10 Video Games Inspired By H.P. Lovecraft

Red Hook’s 2015 dark fantasy RPG Darkest Dungeon perfectly captures the beautiful complexity of Lovecraft’s works. Players are forced to press on against inscrutable odds and unfathomable horrors, and yet, even in moments of supreme triumphs, the threat of still greater beasts looming in even more perilous and elaborate dungeons sullies the victory.

The beneficiary of an ancestor driven to madness, the player must care for a dilapidated estate and hire bands of ragtag mercenaries to cleanse the place of eldritch evil. Naturally, that’s easier said than done, as Darkest Dungeon’s difficulty is so infamous as to drive players away on reputation alone.

To newcomers, it can be an impenetrable experience, but, after knowledge has been gained at the expense of the lives of a few hired guns, it all starts to click. What’s more, the anticipation of what could be lurking behind that final door—what could have driven our ancestor to such madness—permeates the entire game and spurns us ever forward down a path of desolation.

Narrated by spine-tingling voice acting icon Wayne June, Darkest Dungeon is an awesome experience that isn’t for the faint of heart. Ruin has come to our family.