Better Horror Than LOVECRAFT EVER WROTE | Song of Horror Review

Twitch: / mertkaykay
Patreon: / mertkaykay
VOD channel: / @mertkaykayvods

[@RaiserGames]

We loved this review, thanks! Just to ease your mind, some of us at the office had the creepy lady closing the door right behind our character too, you're game is not more haunted than it should be😅 Hope you give it another chance to beating it in the future, we love the story and how it interpret que Lovecraft Mythos 😊

[@MertKayKay]

Raiser Games, you guys are honestly unmatched in making some of the best horror I've played. I recently crawled through episode 2 on my belly and god, it is such a creepy, well-made game. Amazing, incredible experience. Compliments to the chef! Glad to know I'm not the only one who suffered the scary lady; my friend played it on my recommendation and got next to no appearances of Catherine so he had a much less creepy time! Although he got way more appearances of The Presence and had to do far more QTEs, so it's swings and roundabouts, hehe. It was honestly a privilege to have you come along to my video. Thanks so much for watching my review and I'm really glad you enjoyed it!

[@RaiserGames]

@@MertKayKay Thank you for playing the game and making such a cool analysis of it! We can't wait to hear more from you once you've completed it (which you'll surely do!) 😊

[@bluefacestan1826]

@@RaiserGames I love your game it so scary especially chapter 4

[@RaiserGames]

@@bluefacestan1826 Thanks! We're currently replaying it again and we're on chapter 4. We can definitely agree on it being scary!

[@Kris-sk1no]

Holy sht its the actual developers! loved your game! How about a sequel? 👀

[@Gaminggamer45]

“I’ve eaten 3 dishes at this establishment and they all taste like eugenics” that shit killed me lmao

[@CluelessAnon]

I see we share a favorite line

[@Telorath]

That got a sub from me, that was great.

[@Lenape_Lady]

I’ve always thought that the best thing about the Cthulhu Mythos was the universe. Not so much Lovecraft’s original stories themselves. But the authors and creators that fell in love with the Mythos and spun off on their own stories and interpretations. The creative *pool* that is the Mythos is the best part.

[@MertKayKay]

I absolutely agree with you, there's simply no equal to the Mythos in terms of growth, spin off, and imagination. Although I suppose it did have an 100 year headstart - I wonder what media of today will have the same impact in a century

[@zeporion6091]

Tbh I think The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a pretty good concept. Honestly I enjoy it more then "there was a god but ahhh scary"

[@MertKayKay]

@@zeporion6091 I know there was a really fantastic film adaptation of that one too! :D

[@sub-jec-tiv]

Whisperer in Darkness is pretty great too. Like Philip K Dick, HPL’s best work is in short stories. It’s consistently disturbing to read his horrible racism, but he did have his moments, which is why he was the creator of an entire genre of fiction. It’s what you’re *supposed* to say: Lovecraft, no talent, racist, blah blah blah. But guess who nobody will remember in 200 years? Critics. 😂

[@NovemberXXVII]

The myhos isn't just a diaphanous influence, either. Much of Lovecraft's social life was corresponding with other authors, so he was in touch with guys like Matheson and Bloch and a good few others. Lovecraft wasn't a sociable guy [ya might even say antisocial], but he was pretty active in a small circle of pulp writers. Some of those writers became well known, and some were obscure but influenced other writers, to an extent where you can play 6 Degrees Of HP Lovecraft with the influences of a LOT of American horror.

[@vulnikkura]

"Four hours to get his manuscript to the nearest pigeon" had me wheezing

[@MertKayKay]

We've all been there 😂

[@CommissarMitch]

@@MertKayKay considering he was violently anti-technology that may even be true.

[@DarksteelHeart]

Yeah that was hilarious. I choked on my coffee for a minute.

[@bookbook9495]

@@CommissarMitch I mean, have you heard about the horrors of AIR CONDITIONING?!!

[@storythyme5804]

Same lmao

[@neoindy]

As someone who does love Lovecraft, I do think there’s more to his best works that can get lost in the purple-even-for-the-time prose. When I first read Call of Cthulhu, I was so excited to get to the monster part, and felt thunderously let down when the story didn’t go into all the grotesque detail I wanted from a pulpy horror outing; it almost felt like cephalopod Godzilla was an afterthought to his own reveal. But the reason we all know what Cthulhu looks like is because Lovecraft DOES describe him, through the various idols and the bas relief as the story unfolds. We know he’s a big monster man with an octopus head and dragon wings, the main details do get reiterated. Despite very clearly describing the inert depictions of Cthulhu, we are told that “there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force and cosmic order”. While it is debatable how effective the big reveal is (even I’ll admit that the comparisons to Polypheme undercut the effect), the intent isn’t to cop out, but to impress upon the reader how it’s one thing to look at a statue of an impossible monster, and quite another to see it rearing up into the sky above a city that defies the known laws of the universe. That said, just because he was a pioneer (a people who are often as crusty and off-putting as they are important) doesn’t make Lovecraft’s original works some sort of dogmatic manual for storytelling. He has his quirks and pitfalls like any writer, not even counting The Big Ones he had as a person, and for what it’s worth, even he was all for other writers doing their own thing with his ideas and improving upon them. Anything that leaves his writing in the dust in terms of invoking all-encompassing dread and isolation in an unknowable universe more than deserves its kudos, and I’m glad you’ve put me onto a game that seems to do just that. TL;DR I feel there’s more to Lovecraft than cheap deflection, but other artists making leaps and bounds from his groundwork can only be a good thing.

[@MertKayKay]

You make a fantastic point to be honest, especially in the idol/representation/small-scale versus the horrible reality. I really like that. I might have to go chew on that for a while 🤔 thanks for raising it, I don't know if that would have ever occurred to me otherwise

[@earhearthush-up5549]

Thank you for so eloquently expressing my biggest pet peeve of people who try to critique lovecraft’s prose

[@thor30013]

I think part of why Call of Cthulhu fails is the same reason books like Dracula or movies like Psycho fail - anyone even vaguely aware of the story knows the big, horrifying twist, so it's no longer a twist. I feel the intention was for the reader (like the narrator) to be going through all these "records" and wondering how it is that all these seemingly disconnected events all share one thing in common - depictions of a weird octopus-headed man with dragon wings. The horror is that, not only does this weird thing actually exist, but it also has followers spread across the globe who will kill to keep both their and its existence hidden. And personally, I think Lovecraft's best work was "The Music of Erich Zann," for a number of reasons.

[@MertKayKay]

@@thor30013 That's a really good point! Like the Sixth Sense; once you know the twist, the tone falls flat. I never thought about it like that, thanks so much

[@primepm8861]

I'd like to see a reveal of Cthulhu with a completely different description from the idols and drawings. Like he shows up with a horse's head and breasts for wings, and when he sees the idols he goes "Where the fuck did they come up with that?"

