A lovely, not-at-all culty seaside day out awaits in “Story generator” sim Marry a Deep One: Innsmouth Simulator
Go fish
I’ve likely mentioned hitting Lovecraft fatigue so often that it’s now evolved into a second phase of Lovecraft-fatigue fatigue. This is not the same as Lovecraft refreshment, no matter how much I might want to return to the days before old one plushies and Cthulhu children’s books terrorised the internet en masse. There’s not quite enough information about “story generator” sim Marry a Deep One: Innsmouth Simulator for me to confidently say it’ll cut through my exhaustion with all things tentacular and horrifically be-gilled. But it is beguiling, isn’t it? There’s all sorts of little widgets and details shown off that remind me of everything from Sid Meier’s Pirates to classic adventure games, and maybe even a little Rimworld? It’s a heady soup, although one I’d recommend against quaffing, given where the water comes from.
“Marry a Deep One is a story generator with social mechanics at its core,” reads the store page. “You play as a villainous cult leader exerting considerable control over a small community. Nevertheless, you must also meet the demands of the Deep Ones, or they will punish the village."
Here’s a feature list. Probs don’t recite it out loud. And if you do, make sure to check your neck in the mirror afterward.
STORY: The game doesn't follow a fixed script or sequence but features numerous randomized story elements that can interconnect into a larger narrative. Your actions—and even those of the NPCs—significantly influence the outcome.
MAGIC: Develop creative ways to manipulate villagers even further, to the point of breaking the game. Study documents to learn sigils, which you combine into spells.
POWER: Your grimoire grants you the power to monitor all villagers' feelings, relationships, actions and motivations. You even have the authority to choose villagers as sacrifices to the gods of the Deep Ones.
CUSTOMIZATION: Name yourself, your cat, grimoire, cult, village, spells and children. Try out various hairstyles, glasses, and hats. Construct, expand, and modify the village's buildings to your liking.
CATS: You can pet them.
This one’s due out sometime this year. Could it finally be the game to wash the completely average taste of Dredge out of my mouth? Am I going to elaborate on calling Dredge completely average? Nope! If you’re hankering for some Lovecraft in the meantime, the devs behind visual novel Dagon recently announced they’d raised over $50,000 for humanitarian aid in Ukraine - despite their game being free.