Eldritch

“The stealth mechanics, destructible terrain, and breakneck movement speed give you real creative freedom in how you approach each run, and the procedurally generated levels keep things fresh enough to justify multiple attempts.”

“What sets Eldritch apart from other roguelikes is its blend of emergent gameplay and player freedom.”

“The gameplay is the real star of the show here, between terrain destruction and magical powers like mind control and just the absurd speed of your character.”

“The Lovecraftian atmosphere is genuinely well-crafted, with tense dungeon crawling, great ambient music, and recognizable creatures like shoggoths and deep ones that actually feel threatening despite the low-poly presentation.”

“The core elements of Eldritch are executed very well: survive the ever-changing dungeons of Lovecraftian horror by sneaking and/or fighting your way past a multitude of cultists, lizardmen, shoggoths, and other unnameable horrors. Every floor is fraught with tension and peril as the atmospheric music and groans of the otherworldly follow you wherever you go.”

“All of these enemies are very well designed, complementing the concept very well, and, even though the game has the Lovecraftian gods and locations in it, the real reason it gives the feel of his books is the atmosphere; this game absolutely nails it in that department, it truly feels like some of his best works.”

“In addition to the main story path, which spans four distinct worlds, the game includes two optional challenge levels and an optional world inspired by Lovecraft's novel At the Mountains of Madness.”

“It’s an elegant example of environmental storytelling, where curiosity and exploration drive engagement more effectively than exposition ever could.”

“In Eldritch, you wake up in a mysterious library, and on the ground, you find some explorer's notes claiming there is no way out, aside from the mysterious books that somehow teleport you to another realm, each belonging to an elder god. In the library, there are also books that tell its story, so the game has a nice bit of lore to it. Inside one of the elder god's realms, there are notes left by that explorer, telling you who is the reigning god of this realm, and that each realm possesses some sort of artifact that might assist you in your escape, so you venture into these weird realms to find your way out.”

“Permadeath can sting hard after a long run, and the game is on the shorter side, but the challenge feels mostly fair and the replay value is solid, especially with the free expansions that have been added over the years.”

“Unbelievable replay value due to the randomly generated dungeons/areas.”

“The game has a lot of replay value, with every world, dungeon, etc. being randomly generated.”

“Hands down the best thing about this game is its music - ambient guitar tracks lend a strange, spooky, warped atmosphere that really makes you feel like you're in the lost tomb of Nyarlathotep or wandering around R'lyeh, exploring worlds that should not be and that humans were not meant to walk in.”

“The atmosphere and music are great and the gameplay is solid.”

“The soundtrack and sound design really pull it together into something amazing and creepy.”

“Eldritch is beautifully crafted, funny (the mummies giving you an odd and puzzled stare as if to question what you're doing dwelling so deeply), crazy-tense at times, challenging, frustrating (in some of the best puzzle-solving forms representing why some of us game!), and keeps bringing me back after a few years and many, many hours — always for 'just one more run.' And then, hours later, out of bullets and ham, as I'm questioning my sanity, I realize it has perfectly done exactly what it's here to do, heh.”

“The ambience, the music, the beasts, the graphics (which surprisingly benefits the game), all the Lovecraftian feel, the funny bits... I didn't expect so much pure fun for such a low price (I bought it at the deal price).”

“And as with any good randomized world, I've had lots of hilarious/awesome emergent encounters/stories with the various beasties and environments.”

“If it wasn't for the somewhat difficult basilisk statues, I'd give it a thumbs up and a better rating... but those things make me want to cry and punch my monitor at the same time.”

“I personally adore this game; its familiarity to games like Dishonored made me feel right at home. The stealth mechanics and how you could use everything to your advantage were wonderful to work with, and I am glad I picked this game up when it was on sale.”

“I really liked the Lovecraftian theme, the exploration, and the dangerous and original opponents that sometimes made me feel as if I was in an Amnesia game.”