Tag: H.P. Lovecraft

Kaiju, Dissentience’s Tribute to TOHO is Cosmic!

Dissentience’s new concept EP Kaiju turns classic Japanese monster mayhem and Lovecraftian dread into a four-part metal narrative, charting a nameless beast’s attack from first impact to ash-filled aftermath with riffs as heavy as the fallout.

Kaiju album coverFrom Bethlehem, PA, death metal / trash band, Dissentience, aims to please music lovers of this genre with an ambitious album, simply titled Kaiju. In keeping true to the story telling format, what this concept album offers are four tracks to which follows through the narrative beats of intro, rising action, climax and denouement that will no doubt track the birth to destruction. Shame there’s no comic book or short video announced at the same time, but when the theatre of the mind is involved, that’s all we need.

Scheduled for release on February 20, 2026, this concept album fuses dark horror, manic riffs, and existential lyrical dread into work that my gig for a local music magazine has given me an opportunity to listen to.
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A Dark Horse Comics 2025 Gift Giving Guide

Dark Horse Comics brings a mix of festive stories, classic reprints, art books, and surprising genre gems to this year’s gift⁠-giving season. From Avatar adventures to Lovecraftian chills and collectible toy retrospectives, these picks offer something for every kind of fan.

Christmas Dark Horse Comics

From Christmas-themed narratives to sci-fi action adventures, Dark Horse Comics has a terrific range of recent graphic novel releases that make splendid gifts. If that doesn’t tickle a relative’s (or friend’s) fancy, there are also art books and adaptations of popular IPs—animated or otherwise—that may do the trick just as well. What I offer here are my top picks. The links go to Amazon USA for easy purchase.

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Avatar: The Last Airbender
Team Avatar Treasury TPB

Original Publication Date: November 11, 2025

Avatar- The Last Airbender Team Avatar Treasury TPB

This treasury collects three recently released character-focused adventures—Katara and the Pirate’s Silver, Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy, and Suki Alone—into one unified volume.

Each story offers a thoughtful continuation of these characters as they grow, reflect, and refine what shapes their resolve. While not connected to the upcoming animated films, everything here is fully approved by Avatar Studios. With the cinematic continuation arriving January 30, 2026, this collection is a perfect warm-up.

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Riding the Crazy Train With Railgods of Hysterra’s Latest Update

Although not every issue in Railgods of Hysterra has been fixed, whether or not it’s playable depends on whether enthusiasts have having a 75″ sized screen or bigger.

Railgods of Hysterra Video Game PosterBecause RailGods of Hysterra is missing one major fix, I haven’t enjoyed this cooperative survival game. That’s mostly because of the tiny text used throughout the game to identify objects, tell gamers what’s happening, etc. While I appreciate all the world-building that exists, not even after more than a month’s worth of casual play got me far. My original review can be read here. When this game is about making sure you catch the Katy, er, that sentient train and leave a mule to ride.

The latest updates (as of May 18, 2025, which appears to be the most recent significant patch noted):

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Will RailGods of Hysterra Be Fired Up and Ready for Travel in April?

Hopefully, the developers corrected the issues I found in the demo release for RailGods of Hysterra’s Early Access.

Railgods of Hysterra Video Game PosterEarly Access Will Be Available on April 10, 2025

Troglobytes Games’ RailGods of Hysterra is a survival game which needs an accessibility option if I’m going to keep playing. That’s because the text was incredibly tiny! Even on a 45 inch screen, I had trouble reading and there were no in-game controls to adjust contrast. I spent a week with the demo before deciding to get my eyes checked. They’re good, but even when I revisited it, I struggled with reading.

When there’s a game inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s fantasy world known as the Dreamlands. I’m certainly excited. Although it doesn’t borrow from any of ths stories, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time to find tie-in material. For now, this game is about surviving this world. When this version mixes up resource management, item builds and land exploration, I better be careful about what’s ’round the corner.

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[Interview] Catching Up With Chad Ferrin. From H.P. Lovecraft’s The Deep Ones to Unspeakable: Beyond the Wall of Sleep, What’s Next?

Beyond the Wall of Sleep is more than a tribute to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Although it’s meant to be a sequel to another tale, Chad Ferrin massaged what he got into a quirky fun tale about the (coming) end of days.

Chad Ferring FilmmakerAvailable to stream on Apple TV and Amazon

From a simple film thrown together last minute to becoming a trilogy to honour the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Chad Ferrin doesn’t need that long of a re-introduction. When I spoke to him about his first work, The Deep Ones, (interview link) the ideas for a modern age retelling of several tales have its charm. And he wasted no time in working on a direct sequel for the first.

But for the third, it’s a completely different beast, and I had to chat with him again about how that came to be:

When compared to where you were in the past with making The Deep Ones to now, with Unspeakable: Beyond the Wall of Sleep, where do you think you are as a filmmaker?

Well, it was originally going to be a sequel to my first film, Unspeakable. Roger Garcia initially came to me and said he wanted to do a sequel to that. He said he has an investor who is up for it, and when he didn’t like the draft, I turned it into a H.P. Lovecraft movie because I know that there’s always a demand for that. I intertwined the characters from that first movie into this new one, and it just kind of flowed. Susan Priver helped find another investor, and before we knew it, we began shooting.

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In Rewinding Games’ Wild Demo of Roots Devour, Playing a Hungry Monster is Easy!

And we know which entity the player’s avatar will become in the intro to Roots Devour! Read on for our spoiler regarding whom that Great Old One is.

Roots DevourSpoiler Alert

Roots Devour is a puzzle solving game by Rewinding Games set in some dark woodland area, where players can play the villain! It borrows from H.P. Lovecraft‘s writings and perhaps Evil Dead too. That’s because the creature I’m playing had to seek not-so-innocent vertebrates to drink their blood! They give form I’m in the required essence to survive and grow. As the name suggests, it’s about extending a living tree’s roots to as far as they can go!

What’s effectively creepy is the fog of war which envelops this game. I’m never within it, and unless I extend the roots to explore, what’s revealed are either difficult terrain or playing cards. They represent either various aspects of a dying forest or victims I can either drain or have to figure a way around! This maze took more than a few tries to reach any place meaningful. Continue reading “In Rewinding Games’ Wild Demo of Roots Devour, Playing a Hungry Monster is Easy!”