Game: ICEY
Platform: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, iOS, Android
Genre: action, metagame
Style: directly based on Lovecraft’s work (background story)
Verdict: Recommended
Buy: Steam | eShop | PSN | App Store | Google Play
I had no idea ICEY had anything to do with H.P. Lovecraft when I received a code to review it for Nintendo Chit Chat after its Switch release.
ICEY is a 2D action game as well as a metagame. While you can fight your way through enemies on the path the Narrator lays out for you, it’s much more entertaining to disobey the Narrator to see what happens. This unlocks various endings, much like The Stanley Parable.
So what about the Lovecraftian angle?
Your personal conflict with the Narrator might take center stage, but after each ending, you learn a little more about the background story. Once you see all of them, you’ll unlock the true ending. These ending text screens, together with certain messages found in the game, draw directly on the Cthulhu Mythos.
It focuses more on The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers than Lovecraft’s own work, but there are also overt Lovecraft references (and The King in Yellow is often considered part of the Mythos).
ICEY keeps this part of its story ambiguous, but these aspects together with the metagame content have helped fans piece together theories about what’s going on in this strange, strange game.
So if you want something like The Stanley Parable with a Lovecraftian twist, ICEY is an interesting action game to check out.
Buy: Steam | eShop | PSN | App Store | Google Play