My absolute favorite reading material is that written by H.P. Lovecraft. While I completely agree with all the criticism raised against his work I am able to look past this and focus on what I enjoy in it; Cosmic horror the likes of which would cause humans to go mad due to it being incomprehensible. It’s because of my great love for his work that I model so many of the projects I work on after them. I’d like to discuss the newest video games I’m releasing and how they are based on Lovecraft’s work.



I gained inspiration to start A Most Shadowed Descent while playing the Playstation 4 game Bloodborne. It was while reading the descriptions for the runes that you find that I wanted to make some sort of card game using ancient runic symbols. The initial project was going to involve summoning an evil monster and having to use the same runes to destroy it. The constant quote of “Do not call up that which you cannot put down” from The Case of Charles Dexter Ward ringing in my ears.

After a little bit of playtesting I realized I wasn’t going to be able to play towards those Lovecraftian themes if I didn’t change the dynamic of the gameplay. Because of thisthe game was changed to you having to gather the aforementioned runes while avoiding certain things. In figuring out the manner in which I wanted to gather these runes I could not decide between an ancient tomb in a manner similar to The Statement of Randolph Carter or a museum or library inspired by both The Horror in the Museum as well as the cooperative card game Elder Sign created by Fantasy Flight Games.

I eventually decided exploring a library as I felt that would be a very approachable scenario. My favorite thing to do with Lovecraft’s writing is to share it with people in some way that could introduce them to his entire catalogue. With a library it’s a basic location that can have mild weird fiction sprinkled in without creating an unapproachable scenario.

…and for the longest time that’s how the game functioned. I had to add in some fail states and decided you would have to find clues on how to cast the runes because if cast the wrong way it could unleash this unknowable evil who blah blah blah. I know, not extremely original but I figure if someone can get past one of the biggest critical aspects of Lovecraft’s work they will be able to enjoy it even more.

It wasn’t until I decided to create a prequel story in The Order of Chains, in which the story of the player’s friend is told, that the influences began to coalesce. I decided he had to have made a deal with some cult who worships the primary Lovecraftian being known as The Tethered. With these cultists think more standard robes and mantras rather than the primitive ones seen in The Call of Cthulhu. By following this train of thought and recognizing all the different cultish aspects that could be followed gave the entire situation a far darker air.

The culmination of this, however, was recognizing the fact that the main subject of his stories end up in their predicaments either due to an ill conceived curiosity or, in the most horrific cases, tricked by someone trusted. In my case I wanted the player’s friend to have aspects of both. So I looked at my favorites stories and immediately thought of Edward Derby in The Thing on the Doorstep.

It was surprisingly easy to implement that aspect without it hurting any other part of the story. As though it were written into the initial pitch having the player’s friend be betrayed by a former lover worked phenomenally well. I thought about having the body swapping aspect but felt that would take things a little too far with who my target audience was.

The ultimate question I ask myself whenever I finish any project is am I happy with it. Am I pleased with where it ended and did it match or improve on my original vision. I have had a lot of instances where I am quite far off but, in the case of A Most Shadowed Descent and The Order of Chains I would change very little and I feel it’s far better than what I originally thought of. A Lovecraft story that continually pays homage to multiple stories and experiences as it offers a glimpse into what is so great about H.P. Lovecraft.

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