The works of HP Lovecraft have come to form a cultural touchstone for fans of horror and Victoriana alike. Independent videogame developers WarerPlai have drawn upon this literary history and mythology to create an augmented reality (AR) experience called Reign of Cthulhu.
Reign of Cthulhu uses clothing, artifacts and real-world locations as markers to access AR gameplay elements that can create player communities, with the aim of challenging the accepted wisdom of how mobile and AR videogames are played.
The story draws heavily on the Lovecraft and Cthulhu mythos, detailing an ancient battle between the ‘Deep Ones’ Cthulu and Soggoth, which ended with the city of R’ylah sinking into the sea. In the modern day, portals to that lost city are appearing in our world, threatening the future of humanity.
Players will need to band together to take part on cooperative Boss battles, or alternatively they can fight against each other in a turn-based strategy mini-game. Territory is won by placing portals that can summon up fantastic creatures or ancient heroes.
One of three armies can be chosen by players to join in order to help, fight or even exploit the new and mysterious powers that are rising from the sunken city of R’ylah. Players can travel portals to collect artifacts, battle against ancient evils and command summoned creatures.
The title uses the WarerPlai AR gaming platform along with player’s t-shirts to let players see each other’s win-loss record, special artifacts ad other data from the videogame in AR and can also activate new levels.
There is also a limited-edition Reign of Cthulhu mini comic book available which contains more AR triggers which can access special portals and artifacts. The AR mobile app for Reign of Cthulhu will be available for free on iOS and Android.
A teaser trailer for Reign of Cthulu is available to view below. Future updates on this and other new and upcoming AR titles will be covered here on VRFocus.