Ian Derbyshire GuestSpotter

Now Playing: The Suffering, NHL 2004, ESPN NFL Football, Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

The Call of Lovecraft

The day I bought my PlayStation, my buddy Nalan told me we had to play this game called Resident Evil 2. I said OK even though it sounded kind of lame, and he brought it over that night. As if Stephen King were some kind of celestial puppeteer, it was the night of a huge storm. We had the house to ourselves, so we had hooked the PlayStation up to the family big screen, and we began to play. I was running through the police precinct when some movement in a window caught my eye. Just as I considered investigating, the biggest peal of thunder hit, and Nalan and I jumped through the ceiling. The following week I picked up a copy of Silent Hill, and Nalan and I did the same thing all over again. I was, from that point forward, desperately hooked on horror games.

Because of my love of a good, suspenseful scare, I've been disturbed by the lack of horror titles lately. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is due out in September, and it's looking amazing so far, but the horror games have just been too few and far between. I need more thrills. I need more chills. Over the last few years we've seen the same few players show up again and again, with very little in the way of innovation. It's hard for me not to love the Silent Hill series, and I'm eagerly anticipating the fourth installment, but other than Resident Evil, which relies more on zombie gotchas than palpable suspense, the quality horror titles are few and far between. This is especially true on the PC.

Let's face it--horror games have really flourished on consoles. The PC, on the other hand, is desperately lacking in the horror department. Other than Clive Barker's Undying, there hasn't been a decent enough horror game--not counting PC ports of Silent Hill, mind you--to warrant mentioning on the PC. The game based on H.P. Lovecraft's most popular work, Call of Cthulhu, promises to stave off the hunger, but for how long?

That's when I take refuge in my consoles, home to the Silent Hills and the Resident Evils. But let's not forget Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for the GameCube, a game whose best plot points were derived from H.P. Lovecraft's work, including, but not limited to, creatures from space, tunnels in the cellar, and the sheer insanity of the truth. Most who play it have a tendency to ramble on and on about the insanity effects in Eternal Darkness, and with good reason--they were clever, and they were effective. The spontaneous general protection fault errors and the pop-up window telling you the game is over and to wait for the sequel were a little silly, but when you suddenly fell into the floor, or heard your own voice on the other end of a ringing telephone, those were the kind of bizarre, creepy moments that you savor. But where is Silicon Knights now? Where's my Eternal Darkness sequel? Why hasn't anyone followed up on this game that was glowingly received by the gaming press? I know I've painted a sad picture of the horror genre up until this point, but I really am optimistic. Silent Hill is getting better with every game, The Suffering was an excellent game that could make you jump when your cat's tale hit the back of your neck, and Call of Cthulhu is finally scheduled for release this fall.

We may make it out of this drought yet.

Previous PageNext: A New Coat of Paint