I’ve probably mentioned Lovecraft fatigue so many times that it’s now evolved into a second phase of Lovecraft fatigue. It’s not the same as Lovecraft refreshment, no matter how much I might want to go back to the days before old Cthulhu plushies and children’s books were terrorizing the internet en masse. There’s not enough information about the “story generator” simulator Marry a Deep One: Innsmouth Simulator for me to confidently say it will overcome my exhaustion with all things tentacled and horribly gill-like. But it will. attractiveisn't it? There are all sorts of little gadgets and details that remind me of everything from Sid Meier's Pirates to classic adventure games, and maybe even a little Rimworld? It's a heady soup, though I wouldn't recommend drinking it, given where the water comes from.
“Marry a Deep One is a story generator with social mechanics at its core,” the store page reads. “You play as an evil cult leader who wields considerable control over a small community. However, you must also meet the demands of the Deep Ones, or they will punish the village.”
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Here's a list of features. Probably don't recite it out loud. And if you do, be sure to check your neck in the mirror afterward.
STORY: The game does not follow a fixed storyline or sequence, but instead features many random story elements that can interconnect to form a larger narrative. Your actions, and even those of NPCs, greatly influence the outcome.
MAGIC: Develop creative ways to manipulate villagers even further, to the point of breaking the game. Study documents to learn sigils, which you combine into spells.
POWER: Your grimoire grants you the power to monitor the feelings, relationships, actions, and motivations of all villagers. You even have the authority to choose villagers as sacrifices to the gods of the Deep.
CUSTOMIZATION: Name yourself, your cat, your spellbook, your cult, your village, your spells, and your children. Try on different hairstyles, glasses, and hats. Build, expand, and modify village buildings to your liking.
CATS: You can pet them.
This one is set to come out this year. Could this finally be the game that will get me over my completely average taste for Dredge? Am I going to go on about how completely average Dredge is? No! If you're in the mood for some Lovecraft in the meantime, the developers of the visual novel Dagon recently announced that they've raised over $50,000 for humanitarian aid in Ukraine – despite the fact that their game is free to play.