It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that any veteran of BioWare who has been there in excess of a decade, must be in want of their own indie studio. Bad Blood Studios is one such independent venture, set up by a former BW art director named Hayden Duvall, and Old Gods Rising is its first game. It’s a creepy (if not outright horrific) first-person mystery set in a deserted university, with Lovecraftian elements. And if I can stretch the definition, it is probably the best Lovecraftian game I have played.
I think this is because Old Gods Rising feels like the starting principle was “how can I make a good game?” rather than “how can I gamify my favourite weirdo author?”. But if you want a Lovecraft game where you’re wading around in tentacles and uncomfortable metaphors, you will be disappointed. There aren’t none tentacles in Old Gods Rising, but despite the very Lovecraft-y name, the game is mostly about whether you believe the tentacles actually exist or not.