[@atimidbirb]

"I went to cook dinner, aggressively supervising the beef" has got to be the best sentence I´ve heard in a while

[@earthtolydia]

I’ve gotta say, I only got recommended your Rachel Foster video yesterday but I’ve already binged several of your video essays. You give really thorough and insightful reviews while being really funny too. Instantly one of my new favourite KZbinrs. Can’t wait to catch more from you!

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Lydia!! :D You're so sweet!

[@magiv4205]

I came from the same video just now. These videos are so good!

[@kwaddell]

Same here, your analysis and commentary are really great! Glad to have found your channel.

[@Alternatevil]

Wow, this channel is fantastic. I found you via the suicide of what's her name review video, and it's criminal that you don't have more views with this production quality and wit. Cheers!

[@MertKayKay]

The Suicide of What's-her-name is a brilliant name though 🤣 thanks Tada! I'm really glad you like my stuff ♥️

[@nahthanksno8299]

Same here - that video was an automatic subscription

[@MaxinEve]

My most amazing experience in this game was when I was playing the second scenario that I've lost the security guard to the Song entity which leaded to him off himself with a shot in the head. Later on I played with another character and while I was walking through the corridors, I passed where I lost my previous character, only to listen someone cocking up a barrel of a gun. When I turned the corridor around, I heard a loud bang and my character was killed with a bullet in his head. 1 shot, 1 kill. I screamed "WTF?" and then the camera moved graciously and I saw the possessed body of the security guard that I lost with a gun in it's hand, and shooting after himself in his head. That's when I knew this game was special.

[@MertKayKay]

THAT IS SO COOL!! I've not played the second scenario yet but me and my friend were planning to run through it together soon. I'd be so excited to see something like that. Thanks so much for sharing and I'm glad you liked the video!

[@MaxinEve]

@@MertKayKay - This game is full of "joke's on you" scenarios, and mind tricks such as the Library maze (which I really recommend to use a guide to avoid losing the character, that area sucks). But the story and the script for this game is amazing. Thanks for your job on review this game Mert. Looking forward to your next review. :)

[@MertKayKay]

Aww thank you Maxine!! I can't wait to get stuck back into the game after hearing this

[@Subject98]

That just happened to me tonight, it was so unexpected lol. I felt like a dumbass for turning the corner after hearing the breathing and clicking gun but if I didn't then I wouldn't have experienced the best scare in the game so far.

[@pibbiscus]

I definitely agree, Lovecraft didn't have the most. Comprehensive writing and those inspired by his work took an inch and went MILES beyond the source in an amazingly stunning fashion. Eldritch Horror always takes a cemented seat in my heart when written correctly or even a base concept that can easily be manipulated to sew a seed of ideas to blossom

[@Bezaliel13]

Wait, was this game eldritch horror?

[@nejikath]

I completely agree about Lovecraft's writing. A friend once gifted me a compilation of his works and none of the stories scared me. Actually, the first story made me laugh. It was about a man lost in a cave because he lost the group visiting said cave system. He feels a presence and manages to kill it. When the group finds him, they realize the presence that attacked him was a man and the reveal was so dramatically written in all caps that I just laughed. It wasn't scary nor shocking to me.

[@Bezaliel13]

@@nejikath Be rather surprising if a possibly nearly hundred year old story was shocking tbh.

[@nejikath]

@@Bezaliel13 I know. I'm just saying his writing style is not necessarily the best and this ending was written so dramatically that it reminded me of a small child telling me he's seen a ladybug as if it was the discovery of the century.

[@Bezaliel13]

@@nejikath It might have been new and fresh back almost a century. Note: He died in 1937, fifteen years short of a century, so that was a funny choice of words.

[@gayslinky5236]

To be honest lovecraft, *wasnt* normal for the times. I mean for crying outloud, he was so racist the triple K asked him to "not associate with us, because *you make us look bad* " Like holy fuck???

[@MertKayKay]

Yeah he was mental wasn't he! I know he regretted his racism later in life and wrote a letter shortly before he died about how ashamed he was, which was a nice character arc, but unfortunately his stories still have that really strong vein of racism in them. Man was wild

[@Suguri]

I always felt a little bad because he was severely, SEVERELY mentally ill. Dude wasn't just racist; there are accounts of him literally screaming and fleeing the scene at the sight of a black guy. Not that it at all excuses him, and it definitely bleeds through his work. It's repugnant by the standards of the time, let alone today. I just wish he lived in a time psychiatric treatment was available because dude was mind fucked and miserable for it. And hey, one less racist in the world is always a win! I honestly hate his writing, though. Brevity is the soul of wit and he ain't it.

[@RemiStarz26]

I’m sorry EVEN THE FREAKIN TRIPLE K TOLD HIM TO STAY AWAY?! 💀 Holy starz man must’ve been one hell of a party killer

[@heresyisecstasy]

He named his cat...that. Nuff said.

[@katiequeen7225]

@@heresyisecstasy that is a misconception, he did not name that cat, it was his uncle. Guy was still about as racist as possible

[@scroogles6207]

I love bloodborne but the fact that you just casually say one of the most critically acclaimed arpgs of all time "plays like shit" without explaining gives off such sigma energy I'm not even mad.

[@azadalamiq]

bloodborne does have a pretty interesting learning curve on how the switch weapons work to where you pretty much have to train and get good with them to be effective.

[@ArtoriasKnightoftheAbyss]

Bloodborne is literally the Best game fromsoft ever made

[@ihaveasecret9539]

I don’t even agree with that either, but I find a lot of Bloodborne fans annoying so I fully endorse it.

[@lrose5522]

You know you're bad with horror when you start to get really anxious just listening to this review and imagining the concept of a game you've never even looked at.

[@driftcowboy2925]

Oh man, this fucking video convinced me to buy a game I'd never heard about up till this point. I won't lie, I was initially disappointed by some of the more impactful things you mentioned not being actually shown on screen, but the more I watched, the more I realized that I'd just been used to other reviews doing that, and I actually preferred having not seen them spoiled for me. Had you shown it off, I may not have bought the game and I tend to do once I've had everything shown to me already. I love smart horror, cheese and spectacle is great most of the time, but it never really lingers in your brain the same way something understated and subtle like this might. Appreciate the review and the humour injected into it, excited to try it out tonight.

[@MertKayKay]

Aww thanks Cowboy! One of the amazing things about this game is that the scares are so random between playthroughs. I had a horrible ghostly jumpscare ridden walk through a house from hell, and my friend had a fairly tame atmospheric walking sim - I felt so hard-done by! I really hope you enjoy the game and please let me know if you get any major spooks!

[@zoobatzjr371]

Lovecraft is the type of guy to learn about the light spectrum and the fact there are colors you can't see and write a whole story around evil parasite color from space. Oh wait he did that? Uhh, ok he's the type of guy to write about and air conditioning unit to be keeping a doctor alive beyond death until it breaks revealing him as a corpse all along. No shit he did that too?

[@MertKayKay]

I love that he'd write about these alien civilisations and these vast planets of mystery and these cults and these ancient books and their followings, and then he'd be like "what if colour was evil". Fantastic imagination

[@kill4karma]

Seeing someone else who is intrigued by but can't physically handle horror is like a breath of fresh air. I feel less bad about being a weenie myself when it comes to horror games

[@MertKayKay]

Karma we are peas in a pod :D

[@kalidwapur]

Same I love horror but I can only handle some veins of it. Mostly horror that happens in broad daylight. And I reall really can't handle horror games.

