10 Prolific Figures Heavily Influenced By H.P. Lovecraft

The video game industry has similarly been influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, as is the case with Japanese game director, Hidetaka Miyazaki.

Perhaps best known for the Dark Souls series of games, Miyazaki injected a substantial amount of Lovecraftian themes into the 2015 game, Bloodborne.

Much of the gothic setting and nature of Bloodborne is influenced by Lovecraft (as well as Bram Stoker among others). However the connections run deeper than that.

The Great Ones in the game, particularly the Cthulhu-like Amygdala, are massive entities that share numerous similarities to the Great Old Ones, deities in Lovecraftian mythos. Additionally many of them appear invisible until enough Insight is gained, a stat that works as both a meter of insanity and otherworldly knowledge. This is very similar to Lovecraftian tales where protagonists who learn of the universe’s inner workings often go insane from said insight.

This design choice of an insanity meter that affects environmental gameplay isn't new, however. Silicon Knight's Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, released back in 2002, is renowned for its patented insanity meter. The "sanity effects", which skew camera angles and add chilling noises (and even error messages for the unsuspecting player) upon contact with enemies, in combination with the Ancients (characters like the Great Ones), make for a truly Lovecraftian game experience.

In Bloodborne, references are also made to Lovecraft’s tales Beyond the Wall of Sleep and Celephaïs, in which characters find alternate realities in dreaming, similar to the Bloodbourne character of Micolash, Host of the Nightmare of Mensis, whose consciousness exists in a nightmare realm, but is long dead in reality.

Overall, the gothic nature of Bloodborne as well as Eldritch gods controlling the city of Yharnam are all indicative of Lovecraft's influences.