bloodborne, much of the industry looked to adopt the game's highly praised art style, and in turn, became inspired by Lovecraft themselves. These included fellow Soulslikes such as Blasphemous and Salt and Sanctuary, along with investigation games like Call of Cthulhu and The Sinking City, all of which were either indirectly or directly inspired by the Lovecraftian sub-genre.
But while Lovecraftian horror has always had a place in gaming, it's particularly rife this year. 2023 has already delivered one of the best-received Lovecraftian games of all time in Dredge, the Indie gem that's still making the rounds online. Though Dredge starts as an unassuming fishing game, things soon get spooky, and players soon learn that fish aren't the only things on the other end of the hook. While its gameplay may be a tad simplistic or repetitive for some, Dredge's dark Lovecraftian atmosphere is hard to resist, much like the call to join the monsters that lurk beneath the water's surface.
Dredge is only the beginning of 2023's Lovecraftian horror offerings. The next Elder Scrolls Online expansion Necrom is set to take players to its own Lovecraft-inspired setting, Apocrypha, filled with tentacled monsters and dark, shadowy corners of water. The Last Case of Benedict Fox, a day-one Xbox Game Pass release, is another 2023 game that's fully embracing its Lovecraft inspirations, again with plenty of otherworldly, tentacled foes to hack away at. The long-awaited Alan Wake 2 is also set to release at some point this year, and though no concrete details have been given just yet on the game's content or story, it seems likely to follow in its predecessor's footsteps, a game that contained plenty of Lovecraft Easter eggs and references. To top it all off, it's just been announced that Cult of the Lamb will be receiving its Relics of the Old Faith DLC in just a few days' time on April 24, and as fans of the base game will know, the game is swimming in Lovecraftian horror already, with this DLC is only set to add even more chaos.