[@therobotFrom94]

I'm like this with horror movies - there's something about the more 'realistic' scares of live action horror that I hate but I adore the genre as a concept and love learning about horror films

[@infinitemagenta4065]

Finally! Someone gets it!

[@kyloforshaw8400]

i was like that like a year ago. after a trauma which was gorey i decided to just own gore instead of run from it. it worked and now not much really bothers me. i got used to it. i started with resident evil 2 bcs the universe rlly intrigued me. i managed it so i did 3 and then i went in hard with biohazard. if you really wanna play horror just do small bits of exposure. but if you're okay sat back and watching others play then that okay too i totally get it dw. just thought id share where i started incase anyone wants to face their fears.

[@MortimerSCrane]

Minor spoilers: my favourite moment of self stupidity in this game was when i went to investigate a room saw a massive barricade that had been smashed to pieces (definitely not a warning sign) entered through the door and died. I also liked how Alexander could easily solve the alarm puzzle (because he's the groundskeeper) but the other characters would have to find a workaround. One of the characters in a different episode does pack heat but it can quite easily bite you in the back if you're not careful. Ok that's the last of the spoilers. If memory serves the heartbeat mechanic affects when you have to hide, making it harder. Characters with higher serenity can easily withstand being scared whereas someone like Alexander gets scared so quickly it's hard to hide. Certain characters can also lower this with their personal item like Sophie's candles or Alex's Vodka. About Lovecraft while he probably isn't the best and he definitely did not write the first weird fiction story, he did something else that made him the figurehead. Two things namely he wrote an absurd amount of weird fiction and he encouraged his writing friends to borrow from his ideas and for him to borrow from theirs. This insured that when he did die his work would survive him posthumously. Both through his friends' writing and when they published his work after his death. My personnel favourite story of HP would be The Outsider. Not only does it not have cultist( I'm not a big fan of cultists) , it also describes the monster in a fair amount of detail.

[@Tacklepig]

I've always felt that Lovecraft's stories start being good when you don't see them as horror, but as scifi. Like... when I read Mountains of Madness, I feel fascination at the idea of these half-buried ruins of an ancient civilization. When I read Dreams in the Witch-House, my imagination goes wild with this idea of extradimensional geometry that can achieve quasi-magical things through mathematics. When I read The Color Out Of Space, I see a really colorful description of radioactivity and the effects of radiation poisoning. When I read his "dream-world" stories, I see a fanciful fantasy world out of reality. And a lot of the more "horror-y" stories can be explained away by unreliable narrators. Call of Cthulhu, after all, is just a story about a guy going through the belongings of a deceased family member; the entire story is told through that person's notes. We're never told how reliable these notes are. It's basically a found footage anthology loosely tied together by the image of Cthulhu, but there's never confirmation that any of this means more than your typical conspiracy theorist bs. Shadow over Innsmouth is the strongest example of an unreliable narrator. I mean, it's literally a story about a guy who has to stop for the night in a creepy old hotel, wakes up because he hears voices, instantly jumps out the window, and then is so terrified when the denizens of the town are looking for him that he literally books it on foot to the nearest city. CLEARLY this guy has some issues, fish people or no - he later even attempts suicide because he has weird dreams about his grandma being a fish. Clearly a crazy person for a narrator. The only example of a story that actually works as horror imo is Whisperer in Darkness, and that's a very typical "evil aliens are trying to steal my brain" type narrative that would make for a really good schlocky b-movie.

[@oneghost1257]

We stan more mature game protagonists. Never forget the weird random quasi de aging EA pulled on Isaac Clarke in Dead Space, the man was supposed to be like 48 in the third one and there's no way that's true.

[@MertKayKay]

Hell yes!! Survival horror is much more scary when you're not a hulking supersoldier

[@ombra711]

Lovecraft is a great writer with concepts that created an entire genre, I actually love a lot of his stories, but he definitely was a trash human mostly, I never knew he renounced his trash-ness, but its nice to know. Imagine if he would have actually interacted with different peoples and cultures, his writing was stunted by his biases.

[@Sidiron]

I would strongly recommend watching "HP Lovecraft - Fear of the Unknown" it is a documentary put together regarding him, with some input from famous horror writers and figures (Gaiman & Del Toro off the top of my head) It is also rather even handed and does add a lot of information that often is missed by the usual "Lovecraft was a racist" dialogue. The guy was severely damaged and while that is a sordid shame, it was this warped outlook that helped create the horror that went into his tales and became cosmic horror.

[@saintsprayer727]

@@Sidiron got to agree. Like yeah, the man was terrified of poc. He was also scared of his own shadow lol the way he died should be a clue

[@Puppies2003b3eleyy]

@@Sidiron that's a great doc, I'd recommend it to anyone that has a slight interest in Lovecraft's work. It really puts his mental state into perspective.

[@azadalamiq]

@@saintsprayer727 it wasn't just Poc. the dude suffered from xenophobic paranoia in the actual sense of what a phobia is not the "new" translation of it. It was really any person that was not american born, pretty much if you wasn't from the town he lived in, he feared you in the truest sense of the word. Like the reason he didn't want to live in new york with his wife was due to the irish and italian immigrants.

[@gamewizardthesecond]

If anything, his hatred of everyone, not just black and other races, made his writing what it is, and that's dreadfully hopelles in all the best ways

[@heavenlystarboi2697]

Bad decisions humans can make. 1: Hear about a hunted house and enter with no prep. 2: Say something like "I am a masochyst" as an egomaniac and attempt to prove it out of spite, and then eating Taco Bell for months on the daily. And 3: Getting the courage to watch this video, and then having the bright idea of being kinda sleepy, and watching it at freakin 2am 😔 (My anxiety's breaking the roof 😭)

[@MertKayKay]

Aww Star!! Thanks for watching at any rate bless you! 🥰

[@heavenlystarboi2697]

@@MertKayKay Thank you Sunshine, bless you *and* this great video too 🙏🏽

[@ulquiorraschiffer1956]

Totally disagreed on Bloodborne. I think it has the most smooth and best combat in the series tied with Sekiro. Also the story is inarguably best in the series too.

[@NotBigfoot]

"I don't need to be a chef to know that my food tastes like shit and I've had 3 full courses from this establishment. They all taste like eugenics" Almost killed me. Awesome video!

[@MertKayKay]

Thanks Bigfoot! 😍

[@NotBigfoot]

No no no, you're thinking of someone else. I'm NOT Bigfoot.

[@RedSpade37]

When it comes to Lovecraft, all his good and all his bad, everything about his writing, and who he is as a person, is condensed into one short story, called "The Horror at Red Hook". If you read that one, you've read all his other work. That's my summation of his catalogue after years of slugging through every thing he ever published.

