Lovecraft's Untold Stories

About Lovecraft's Untold Stories

Lovecraft's Untold Stories is a pixel-art action roguelite from the Russian studio Blini Games, released on PC in January 2019 and on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in May 2019. It takes the places of Lovecraft's fiction, a creepy Victorian mansion, a hospital where forbidden experiments took place, a jungle of forgotten rituals, a decaying port town, and builds them anew each run.

Five investigators each have their own storyline, weapons and style. The detective is balanced, the professor fights at range behind a shield from his Tillinghast device, the witch hits hard with spells and teleports but dies quickly, the thief relies on stealth and melee, and the ghoul regenerates but cannot use medkits. Rooms fill with cultists, ghouls, Deep Ones and stranger things, and you upgrade gear and artifacts as you go.

The horror is in its Mythos rules. Choices in events can shake your sanity, and if it falls too far the character goes mad and ends their own life. Before you can face Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Dagon, Shub-Niggurath or Azathoth you need knowledge of them, scattered through each level as notes and items; meet one unprepared and the sight alone drives you insane. Exploring thoroughly makes you stronger in mind, but exploring also exposes you to more of what breaks it.

It is an action game first, closer to a twin-stick dungeon crawler than to a slow horror game, and it suits players who want Lovecraft's monsters and lore in a game they can fight through. Its sequel, Lovecraft's Untold Stories 2, followed in 2022.

How to play Lovecraft's Untold Stories

1. Choose one of the five investigators; more of their storylines open as you play.
2. Move through each randomly generated level, fighting cultists and monsters with your weapons and skills.
3. Search rooms for items, notes and clues about the Great Old Ones, and pick choices in events carefully to protect your sanity.
4. Collect and upgrade weapons, gear and artifacts between fights.
5. Gather enough knowledge before the special levels where a Great Old One waits, then face it.

Tips

• Explore every corner before leaving a level: the knowledge items are what let you face the Great Old Ones.
• The witch and professor die quickly up close; keep distance and use their shields and teleports.
• The ghoul cannot use medkits, so lean on its regeneration and avoid long fights while hurt.

Questions