(minor spoilers ahead)
I'm a big fan of the Dead Space franchise. I know it isn't perfect and some have argued it's a pastiche of other ideas or games (John Carpenters' Thing, James Cameron's Aliens, Event Horizon, etc.) but I think it's assembled well enough and adds enough of a new angle to be refreshing and enjoyable. It also has a lot of Lovecraftian elements to the story that I really would like to see explored more in video games:
- Sanity and the idea that the protagonist isn't psychologically immune to the horror around him. I know some people didn't like the Nicole sections - I thought they were well done.
- Forbidden knowledge and that forbidden knowledge can have an physical impact on the world. What's interesting about Dead Space 2 is that the original Marker is destroyed in Dead Space 1 but the knowledge of the Marker and the knowledge transmitted by the Marker into Isaac is so powerful that it can corrupt the Sprawl and it's inhabitants. I mean - unless i missed something - they didn't recover any elements of the original marker in the Ishimura or on Aegis 7. So they reconstructed the Marker or rather the Marker via Isaac influenced the EarthGov to reconstruct it - but even a duplicate marker had the same power as the original marker just because of the markings and inscriptions added to it.
- Hapless cults that seek forbidden knowledge for their own personal gain without fully understanding the dangers or consequences.
- Cover-ups by the Government to suppress the truth of the danger from the population
I'd love to see a straight Lovecraft game in the period of most of this work (1900-1930's) but Dead Space definitely proves you can adapt a lot of these Lovecraftian elements effectively into other game scenarios. Maybe this upcoming Guillermo del Toro will be another great Lovecraftian game.
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