[@BonseyJonsey]

When it comes to Lovecraft, I think his stories are most interesting when you treat them like part of a character study. All art is a reflection of the artist, in one way or another and he was no different. Lovecraft wrote about his fears and magnified them into these unknowable cosmic beings that were too horrible to even be described, which is probably how he saw the world. Some of his stories are better than others, definitely, but they all highlight his sick world-view. He was a pathetic man, through and through, and it's fascinating to find the parallels with his life and his work.

[@MertKayKay]

That's a really good point! His stories tell us a lot about him and I guess you could apply that to many writers 🤔

[@garyli4909]

Great video about the game, I do not know how racist Lovecraft is but I do not agree with Lovecraft being a basement dweller like you suggested. He wrote many travel journals and letters to his friend, he travel between state couple times every year to meet other friends. He wrote journal like “ Observations on Serval Parts of America” in 1928 and “An account of a visit to Charleston” in 1930. His ability to network with other author is also a huge reason to why he is so famous till today. As there were famous authors willing to go court to claim his legacy and rights to Lovecraft’s work. If he is truly that shy and unwilling to touch grass and racist beyond belief. He may never be so well known by everyone today.

[@kingintern7566]

The only good Lovecraft story was the one where a man's family was cursed by a wizard and he was trying to find a spell to undo the curse only for the curse to actually be the wizard breaking into his family's homes and killing them himself

[@jasonrhome710]

The other thing that I like about the Cosmic Horror genre is the whole, "evil can only be contained, not destroyed," thing that feels more true to life than the power fantasy in stuff like Tolkien and other more traditional stories.

[@user-zp4ge3yp2o]

Color Our Of Space is Lovecrafts best story I reckon, he can't describe the monster because it is literally indescribable.

[@lunartears6761]

By the way, I’ve recommended this game to someone I know who can consume horror at a both impressive and unnerving pace, and uh, welll they got further than me, and by further than me, isn’t a f*cking coward, and can actually finish horror games instead of just watching them. Even they said that this was the most tense and dread-inducing game they’ve come across in a LOOONG time. As for me, I’d panic to goddamn much to get anywhere.😅

[@MertKayKay]

Oh my gosh same, I get my friend to play it and share his screen with me and I just watch with the volume turned down and my hands over my eyes. I will play this through one day but gosh it KILLS me. Thanks for watching Lunar

[@StalwartTirith]

Lovecraft is where I go all out with the "Death of the Author" trope. I enjoy the genre he started and the setting he created along with several of his stories, but I despise the man himself because he was just a horrible, racist, misanthrope.

[@JohnDoe-vw4zf]

Wait what? You despise him for being racist then realizing he was wrong?

[@StalwartTirith]

@@JohnDoe-vw4zf Not as much as I would have had he kept his views until the very end, but as it stands yeah. Him realizing what a horrible person he was at the very end does not change the fact that he was a horrible person. Sure it gets him a bit of leeway since he did have some self-awareness at the end, but it doesn't undo or excuse his past behavior.

[@JohnDoe-vw4zf]

@@StalwartTirith "It doesn't undo or erase his past actions" Sorry I didn't know that you guys had bad blood. To be serious again why do you despise a person with with problematic views that reflected his time period and abuse. He didn't harm anyone much less you personally so it's a bit odd to hold a grudge against him.

[@StalwartTirith]

@@JohnDoe-vw4zf "reflected his time period and abuse" Uh, citation _very much needed_ pal. Because at literally no point has his views reflected his time period of any other one. Hell plenty of the people he corresponded with had concerns about the guys views.

[@kristofgriffin384]

I don't give a crap if he was racist or not. He was a brilliant writer, and as an artist myself, I can only hope to one day be as remembered as he has been. I respect the man for his art and that is all. I never knew the man and most people living today haven't ever methim either. Anyone getting upset over him being a racist is a delusional and overly emotional fool. Especially since he was nowhere near as racist as, say, the man who sculpted Mount Rushmore. I do also feel sorry for him, for the unfortunate events of his life. If you knew what kind of life he lived, you'd be showing a bit more sympathy. Like Van Gogh, Lovecraft is the definition of the starving artist, living for his art, only for him to die tragically in obscurity. What's even more infuriating is the scumbags who shun him are the same people who get rich off his life's work. It's sickening. He was a troubled man, living in troubled times. Morally righteous hypocrites that are ignorant feel emboldened by smearing people who were greater than themselves, just because they weren't perfect.

[@priaroserugbycolclough6512]

I was insanely happy when you mentioned junji ito. He's one of my favourite horror writers and a great example of someone who does lovecraft better that lovecraft did (ps I love your videos and have been binging them even though I should be studying)

[@MertKayKay]

Junji is an absolute horror genius! I'm always discovering more of his stuff I didn't know existed. For example, I read the Slapping Tree the other day! Great one. Which of his is your favourite? Also good luck with the studying ;D

[@ahealthkit2745]

@@MertKayKay He just put out a collection called Deserter, that has some fun short stories. I feel like he struggles with longer-form stories, but the limited series about the crossroads gossiper was really interesting. If you are more of a fan of his cosmic horror, Remina is a classic and Gyo is also a classic, if not a little more grotesque. The English published version of Gyo also comes with Amigara's fault.

[@SebLeCaribou]

Haven't played this one yet (it's in the backlog waiting for its turn) so sadly I won't watch the whole thing right now, but what a banger of an intro :'D the pacing, the editing and the arguments were perfect! I do enjoy Lovecraft's redundant writing, but all the influenced cultural stuff, especially games (even board games like Eldritch Horror might be my fav board game) are so much better! For every short story he wrote I could name a game or a comic or a movie that took the concept and made it better (and without being a dick towards poc in the process xD)

[@MertKayKay]

Hell yeah Seb! Thanks for the comment, and yes definitely play it yourself, it's so good!! I'd love to know what you think about it when you're done, I was too scared to finish it 😭

[@atinyevil1383]

I am 43 seconds in and am 100% on board with your lovecraft critique. I think things made within that world are better than lovecraft’s own writing. A good example is the White Vault podcast. It has the same found-ancient-civilization-with-ancient-Eldritch-being vibes, but with less racism and more terror. The podcast makes you feel for the characters, so when they’re picked off by the eldritch beings and then used to bait their friends, it feels more like a jab.

[@MertKayKay]

Aww thanks Evil! I definitely appreciate the foundation he laid but man, I just could never really get into a single thing he wrote. Glad to know we share the feeling :D

[@MiruninOath57]

im not proud of it, but the "flinging a snail in a bush" bit got me laughing way harder than it should have

[@JaruJaruJ]

A little constructive criticism: Starting your video with a detailed explanation of why you don't like Lovecraft before transitioning into a comment about how Bloodborne plays horribly is a REALLY rough intro. Like, if you're aiming for folks who like Lovecraft or Bloodborne to actually watch the full video, which I presume you are, you might not want to come out the gates throwing hands at the most beloved pieces of fiction in the genre. Even if I 100% agree with you, starting any video about a genre with "All your favorite works in this field are crap, here's the REAL good stuff, " is not the most endearing of opening statements. It runs the risk of scaring off the target demographic, I reckon. But that's just my two cents. Maybe you wanted to antagonize people into getting comments like these for engagement, in which case well-played, but I'm going to assume that's not the case. Gonna finish the video now.

[@DeathDustDespair]

What an unnecessary type-up, manifesto of a comment. Delete it.

[@JaruJaruJ]

@@DeathDustDespair Nope.

[@DeathDustDespair]

@@JaruJaruJ bro wanted an endearing statement on a video he didn’t make 💀 then wrote this columbine manifesto, talk about sensitive

[@JaruJaruJ]

@@DeathDustDespair Did...did you just compare a piece of constructive criticism on script writing...to the manifesto of a school shooter? You do realize that is infinitely more offensive and inappropriate than anything I said, right? Like, Jesus Christ. Get help.

[@lurkinlikeaboss]

​@@DeathDustDespair This comment is disgusting. Delete it.

[@ImPeterCriss]

I've read all of Lovecraft's stories when I was in high school; I just went in with curiosity and came out with an appreciation of how other people have built on the foundations of his stories. People have genuinely made such a mass of amazing and interesting content that was influenced by his works. Lovecraft's works by themselves are Okay, a lot of his writing can be categorized as being misogynist, racist, xenophobic, and just overall could be better. He's by no means the best author, but I love the influence and intrigue his works have brought to so many different people. From other authors, illustrators, musicians, gaming developers, and so much more. There's a whole genre of works building on what he has made. I believe there is also a website that keeps a list of every single piece of content influenced by Lovecraft's work. Anyway, another superb video!

[@MertKayKay]

Yes, the Lovecraft wiki! I was actually just on there looking at Ghroth for an upcoming video :') I love your perspective; he's an alright writer, particularly when taken with a pinch of salt - and his work shines so well even in the hands of other people. He's made a really malleable and impressive world. Thank you for watching and I'm really glad you enjoyed it Alyssa!

[@hideousruin]

"I judge all of Lovecraft's work based on three books and I don't like it because he accurately labed primitive savages. But the hack meth addict pop-horror author Stephen King is totally awesome because I can see every detail of the child gang-bang that sends the spooky clown alien down the drain. Oh, and I like having the word "fu$$" at least once per sentence..."

[@MertKayKay]

1) I was criticising Stephen King for over-describing in comparison to Lovecraft for under-describing. I actually don't love his writing either. His sexualising of children and his weird sexist writing rubs me the wrong way in ways I often can't ignore - nothing in this video implied I actually liked his writing 2) You can write the word "fuck" on the internet. No one is going to tell your mum. You won't get in trouble

[@JohnnyFatStones]

I love the atmosphere and ambience in this game, however i could do with out the fuse puzzle lmao :D

[@MertKayKay]

It was scary 😔

[@shannonharrison7711]

I love Lovecrafts work!! and consider him to be one of the most influential writers of all time.

[@MertKayKay]

Aww I'm glad to hear it 🥰

[@hannahbeanies8855]

There is a good argument for him to be in the top tier of influential authors for sure.

[@Uhlersoth77]

Lovecraft may have been exceptionally racist among his peers, but especially depending on the location of America at the time, his attitudes could be considered standard. This is not a defense of HPL, it's a condemnation of how racist America was at the time. We were so bad we gave the Nazis ideas. Edit: I should probably explain more thoroughly. Sometimes it seems as though in rightfully criticizing HPL, historical horrors are unintentionally downplayed. He was xenophobic, racist, classist, sexist, and antisemitic (though he eventually married a Jewish woman) and that should not be forgotten, especially if one reads the author. Just...don't think he was even close to the evil that era had to offer.

[@RiSK907]

Bloodborne plays like s***....? What parallel universe do you reside in? Its fine to admit you suck at it, its fine to be mad at it because its not like dark souls and doesnt give an easy mode via magic, you can even claim the story wasn't interesting to you, but to say "it plays like s*** is just an out and out lie lol

[@coriohttv]

I played through Song of Horror last October and absolutely loved it and hated it. The dread and anxiety you feel while playing it is so thick you can physically feel it in the room. Absolutely recommend people to give it a go, preferably blind.

[@limbobilbo8743]

I think its an interesting thing to note that lovecraft’s writing of the cosmic unknowable that cant even be described is, when you think about it, just an extension of his extreme fear and hatred of anything that he didn’t completely understand

[@newspaperadvert]

I really appreciate that you don't include jumpscares, I have heart problems but love horror so this is the best of both worlds

[@MertKayKay]

Any time Newspaper, jumpscares are the worst!

[@approachingetterath9959]

your scripts are so funny with these little descriptions non-chalantly thrown in. i love when humor like that is just being glossed over and being mostly part of the normal talking flow rather than (always) receiving special inflections or, worse, being pointed out. i did find myself chuckling or laughing aloud here and there. it's good entertainment :)

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you so much Etterath! I'm really flattered you like it :D

[@rabbidguarddog]

"Remember guys, we have to look for Daniel, while we look through the house, let's investigate first and ask for forgiveness later" ^ in your opinion if a scene or a character had said earlier this line or something to its effect, would that resolve how weird it is for the characters to be swiping stuff left and right?

[@miaironstone6783]

I think the best think Lovecraft did wasn't necessarily his work, but transferring his paranoia and terror at literally everything into a concept that would go on to inspire other ideas and stories. Pioneering the idea of horror that we're not only unable to fight, but unable to even understand. It's a case study of a bitter poisonous man stewing in his own madness and evil feelings. His work isn't his greatest achievement, but spinning all the suffering and evil and feeling of smallness into inspiration. What is lovecraftian is so much bigger and more fascinating than anything he directly wrote. A lot like how Darwin mightve came up with the basic outlines of what we now understand evolution to be (I'm heavily simplifying for the sake of comparison) but once he set the ball rolling we were able to think up and learn so much more and make things so much better. And as is the case with both of them they got a lot wrong, and people can make a great many criticism of their work and who they were as people, but they do deserve their place in knocking down the first domino. That's just how I think of it since cosmic horror is a genera I love immensely and the way it tickles my brain. Nothing that can be put on paper (or in a game) can really horrify you as deeply and as lastingly as the sort of ill defined things that you invent in your own mind when given bread crumbs. Nobody knows what scares you most than your own subconscious after all. Hidden below what you're willing to dig up, but right there under the surface waiting for someone to hand you a shovel. I struggled a lot with how I feel about this writing style when I understand the lackluster nature of his writing and the evil that was his ideologies all wrapped up in untreated mental illness. Given how much people tie the genera to him its hard to separate them, so this is the way I like to conceptualize it personally

[@MiruninOath57]

i think the funniest way ive heard H.P. Lovecraft described was "A racist shut-in that was terrified by math"

[@megans343]

As a huge horror fan who was influenced by the genre throughout my life it’s honestly refreshing for someone to have similar readings of Lovecraft. I think the man’s become a mythology more than an objective author people enjoy. His works introduced certain interesting ideas and there were some unique themes for the times - he was terrible at narrative and execution though and a lot of his stories have this weird feeling of drawling on too long and yet feeling incredibly abrupt once he does pull the “indescribable” horror stop. Love crafts biggest contribution was honestly encouraging the cosmic horror genre and giving other authors a platform to explore it. The man is cosmic horror DJ Khalid.

[@MertKayKay]

Cosmic Horror DJ Khalid is definitely the BEST way I have ever heard him described. I am grinning so hard right now. That is so funny. Thank you for introducing that saying to me, Megan. I will do my damnedest to get it into a future video. Thank you for watching, your comment is hilarious

[@three_seashells]

I'm having such an emotional rollercoaster 10 minutes into this video. "Lovecraft is overrated" - yes, finally, someone gets it! "Bloodborne plays like shit" - gurlll whaaaattttt 💀

[@bobybrown1999]

What you described was an opinion with personal bias, compared to an actual of the criticism. Just because the Unknown horror genre is what you call "shit" or "dumb" because it doesn’t fit your style of horror, doesn’t make it shit. I’m not white and I don’t agree with his views, but eventually later in his life he regretted his past views before died. Lots of current works from creators in this generation does play into paranoia and bigotry ideologies, like the comic series white, which is a story about black supremacy and white hatred, except the only difference is that all of lovecrafts works is didn’t always revolve around hatred, the white comic series story’s message is about black people being the superior race. Btw Junji ito’s work is had inspirations from hp lovecraft

[@MertKayKay]

Of course it's an opinion 😁 that's all my videos are. Liking Lovecraft is an opinion, disliking Lovecraft is an opinion

[@bobybrown1999]

@@MertKayKay sorry if a came off as a bit rude or a dick, but your right it’s an opinion, but an opinion is an individual liking or disliking off product, a story stands on its own as we recognize it and is either good or bad on its consistency of the plot, great character development and great payoff in the story. I’m not a fan of the romance genre, but that doesn’t mean romance stories are bad. Plus if this was just an opinion, this video wouldn’t be titled "better than lovecraft", but respectfully agree to disagree.

[@pankace3296]

Lovecraft had plenty of problems, sure, and i dont like his racism at all. But he is a lot better than you gave him credit for. I think I should just come to terms with the fact that his books are not for everyone and that people's responses to it vary wildly.

[@Major233179]

From my prespective, for all the hatred Lovecraft gets there are genuine undeniable qualities to his writing that make it unique in a positive way. I'll let the obvious cat out of the bag by acknowladging that his xenophobia and mysanthropy were horrible things that rightfully sullied him both as a person and a writer. At the same time, he did have other interests that were passed down from his grandfather, alongside the library/observatory Lovecraft spent his childhood in, that made his work stand out. He had a deep passion for astronomy and the study of bronze age cultures (small details like the infamous Miskatonic University being named after the greek Chthonic gods or having the genesis of his mythos based on Mesopotamian cosmology) that were always present at the core of his fiction. Another contribution was making the majority of his protagonists scholars, making it easier to establish the logistical rules (or lack thereof) of said mythos. In my eyes, only Lovecraft could've created the genre for others to perfect and for that, with "death of the author" in mind, I think we should merith more praise than the constant tear down when mentioning the genre he helped create. What's funny is that I bought a steel-case version of this game that was at a bargain bin in my local super-market just wanting to expand my horror game library, but the only review at the time was someone stating that it was a competent Alan Wake knock-off with a really annoying character, which put me off of playing the game. Luckilly, I found your channel through your excellent "The Gaslighting and Sidelining of Rachel Foster". That video is brilliant, strong hook and fantastic delivery. Definitely going to binge this channel this upcoming week. Just a tiny question though (and it's because I'm a die hard "Bloodborne" fan), what makes "Bloodborne" play like shit? is it the FPS being capped at 30? Furstrations with game mechanics? Dislike of the map design? My curiosity stems from the fact that I don't think I've ever heard someone disregarding it with such... spite? (I know it's a really strong word to use, but it's the best one I can think of atm.) Brilliant videos, here's hoping your channel pops off soon! Cheers! :)

[@MertKayKay]

Hey Weasel! I completely agree with your assessment on Lovecraft - I was far too hard on him in this video. I basically put this video out back when I had like... 100 subs (roughly), and I was very hyperbolic and just wrote my essays to funnel my opinions out there. It's not that I never expected anyone to see it, but more that no one WAS looking at it and my brain kind of latched onto that as gospel truth. I look back on my assessment of Lovecraft with some slight regret. As for Bloodborne, good question! I played it through 4 or 5 times and absolutely loved it - had several maxed out weapons, flew into NG+6, really enjoyed it. And then I went off to play the Nioh series. I think - like you said - it really spoiled FPS for me. In Nioh the combat is visually and mechanically so fast, you can cancel animations, you can control your stamina/ki more, you can queue actions, so your character can quickly pop heals between attacks which is awesome. I absolutely fell in love with it and when I came back to Bloodborne, suddenly I bounced off it like an angry marble. I definitely think it's the FPS. All of a sudden I found the combat very visually quick but it felt so slow, so frustrating. I would tap to heal between attacks but the input wouldn't register, for example - but, I do think I was spoiled by Nioh in that regard where the FPS is much faster so button inputs are more sensitive and responsive. I think I feel spiteful towards it because of the fomo - I went from absolutely adoring it to suddenly barely being able to play it and I was jealous that other people still had an amazing time :'( All in all I think Bloodborne is the most gorgeous FromSoft game and definitely has the best lore of the series - if they released a 60 FPS patch or a remaster I would probably spend my life on it :D Thanks for the comment btw! And thanks for watching :D

[@Major233179]

@@MertKayKay Thank you so much for the response! It's always lovely to open a dialogue about risqué authors, even if Nabokov is far "spicier" by comparisson (Your analysis of "Lolita" being one of the best part of the Rachel Foster video). As a fan of Lovecraft, he has his flaws such as the purple prose and his uncanny ability to bring xenophobic remarks where you least expect them (Seriously, who names a cat like that?), but he was quite well versed in academia and astrology. To me is what makes most of his novelas a treat to read. Although I do agree that hyperbollic humour is very cathartic and can be hilarious when taken to the extreme. I absolutely love the Nioh games! I played both plus the DLC's. I didn't like the first one that much, but I absolutely love everything about the pre/sequel. The enemy design and the fast pace had me sold, yet at times I felt that the game susbcribed to the Dark Souls 2 philosophy of ramping up the difficulty by throwing hard enemies into small rooms a bit too much. For as much as I love Bloodborne, the game really falls apart during the second act in my opinion. I dislike how the game handles certain status effects such as "Frenzy" and the map design for the "Forbidden Woods" and "The Nightmare of Mensis" can take a short walk off a small pier, those areas are awful. Knowing that I'm not the only one with such gripes, It's why it's easy to understand why people could dislike it. But I did have BB burnout after Sekiro came out, by far still what I consider the best FromSoft game in my opinion. I look forward to future videos! Your usage of contextual literature to cover game reviews is brilliant! Cheers! :)

