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rynlingThe Mist
https://yliader.itch.io/the-mist
The Mist is a Game Boy horror adventure game based on Cthulhu mythos and inspired by the 2019 movie The Lighthouse. Despite only consisting of about twenty side-scrolling screens, it’s an intricate game that takes around 40 to 45 minutes to finish.
You play as an old man sent to maintain an isolated lighthouse for two months. Your job is simple: keep the light at the top of the tower going, maintain the chapel, and don’t try to look for the body of the previous lighthouse keeper.
This potential gameplay loop is quickly interrupted when your character starts having strange dreams involving a sea monster calling him “son” and asking him to return to the ocean. That’s right! We’re in Innsmouth territory baybeeee!!!
Your character’s dreams become progressively stranger, and what you end up doing is completely neglecting the lighthouse as you poke around the tower to satisfy his curiosity. About halfway through the game, you begin to navigate dream sequences as well as the waking world, and these dreams are a lot of fun. There are no jumpscares in the dreams, but there are a few (excellent) monster animations that you’re forced to watch get progressively more disturbing. In addition to the in-game cutscenes, there are about two dozen illustrations for longer conversations and reading passages. The art in this game is very good and creative, especially given the graphic limitations.
There are a few puzzle sequences, but they mostly consist of trying to figure out what you need to do next. Given that your range of motion is limited, these “puzzles” can mostly be solved by process of elimination. There’s one about thirty minutes in that might be a little frustrating, as the game misleads you into doing one thing when really it wants you to do something else, but the creator has embedded a full playthrough video in the game’s page on Itchio if you get stuck.
I should mention that the creator is French, which means three things.
First, their English is a little off, but it’s off in a way that makes sense in French and is still completely comprehensible to English speakers. Second, they use the French transliterations of Lovecraft’s nonsense phrases (like “Cthulhu fhtagn”). I didn’t immediately understand what was going on, so it was fun to realize what these were. And third, their concept of Christianity is extremely Catholic, and it was amusing to me to imagine a grizzled New Englander consecrating an altar with wine and praying to various saints. It’s always interesting to see how other cultures interpret the Cthulhu mythos, and I unironically love all of this.
And fourth, maybe? Dude is not shy about Freudian imagery. I was surprised. Pleasantly surprised, but still. Wow.
The Mist loses its footing for a bit in the middle (especially around the puzzle I mentioned earlier), but it’s a neat piece of storytelling that creates an immersive environment at a slow but steady pace. Even if you’re not a Lovecraft fan, The Mist is an interesting and atmospheric game about slowly losing your mind while being harassed by sea monsters.
Anyway, please enjoy this meme I found while searching for how to spell the word “fhtagn”:
https://yliader.itch.io/the-mist
The Mist is a Game Boy horror adventure game based on Cthulhu mythos and inspired by the 2019 movie The Lighthouse. Despite only consisting of about twenty side-scrolling screens, it’s an intricate game that takes around 40 to 45 minutes to finish.
You play as an old man sent to maintain an isolated lighthouse for two months. Your job is simple: keep the light at the top of the tower going, maintain the chapel, and don’t try to look for the body of the previous lighthouse keeper.
This potential gameplay loop is quickly interrupted when your character starts having strange dreams involving a sea monster calling him “son” and asking him to return to the ocean. That’s right! We’re in Innsmouth territory baybeeee!!!
Your character’s dreams become progressively stranger, and what you end up doing is completely neglecting the lighthouse as you poke around the tower to satisfy his curiosity. About halfway through the game, you begin to navigate dream sequences as well as the waking world, and these dreams are a lot of fun. There are no jumpscares in the dreams, but there are a few (excellent) monster animations that you’re forced to watch get progressively more disturbing. In addition to the in-game cutscenes, there are about two dozen illustrations for longer conversations and reading passages. The art in this game is very good and creative, especially given the graphic limitations.
There are a few puzzle sequences, but they mostly consist of trying to figure out what you need to do next. Given that your range of motion is limited, these “puzzles” can mostly be solved by process of elimination. There’s one about thirty minutes in that might be a little frustrating, as the game misleads you into doing one thing when really it wants you to do something else, but the creator has embedded a full playthrough video in the game’s page on Itchio if you get stuck.
I should mention that the creator is French, which means three things.
First, their English is a little off, but it’s off in a way that makes sense in French and is still completely comprehensible to English speakers. Second, they use the French transliterations of Lovecraft’s nonsense phrases (like “Cthulhu fhtagn”). I didn’t immediately understand what was going on, so it was fun to realize what these were. And third, their concept of Christianity is extremely Catholic, and it was amusing to me to imagine a grizzled New Englander consecrating an altar with wine and praying to various saints. It’s always interesting to see how other cultures interpret the Cthulhu mythos, and I unironically love all of this.
And fourth, maybe? Dude is not shy about Freudian imagery. I was surprised. Pleasantly surprised, but still. Wow.
The Mist loses its footing for a bit in the middle (especially around the puzzle I mentioned earlier), but it’s a neat piece of storytelling that creates an immersive environment at a slow but steady pace. Even if you’re not a Lovecraft fan, The Mist is an interesting and atmospheric game about slowly losing your mind while being harassed by sea monsters.
Anyway, please enjoy this meme I found while searching for how to spell the word “fhtagn”:
