I don’t think Lovecraftian horror is impossible for developers to handle. Bloodborne did it quite well by just tweaking the systems that From was already using. Outside of the digital space, Fantasy Flight has explored Lovecraftian horror for many years. Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a slick co-op take on the idea that is fairly simple to grasp, clear in its mechanics, and still heavily weighted towards player failure, even altering the narratives of its campaigns to accommodate it. The important distinction is that both of these games would work just fine without the Lovecraftian veneer, something that too few Lovecraftian games seem to understand.

When Sunless Sea was announced I hoped it will be a Fallen London game but without a grind. What came out didn’t require me to read as many repeated stories as the original game but it added an extremely boring and challenging trial-and-error roguelike thing for some reason. Don’t get why you need a system like that in an essentially narrative game. It’s as if like Telltale games forcing you to start from the beginning of episode 1 if you miss quick time event. This game looks like the same kind of deal. Sad!

Which leads me to another game with complex mechanics and unique aesthetics and story: will there be a Slay the Spire review? Not that I’m not going to get it on release.