[@MertKayKay]

@@Major233179 Yes I absolutely agree about Nioh - I think that the game, especially as it goes on, is so fundamentally unfair and very cruel. The game absolutely gives you the means to be unfair back, but it’s an almost spiteful experience, full of dirty tricks and nasty little cheat cards it pulls whenever you’re doing too well. I think the second has many more quality of life features that really enhance it. I know what you mean about Bloodborne’s second act too! The first half is so absurdly hard, but once Rom is gone it’s definitely a super easy one. But the second half is definitely the prettier and the cooler - Yahar’gul especially Thank you very much for watching my videos Weasel! If you like literature comparisons, hopefully you’ll like what’s out tomorrow :D

[@SleepingDreamer16]

​@@MertKayKay I know this is probably a super old comment. But I want to tell you that I don't think you should regret your assessment of Lovecraft. BIPOC like myself always have to be understanding and bow our heads because "it was a different time". But that does not negate the fact that the impact of his works and earlier ideologies still hurt my community to this day and some persons who are huge Lovecraft fans unconsciously subscribe to his racist rhetoric. The people who remember him so fondly aren't the ones who are affected or hurt by the things he did or passed on. So I thank you for speaking so candidly about the things Lovecraft did in his life rather simply focusing on the cultural shift his works influenced. Also I just subscribed to your channel, your video of about Rachel Foster made me an instant fan.

[@charcoalangel7536]

Hot take: the short stories in The King In Yellow that inspired Lovecraft are much better then anything he ever wrote.

[@nolovedrjones9668]

Only the first story was any good.

[@LeighamShardlow]

Christ your writing on the script for this is incredible. I could quote the Lovecraft part for ages.

[@MertKayKay]

Thank you Leigham 🥰 you are so kind

[@TheChaosCorvid]

The thing with HP Lovecraft is that his horror works, written when he was paranoid and living in constant xenophobia, aren't very good. His more adventure sci-fi stuff written once he opened up and got over a lot of his prejudices are what I think he should be remembered for. IIRC Call of Cthulhu was one of his least favorite of his own works.

[@HappyLarry.]

Okay, I figured out how the generator works. At the top of the right container there are 3 black boxes, and each of those boxes has one yellow/blue wire feeding into the left container with a number of amps on it. The 3 black boxes each have an input and output, so you had to count the inputs to match the outputs on the left.

[@finalbreath15]

I get not agreeing with a writer's ideology, but if you remove those aspects and replace them with something else, the ideas that are otherwise the point of the story are interesting. Sometimes you do need to separate someone's faults as a person from the things they are trying to accomplish as an artist that go beyond the details within. It's like if a good idea comes from a bad person, it becomes a bad idea, and when someone tries to do it again, they are ridiculed for drawing inspiration from a bad person

[@kardelen3504]

You see, I'm one of those dickheads from "English literature at university" my heart soared when you had your much needed and much appreciated moment in the beginning about Lovecraft. 9.9/10 (is that even a valid fraction? GCSE maths for me flew out my brain the second I walked out of that exam hall), I feel that later writers did "Lovecraftian" horror far better than the man himself did. I can't stand racists and bigots and I'm not for the argument that you need to "separate the art from the artist!!1!" Art and its artists do not exist in a vacuuma and ot's a slap in the face to the people that were under the proverbial and cultural foot of Lovecraft because of the shit he spewed so...I loved your opener. Your videos are well structured and are paired with even better writing. Watching your videos feels like sitting with a friend who's both incredibly well-spoken and well-informed, listening to them talk about something with introspection and much appreciated spatterings of (genuinely) funny observations. I'm a chronic video essay watcher, I've seen playthroughs and retrospectives on more games than I know I'll ever play and so finding your channel was an honest delight. (Posting this comment after joining your twitch stream for the very first time since I subscribed! Sorry for derailing the chat and talking about Sims the entire time lol.)

[@MertKayKay]

Hey I loved the Sims as a kid and I am ALWAYS happy to talk about it - we barely scratched the surface of the gamecube/PS2 tie-ins and the GBA/Nintendo DS tie-ins :D Those were some surprisingly brilliant games! I'm so honestly grateful that you like my videos and I hope to impress you more with them going forwards! I hope you like my future stuff and thanks for being so lovely and so supportive!

[@miriamscuderi4680]

I totally agree, and you pretty much said everything I wanted to say about this video far more eloquently than I could. The only thing I want to add regarding Lovecraft and the separation between author and creation is that in the case of Lovecraft (and he is not unique in this), his racist beliefs and opinions spew unto the page, it’s unavoidable. Even if I wanted to remove the man from the work, I couldn’t. Any analysis of Lovecraft’s writings has to content with an unbelievable amount of racism, it’s just there. Even if a reader did not know a thing about the author, I am sure they could parse the bigotry.

[@johnjame5649]

I don’t agree with the take on Lovecraft but great video been enjoying your content. Keep it up

[@JohnSmith-km4sv]

You should try reading The Dream Quest and other Dreamlands stories, like The White Ship, instead. They are far superior to the Cthulhu Mythos. And yeah, they are vastly different and can't even be called horror, being fine examples of early fantasy. It just proves that he could write far better things than he's best known for. Also, if you bothered to read more of Lovecraft's works, you'd probably found out he more often than not fave gave his monsters pretty detailed descriptions, like in Shadow out of Time, The Thing on the Doorstep, Dunwich Horror, and so on. Hell, even At the Mountains of Madness had detailed descriptions of The Old Ones. I also never found Lovecraft's stories to be that racist (or racist at all, for that matter), outside of several really notorious examples, like The Street that was probably the most xenophobic shit I've ever read.

[@sub-jec-tiv]

Truth, HPL was a truly awful person who spent his time spilling bile about how much he was disgusted by others. Your description of him did a good job of showing us what that kind of disgust and hatred sounds like. 😂

[@MertKayKay]

Haha thank you! I don't actually dislike him that much, but I use a lot of hyperbole in my writing to get my point across. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@xdaisyfallsx1678]

Plot twist, i got kicked out of horror Facebook group for calling Lovecraft racist

[@AFoxInFlames]

I love your cat, I hate how that sentence sounds but so cute lol. I love Lovecraft but he us hyped up because he did kinda start the cosmic horror and inspired others which pushed the genre farther. I'm a writer myself and have just started writing my own horror/sci-fi which I was inspired a bit, mostly his short story color out of space but nothing in my story is related with space...I'm more of a Ray Bradbury girl.

[@TheLPain]

Saying that Bloodborne plays like shit is the easiest way for me to disregard someone's opinion on videogames, but congrats, you were interesting and well spoken enough that I sat through the entire video despite my mind constantly telling me ''holy shit taste my guy, let's watch something else''. Good formula and interesting analysis, keep up the good work.

