Dagon: by H. P. Lovecraft

About Dagon: by H. P. Lovecraft

Dagon was made by the studio Bit Golem and released free on Steam in September 2021. It faithfully adapts Lovecraft's early short story, the tale that first hinted at the deep-sea beings of the Cthulhu Mythos, and it can be played on a screen or in a VR headset.

You move through scenes in first person while the narrator reads the story aloud: a cheap room with a syringe on the desk, a ship taken by a German raider in the war, a lifeboat adrift, and then the strange, endless mud flat where the sea floor has heaved up into the light. You walk, look and pick things up; there are no puzzles and nothing to fight.

The horror is cosmic in the true sense: the sense of a world far older and larger than people, glimpsed for a moment and never forgotten. The game builds it with the reek of the black mud, the ruined carvings, the moonlit water and the shape that rises from it. Along the way you can pick up notes about the story, its author and its influence.

It is a good, short door into Lovecraft for newcomers and a faithful one for readers. The studio has gone on to adapt more of his stories.

How to play Dagon: by H. P. Lovecraft

1. Download it free from Steam and start the story.
2. Walk through each scene while the narrator reads; look around to take it in.
3. Pick up and examine objects to hear more of the story and learn about Lovecraft.
4. Move on when the path opens; the story carries you to the island and the sea.
5. Finish in about 30 minutes, then read the extra notes if you want more.

Tips

• Play with headphones and the lights low; the narration and sound carry most of the dread.
• Take your time looking at objects, many have notes about the original story.
• Try it in VR if you have a headset for the sea scenes.

Questions