September 3rd- Dread Delusion

In most of my time with Elder Scrolls games, I think that the beginning hours of them have always been the strongest. I have very positive memories of the first 20 hours of Skyrim. No understanding of the grander narrative, no understanding of the grimy hamster-wheel progression system, and none of the tropes that have become standard with later Fallout games. The mystique of the world, more than the world itself, was one of the most positive experiences I had with Skyrim. For the first time ever, Dread Delusion was the game that captured my attention and imagination in the same way that Skyrim used to. Although it shares just as much with Kings Field and earlier FromSoftware games, the setting and worldbuilding of Dread Delusion is grim. The sun of an area is a blacked-out neutron star. The goblins carry ugly facial expressions, corrupted enemies walk on tentacled legs, and local townspeople are publicly executed for worshiping gods that bring them food. Places in the world are occupied by thieves, occult magicians, and there might be 5 friendly NPC’s with positive dispositions in the entire game. It’s Lovecraft, too. But while some of the more cosmic themes of Lovecraft like old gods and insanity persist, the special part of the game is that it still maintains a sense of wonder and surreal beauty that is rare to see. <a href="https://medium.com/@harrisonjordan223/september-3rd-dread-delusion-46174e2e340b">Click Here</a>