Necronomicon

Story

Necronomicon follows the investigations of journalist Jonathan Swift into a report of a woman giving birth to a seemingly inhuman child, and his journey to the town of Arkham and on into the mist-shrouded horrors of rural Massachusetts. Joined by his friends, an archeologist and a detective, Jonathan finds himself surrounded by local superstition and visions of the Deep Ones; an ancient sea-dwelling race of fish-like creatures.

Setting

Set during the 1920's, the game begins with Jonathan's arrival in Arkham, and goes on to feature such locations as:

• Guilman's House (the name of which may be a play on "Gilman", the protagonist from Lovecraft's story "The Dreams in the Witch House").
• The Church of the Esoteric Order of Dagon (from Lovecraft's Story "The Shadow over Innsmouth").
• The ruins of an abandoned monastery.
• A brothel.
• A cemetery...

Most locations have some connection, explicit or otherwise, to those of Lovecraft's writings.

Gameplay

The game utilizes a traditional point and click interface, though through context menus instead of icons. Choices made by the player can alter the story and can result in a number of different endings.

Versions

The PC 9801 version comes on eleven floppy disks, though a compatible CD-ROM version was also released. The FM Towns version also comes on CD-ROM. CD Versions of Necronomicon feature voice work and additional audio enhancements.

Content

Necronomicon features images of violence and gore. Sexual content is largely limited to nudity and suggestion.

Miscellaneous

Not to be confused with Digital Pinball: Necronomicon on Sega Saturn.

Trivia

• The art style of the game was clearly based on the work of H.R. Giger, who published a book of paintings called Necronomicon. A special note in the credits thanks both Giger and Lovecraft for their inspiration.
• It's incorrectly listed in several places that John Petrucci wrote the score to this game, in fact it was for a game of the same name on the Sega Saturn. The score for this game was written by in-house Fairytale composer Muse.