A Love Letter to Lovecraft
Lovecraftian horror is a strange beast: half visceral scares, half indescribable creeping dread. It’s difficult enough to capture both the grotesque and the unnameable in words–imagine how tough it is to try and put that combo into an interactive medium. If you ask us, Conarium does a pretty good job, so we’re thrilled to see this foray into an otherworldly Antarctic research facility ported to another console. Players take the role of Frank Gilman, a researcher who wakes up one day to a terrible noise and the inexplicable disappearance of everyone else in the base. In order to solve the mystery, you’ll have to guide him through the twisting hallways, into dangerous dreams, and past macabre enemies. If you’re lucky, you’ll survive to see one of the game’s multiple endings. If you’re unlucky… well. Just watch the trailer.
This game follows in the footsteps of horror classics like Silent Hill in its focus on atmosphere and storytelling, which is always a welcome addition to a genre filled with jumpscares. The press release describes it as following the ‘gripping story of four scientists and their endeavour to challenge what we normally consider to be the “absolute” limits of nature.’
Sounds spooky! We’re always down for a good ‘there are things man was not meant to know’-style horror story. Better yet, Conarium takes inspiration from Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness… specifically, it takes place after the events of the novella, which means there’s a lot of clean-up to do. Do you dare venture outside the frail island of human understanding? If so, don’t blame us for what happens. But seriously, this game is a ton of fun. We’re glad to see that it’s doing so well.
Conarium will be available on Nintendo Switch today in Europe and February 4th in America. It’s also available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
What’s your favorite Lovecraftian game? Let us know down in the comments, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.