Game Thoughts - Dagon by H.P. Lovecraft
Note: This is about the interactive version by Bit Golem, not the story itself. Also, this is a repost from our Tumblr.
We got this game while we were on the search for potentially good free games on Steam. Muu was going to play this originally, when we were on our old laptop, but it couldn't handle the graphics properly. However, now that we have a new laptop, I decided to play it. - Kochi
What's It All About?
This is... what you would call an interactive version of the short story of the same name by Lovecraft. That's pretty much it.
As to what you do...
You play as the narrator of the story, or rather, you view things as the narrator of the story. He's driven to madness by a certain creature, a certain being, he encountered during his time at sea when he was just trying to escape those who had captured the ship he was on.
I think it would be better to just play or read the thing, to be honest.
Writing
Well... This is pretty much the short story itself, and knowing the author, we can't deny his skill, despite engaging in some problematic stuff IRL.
When it comes to the trivia sections of the game, though, it's pretty informative, and it gives a lot of insight on both the author and the work.
Art
If we were really lazy about it, we'd just call it the "usual western 3D style" or the "usual realistic 3D model style."
Anyway, I would say that it doesn't take a lot of artistic liberties and, in fact, leans more towards realism. In a way, it's like being there in the time period of the story, and just experiencing the horrors and madness that you won't be able to describe to anyone else.
A notable thing for me would be the use of backgrounds, and almost only backgrounds. There are almost no people, no other characters in this game. And any other characters, aka. the unknown eldritch creature, are either implied or barely seen. For me, it's a good representation of the mental state of the narrator.
You don't really know if he's just seeing things or if it's there but you can't perceive it. I think that's effective, horror-wise.
Audio
I don't think there's much of music as there is ambient sound, like the waves of the ocean, for example. What you'd focus on would be the voice of the narrator.
The main story is fully narrated, but the trivia is something you would have to read yourself. So, you could say that it's an interactive audiobook of sorts, with illustrations that you can immerse yourself in.
Gameplay
Being more or less an audiobook/interactive storybook, there's not much in terms of gameplay. All you have to do is listen along, look around the various scenes, and click certain spots to move to the next part of the story.
Pretty much the only "gameplay" you have would be looking for the pieces of trivia scattered all over the game.
I missed two of them, dammit.
Overall
This game is an interesting way to introduce the story as well as the author, and it's free too. If you're into the whole immersion thing, it's available on VR, but it's not necessary to play.
And while it's free, there are DLCs as well as extra content, and profits from those purchases are donated to war victims in Ukraine.
However, if you're leaning towards exciting gameplay, this is not really the game for you.