Eldritch horrors and tentacles - Defining what “Lovecractian” is in games

The video game digital distribution service Steam has hundreds of user-defined tags, which are keywords that people can use to find certain types of games from the platform. The tags can be added by all steam users from players to developers and one fairly popular tag is “Lovecraftian”. When searching the store tab in Steam today, there are over 1200 games tagged Lovecraftian.

What does “Lovecraftian” actually mean or what is it? Prema Arasu, postdoctoral research fellow in University of Western Australia attempts to define the term focusing on how it is applied in consumerism. They also discuss how the term is used in practical processes of marketing, selling, buying, communicating and archiving. The term “Lovecraftian” stems from the legacy of H.P. Lovecraft, american writer of weird, science, fantasy and horror fiction, who created the “Cthulhu mythos”. The term refers to cosmic or eldritch horrors and weird monsters that appeared in some form in the texts of H.P. Lovecraft and in the texts that originated or were inspired by his works. Lovecraft usually wrote how these horrors were indescribable and seeing or experiencing these horrors would drive any person insane. Lovecraftian also usually refers to the most famous monster from Lovecraft’s works, Cthulhu, the tentacular monstrosity.

Monster with a head of an octopus roaming next to an old building.

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.”

The games on Steam tagged as Lovecraftian and just the existence of the tag and the popularity of it indicate that the term has created its own subgenre. The amount of Lovecraftian games on Steam also suggest digital games are excellent platforms adapting the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The term Lovecraftian is an umbrella term for anything that falls under weird, cosmic or eldritch horror. Common thing related to Lovecraftian games is the use of sanity effects that affect the gameplay. If for example, the player encounters a monster and their sanity is depleted, it may affect the gameplay negatively. There are various ways of how the effects are implemented in games. Sometimes a little bit of insanity goes a long way. Some game developers try to distance themselves from using the term because of political views and xenophobia by Lovecraft, using the term eldritch instead. To the general audience however, the term eldritch is synonymous to the term Lovecraftian. Usually the term also indicates that there is a high chance to see tentacles, which are considered iconical figures to Lovecraftian mediums. Funny thing is that there are actually only a few tentacled monsters in Lovecraft’s works and Cthulhu is the only humanoid monster described to have features of an octopus.

Despite the popular belief however, Lovecraftian does not always imply that the game is horror. Many games that adapt Lovecraft’s works are parodies that portray the elements of the Cthulhu mythos with varying amounts of comedy that undermines the seriousness of the horror. Take for example “Sucker for Love”. The game is a dating sim, a subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements, often synonymous with visual novels. In the game the player’s possible love interests are portrayed as anthropomorphic cute anime-styled depictions of Cthulhu and other Lovecraftian monsters. There are two sides or definitions of what Lovecraftian is. Incomprehensive cosmic horror that trifles with sanity or silly tentacular monsters and playful undermining of the term’s pessimistic origins.

Cartoon picture of a feminine anime styled anthropomorphic character with wings in the back and tentacles on the face. Character is standing in a bedroom.

What could go wrong while doing the ritual?

Arasu chose to focus on Steam in their research because of the platform’s legacy and its user-focused metadata system. What is also significant for their research is that in 2014 Steam started to regulate user-defined tagging and started to clean and sort their archives. During the process Steam made the decision to confirm “Lovecraftian” as a pre-existing category over “cosmic horror” or “eldritch horror”.

Basic information:

Published In: Games and Culture

Article: Lovecraftian Games: The Afterlife of Cthulhu on Valve’s Steam Client, https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231217538

Author: Prema Asaru

Publish Date: December 12, 2023

Pictures: Promo pictures from Steam (Call of Cthulhu, Cthulhu saves christmas, Dredge, Sucker for Love), Screenshot by me from Steam store, Black&White octopus from pixabay (CC)

Post Views: 25

#Horror #Lovecraft #Steam #game research highlight