Cthulhupocalyptic

Privateer Press will launch its tabletop monster mash on October 10. Monsterpocalypse pits martians, dinosaurs, robots, and the Lords of Cthul against each other as they run amok in a miniature metropolis.

From the Cthulian backstory:

Followed by a legion of towering monsters and nightmare spawn, Cthugrosh wasted no time in spreading his primordial corruption across the globe. Where the Cthulians tread the earth blackens, vegetation withers, and humans bow in abject worship before the might of these eldritch demi-gods.

I love the concept art (right), but the Cthluian miniatures (below) doesn't work hard enough for me. Plus, a single Cthulian would surely wipe out any other monster army in the first round, so it'll be either a short game, or Privateer Press has weakened the unweakable in order to make the game balanced.

But if it works for you, and you're comfortable pouring money into a collectible miniatures game, check out the details at official site, and stick the Monsterpocalypse blog straight into your RSS reader.

Link (via AICN).

Four New Lovecraft Games

Well, new to me anyhow. The first is the rather neat looking Call of Cthulhu: The Darkness Within which has been around on mobile phones for a while, but has now only just come to the iPhone. It's a classic puzzle-solving pointy-and-clicky that's apparently based on Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu RPG, though I can't really work out the relationship except that they share the same name. Hopefully Mayhem Studio will see the sense in releasing a downloadable PC version for a couple of bucks. Kotaku has some screens, and the tasty trailer is below.

Next, there's the Crysis of Cthulhu. I know even less about this, but the screenshots and concept art are promising. I do know it's a Crysis mod, set in South America, and there's a lot of flashlight action. Here's an early gameplay trailer, showing similar gameplay to the rather excellent Penumbra series (which I also raved about in my Top 5 Lovecraft Games):

Speaking of Penumbra, the third episode just popped out of nowhere. Penumbra: Requiem is an expansion of sorts to the second game (in that you'll need a copy of Black Plague to play it), which fleshes out the creepy plot -- you're trying to find your father in a research station built inside an abandoned mine in the Arctic Circle -- and retains the same moody atmosphere and psycho-trickery. It's exclusively puzzle based, however, and I'm not sure if I like this yet, but if you've played the first two, it's a no-brainer. Get it from GamersGate for less than $10. And here's a trailer:

Finally, this really isn't news at all, but a pointer to a Lovecraftian game I'd never heard of, and which I feel slightly embarrassed about. I came across The Legacy: Realm of Terror by way of Alec Meer's retro lookback at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, and while it looks like it has all the right ingredients, it doesn't hold up well.

Well, one thing I’m not doing is having fun. Maybe I’m spoilt by modern standards and associated snobbishess, but certainly this revisit to a game from my childhood has turned entirely sour by now.

And just for consistency, here's a video of the promising intro:

Stephen King Does Lovecraft

I'm not sure what's more interesting -- that Stephen King has a new short story compilation coming out featuring an obviously Lovecraft-inspired tale, or that Simon & Schuster's released a cool little serialised, web-based, graphic novel promo.

First, N. It's a short story, so a synopsis wouldn't be useful, but take a look at the ingredients: a psychiatrist, a troubled patient (referred to as N), madness, suicide, New England, mysterious stones, cosmic importance.

As for the promo, it's a slick, 25-episode comic-style version of the story. It's free, features professional voiceovers, and according to S&S, is designed to be web friendly. I won't embed the clips here, as you can watch the higher resolution videos at the official site.

The story will appear in King's Just After Sunset, and apparently Marvel will release an actual ink-on-dead-tree graphic novel shortly.

Link (via Chris Perridas).