Lovecraftian stories have long been a source of inspiration for video games, and the cosmic horror elements are implemented in a wide variety of genres with complicated gameplay systems and world-building. But sometimes it’s nice to go back to basics with a simple visual novel that tackles a Lovecraftian story’s unsettling horror and complicated personal interactions between interesting characters.
HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising, developed by Touched By Grace and Why Not AI, and published by Plug In Digital and Touched By Grace, is a Lovecraftian visual novel with RPG elements. It follows the story of three characters in 1920s New York as a cult is about to release a cosmic entity upon the universe.
I have to admit that the developer’s name, Why Not AI, made me suspicious of generative content in the game. But HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising‘s Steam page doesn’t have the AI disclaimer and none of the artwork or the writing seemed like AI creations while I was playing the game. So I believe it’s just a name that can be misinterpreted.
HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising tells the story of three characters: Victor Buchanan, a talented researcher in the field of arcana and influenced by dreams and cultists, Anna Wilde, an aspiring artist betrothed to Victor, and Mark Jackson, a war veteran, and Victor’s old friend. You can experience the story from each of the main characters’ perspectives, and make choices and decisions that can alter the course of events and the ending. The story begins as Edmund Wilde, Anna’s father and Victor’s mentor passes away following mysterious circumstances, and the characters come together to mourn this passing and uncover what this means to Victor and Edmund’s studies in the world of dreams and Anna’s ability to traverse this strange universe.
The story’s atmosphere and vibe feel unique for each character, which is complimented very well by the art style and UI design. When playing as Anna, the journal the story is told through is very colorful and whimsical, as is the perspective of the young artist and her entanglement with the dream universe. Mark’s journal has a sepia color style and realistic art style that meshes well with his experience as a war veteran and the only character in the game with no initial relation to the cosmic entities of the story. And Victor’s journal with eldritch symbolism, unintelligible scribble, and surreal and vague black-and-white artwork is the perfect fit for the character’s struggles with the unknown and cult members.
The music and sound design of HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising is also a noteworthy addition to the overall atmosphere of the game. Although sound balance was sometimes an issue in menu navigation, the overall experience was very unsettling and immersive and enhanced the vibe of the game. I also really like the eerily distorted jazz track on the main menu. It’s a subtle touch but sets the mood perfectly as we begin the game, read through the tutorial, and choose a character.
While HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising mostly plays like an interactive narrative experience, there are some RPG elements that reminded me of tabletop games such as Call of Cthulu. We start the game with several attributes such as body, mind, charisma, and insight, and each choice throughout the story can increase or decrease our attributes. If we reach zero on any of the attributes or gain 10 insight, our character will meet an early demise. Most choices show the attribute gains and losses, but especially towards the end of the story, these values will be unknown, making our choices much more risky and impactful.
HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising also tracks our relationship with different characters throughout the story, similar to attribute points. Certain choices can negatively or positively affect our relationships, and we will encounter choices that are locked behind certain relationship or attribute levels. The combination of these two mechanics, even without considering the three different characters that we can play as, adds a lot of replay value to HPL.
HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising‘s story while centered around the theme of cosmic horror and eldritch entities, focuses heavily on the interpersonal relationships and internal struggle of each character. There’s a lot of history and complication between the three main protagonists that we learn throughout the story, and our choices can alter these relationships to the extreme. There are moments of jealousy, betrayal, romance, friendship, bitterness, and enmity that can happen between them, which ultimately affect the ending of the story.
Each character’s perspective and place in the story is unique enough that even knowing the story after finishing the game once doesn’t detract from the same story from a different character’s point of view. And considering the deaths and bad endings that can be reloaded, there are a lot of ways for the story to conclude. My only gripe with the story of HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising is that “bad” endings don’t resolve in a satisfying manner and the only option that we have is to reload and try again. I enjoy Lovecraftian stories exactly because more often than not, they don’t end happily ever after. I made choices that I knew would end badly, to conclude the story in an interesting way, but in the few instances that I tried, I was not impressed with how the game handled those choices.
I am not an avid visual novel player, but I really enjoyed HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising for what it had to offer; an engaging story and worldbuilding, atmospheric artwork and UI design, an immersive soundtrack, and minimal yet impactful RPG systems. It’s fun to play multiple times and can be a great pick for fans of Lovecraftian stories.
Nima played HPL: Nyarlathotep Rising on PC with a provided review copy.
