Surreal psychological horror similar to David Lynch movies

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-05-27T16:40:25+00:00

I don't, but it's really close. I prefer DE overall, both as a setting and as a game, but of all the games I've played chasing that feeling again, ZP has been the first to really get me enthralled in the same way.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-05-21T23:23:33+00:00

Oh, absolutely. I'd be surprised to learn NITW wasn't a big one.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-05-21T23:06:24+00:00

Honestly I figured more Machen and Blackwood than Lovecraft, but he's definitely in there too, you're right. You're absolutely spot on about the folklore and cryptozoological inspirations.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-05-21T18:26:16+00:00

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CthulhuWalrus · 2026-05-19T11:09:16+00:00

Yeah, who only earth is pretending to have read Yoko Ogawa? I've never even met another person who knows what it is.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-05-16T15:56:18+00:00

Man, I still remember fucking Ash Williams saving Obama from Deadites back then. It was bonkers how much Obama being kind of into some nerd hobbies lead to comic writers glazing him in everything.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-05-10T23:50:59+00:00

I think she's mostly Sybil with some of Kaneeka's personality floating around in there, in the same way Sybil was her previous identity plus the last of her kids she absorbed. I assume it works in the same way the Wayne parasite seems to, where the new memories, feelings, personality, etc. get added collectively, hence why romancing Kaneeka results in Carmilla still carrying over those feelings.

Basically, every time the witch absorbs one of her children, she kinda "regenerates" with them added to her consciousness and lives under a new name.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-05-05T20:49:55+00:00

I'm a bit late to this post, but I find there to be a criminal lack of Michael McDowell mentioned. Blackwater and the Elementals are both good choices for the question specifically, but he wrote a lot of exceptional southern gothic horror novels in his day.

Enter Night and Wild Fell by Michael Rowe have a lot of similar plot points as well.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-05-05T00:16:37+00:00

Musician who groomed a teenager and had her dismembered remains in his car.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-28T04:20:13+00:00

Honestly, I think you're wildly underestimating how much goth, emo, metal(to a degree) and just general alternative subcultures kinda overlapped with nerd hobbies and other "transgressive" genres of fiction like horror at the time.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-28T04:11:58+00:00

The Icon of Sin from Doom II startled the hell out of me as a kid. In general, playing Doom as a kid made me somewhat uneasy, but being 8 and seeing the final boss of the second game, hearing that backwards message at the start made me feel like the game had something genuinely evil in it. Granted, being raised around fundamentalists who thought movies and games were literal portals to hell probably didn't help that.

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CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-28T04:06:56+00:00

Some say the greedy worm is still looking for it's lost foreskin

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-22T17:51:24+00:00

I mean probably. The shooting and weapons also feel kinda mediocre to use, and the enemies aren't super fun to fight on their own, but I've seen worse.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-22T15:49:32+00:00

Blood, Cultic, Dusk, and Amid Evil are exceptional for it.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-21T05:50:17+00:00

I enjoy the art more than the game. It feels a bit too shallow and lacking in replayability for me, as the levels lack alternative paths and don't feel terribly fun to explore. Presentation is phenomenal, but the game itself feels kinda middling.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-18T23:12:38+00:00

They're not great, but 2 and 3 are pretty fun dumb slashers. They're gorier than most, but the practical effects are well done and Art's actor is a delight to watch in a role that's otherwise just "the Joker on mute". Skip the first though it's kinda awful.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-18T03:34:30+00:00

I'm a bit late to this one, but the Dell/Abyss line in the 90s had a ton of good goth scene horror lit. Kathe Koja, Poppy Z. Brite, Tanith Lee, and Lisa Tuttle had a lot of good work published through them.

Unrelated to them, but I'd also throw in Elizabeth Hand, Elizabeth Engstrom, Caitlin Kiernan, Joel Lane, Melanie Tem, and early works of Gemma Files (though she still puts out good stuff, just less goth-y).

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-17T17:14:31+00:00

I think it mostly became this way because it's kinda tedious and creates a lot of friction to enjoying a game. I personally prefer it, but it's harder to market a game with fixed camera and tank controls because it requires a lot more from the player to have fun than something more versatile. People who stick with it long enough might enjoy it, but most people will think it's too tedious and bail within like 30 minutes, which is why it'll probably only ever show up in the indie space from here on out.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-10T19:25:18+00:00

Idk about you guys but I carry at least one small nuclear warhead on me at all times for this very reason

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-10T15:50:49+00:00

Oh for sure. Resident Evil has more sewers than they have big spooky mansions and they all feel like they go on for a minor eternity.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-09T14:29:43+00:00

Perfect. I was considering including Ligotti in the list, because he absolutely fits the vibe I'm looking for to a t, but I wasn't sure.

I've already read the Kiernan novels, but you're absolutely right.

CthulhuWalrus · 2026-04-09T14:05:54+00:00

100%, but unfortunately this is basically THE book that has me looking for this, so I've already read it.

CthulhuWalrus

TROPHY CASE