As a massive (and I mean massive) Lovecraft fan, I'm torn at the amount of wistful name-dropping his sake has been experiencing in gaming lately. I mean, on the one hand it's awesome to see so much love for him and the worlds he created, now helping inform world-building among modern creators. On the other, it looms as a misrepresentative buzzword tacked onto a game, or added as an aesthetic selling tool where one might not have been before.

Still, for now I'll keep leaning in good faith towards the former reasoning, but be forewarned developers and publishers, as it is writ by the dark sages, and prophesised in the torn Game Details one-sheet, a great calamitous event will emerge at the overuse and mistreatment of the name Lovecraft to sell your games.

Oops, also meant to mention a new Lovecraft-inspired Roguelite, Source of Madness, is making its way to Steam and can be Wishlisted now, ahead of its release "later this year". Here's an excerpt from the game's tome:

Source of Madness is a side-scrolling dark action roguelite set in a twisted Lovecraftian inspired world powered by procedural generation and AI machine learning. Take on the role of a new Acolyte as they embark on a nightmarish odyssey. Uncover the cosmic secrets of the Loam Lands and The Tower of Madness, the moon’s mysterious Citadel.

Fight hordes of nightmarish beasts utilising powerful close-combat magic, explore labyrinthine environments, collect powerful loot and manage your item loadout, then infuse the beasts’ blood at magical altars to unlock additional abilities, perks and spells. Decide your Acolyte’s fate in the customisable skill tree.

As your journey progresses, the arcane lore of the Loam Lands unfurls and plunges you deeper into its dark depths. The world and monsters are rendered using a combination of hand-drawn assets, AI visual manipulation and procedural generation. The monsters inhabiting this dark world are animated using a machine learning AI. This means Source of Madness offers ever-changing landscapes to explore and new monstrosities to face on every run.

Watch the teaser for Source of Madness embedded below, and stay tuned for more on this game and other would-be Lovecraft love-letters, right here on AusGamers.