[@MertKayKay]

I do like the game - I got to NG+5 and I named my cat Iosefka - I just think it's mad clunky 😂

[@jayboyjay17]

Nothing makes me more proud than a fellow country women saying the word "cunt", you my dear, have earned a subscriber and my respect. Keep the horror coming 🙂

[@MertKayKay]

Jamie you are the apple of my eye, thank you so much

[@danielwage5595]

As an huge H.P. fan I take great offense to your clickbaity title. For stuff that has been written mostly in the 1920s it holds up great today. Also he explains his storys without explaining them directly, you have to complete the puzzel in your head. That has been lost completely these days and I think its great.

[@DeathDustDespair]

L take also you spelled puzzle wrong

[@makisbizarreadventure4669]

This game was actually pretty damn good and each chapter takes an influence from one of the classic horror games. They even nailed the ending too which a lot of games fail to do these days. Would recommend to anyone looking for a good horror thats hard but also interesting

[@MertKayKay]

Oo thank you! I haven't dared go back to it but I absolutely want to. It's such a brilliant game. Thanks so much for watching and thanks for the comment

[@makisbizarreadventure4669]

@@MertKayKay Funny enough, how you were playing the game is exactly how you want to play. This game goes against the flow of Silent Hill where Harry would do crazy things like go down a well or alike. This game will punish you for things a normal human would say “No way” too and that’s what really made it stand out to me haha Good luck getting back into it! It gets creepier! Second stage legit had me almost turn it off in the final stretch..

[@gayplastic1237]

I gotta say, while King and Lovecraft are on opposite sides of the spectrum, they fall into the same trap. They both have great concepts, but often bad execution. And in their best works, it's build up and tension is great, and then the fumble. And the fact that King has some weird hard on for violent racism, misogyny, and homophobia but it's highly possible this is his own version of implicit bias and not what I was talking about. I digress, I think that way too many classic writers and directors have this same problem, but they made one great work of art and everyone now praises them. Of course they're all cis het white men, and we don't allow the same space for other groups to make repeated mistakes/niche art. Sofia Coppola is the first to come to mind as she falls in both categories.

[@MertKayKay]

I actually couldn't agree more! Great concepts, bad execution: I think that's such a good way to describe both men

[@neolol7270]

King also has a weird thing for, “oh this moment is really tense, but lets spend the next chapter not explaining it and filling it with rushed, weird, kinky smut.” EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK.

[@desertxpunk]

I wouldn't pay for anything Lovecraft wrote because I don't want to support it like that but saying he's a bad writer sounds childish. If we're going to discount every great writer due to unforgivable character flaws we'd be stuck with a 1950's Church list of approved reading. That's just my opinion though, good luck with everything. Edit: how dare you talk bad about Bloodborne ;p

[@MertKayKay]

Haha if it helps anything, I do genuinely dislike his stories (his own personality aside) just for his writing - I find his descriptions to be very boring and under-cooked, and he often spends a lot of time building up to disappointing endings :D

[@VegemiteQueen1]

As someone who is having a ROUGH weekend mentally, this video made me crack up several times and I sincerely thank you for that.

[@MertKayKay]

Queen it's my pleasure and I hope your weekend looks up soon!! Rooting for you

[@VegemiteQueen1]

@@MertKayKay oh thank you, you lovely thing! I will be okay, we wouldn't know happiness if we didn't have some darkness, too. But it really was very noticeable to me that you were the only thing to make me smile, not to mention actually giggle. Keep up your great work, your humour is fabulous and so are you!

[@The.Stranger451]

I have to admit. I've just found your reviews and works, and I think I'm in love with you. Hear me out! First two minutes in and you challenge what many think of as the titans of literary horror and I agree with you. They did inspire a lot of fun things, but they were not geniuses. I also love your spin on things, your commentary and your comparisons that you give to help frame and relate what you're talking about. I hope you continue to do so and thrive.

[@MertKayKay]

; - ; thank you so much Aaron (also i LOVE the name Aaron), I'm really glad you like my videos and I appreciate the comment so much

[@jimhaverlock9784]

The opening statement of this video is everything. So many other authors have done incredible work in the mythos, and without being racist garbage people to boot.

[@kibaliziosa483]

How...how do you aggressively supervise beef? I’m also a scaredy cat,I can only watch the gameplay of others. I would have a heart attack playing these myself, you’re braver than me. The atmosphere kinda reminds me of Fatal Frame…I love the first three games so much. The fifth has amazing graphics but the story is kinda…meh. The fourth? What fourth? No one made a fourth Fatal Frame.

[@ziodyne.]

just found your channel and i've been binging it, your videos are very intricate and have a great flow!! looking forward to more of your content :]

[@MertKayKay]

Aww Kii thank you so much! I've got a few more videos in the pipeline so I hope you enjoy them when you're ready

[@CruelestChris]

The cat's name was actually nothing to do with Lovecraft himself, it was named by his uncle when he was something like 12 years old, and he didn't change it because he thought renaming an animal would confuse it. I mean, given he loved that cat, it wouldn't really make sense for him to name it after something he really didn't like.

[@whitemagus2000]

It's easy to look down on mr. Lovecraft while standing on his shoulders. You could say, with equal validity that Leonardo DaVinci isn't that great, because his inventions are primitive by today's standards. He is regarded as a genius because he was so far ahead of his times. Similarly HPL was ahead of his times in terms of concepts and depictions of aliens. Until fairly recently aliens were typically depicted as near human, like most from star wars and star trek. HPL made as realistic as possible aliens evolving from vastly different lines than earth and under vastly different conditions creating such interesting aliens as the old ones, the elder things, and the great race of yith, just to name a few. Then most modern horror authors such as Stephen King, Clive Barker, John Carpenter, and Jinji Ito have taken inspiration from his concepts and modernized them. Of course his works look cliche and primitive, since you've probably cut your horror teeth on his literary grandchildren.

[@MertKayKay]

Thanks for watching :D

[@DeathDustDespair]

HPL was not the only person to write about existential dread or unknown horrors from beyond not the first.

[@BriAngel476]

junji ito makes great eldritch horror of unknown origins, never explains why its happening, just that it is happening. and hes not racist so thats a bonus

[@MertKayKay]

Yes, we LOVE Junji :D

[@RaphaelleLD]

I don't play horror games because I'm a literal baby who's unable to differentiate between fiction and reality and gets jumpscared by a loading screen but I looooove watching videos about them, and your videos are so wonderful. you're absolutely hilarious and your videos are exactly my cup of tea! thank you ❤️

[@MertKayKay]

I'm absolutely the same Raph, I'm glad to meet a kindred spirit. Thanks for watching! Really happy you like it

[@heszedjim9699]

Yeah its not that much of a hot take that lovecrafts direct work wasnt good. His worth comes from the genre he basically started. His universe is wonderful, but his vagueness is a lazy tactic for horror.

[@thegladiator6449]

As an past-enjoyer of Lovecraft's work, I can say with utmost certainty that everything you said about him is absolutely true in every regard, and you explained how I slowly found myself detached from his work over time better than I ever could. I remember reading his short story Dagon, and being enthralled by the intrigue and new sense of fear I felt after reading it. THAT story actually showed the monster to an interesting degree, had good build up and was devoid of Lovecraft's gross levels of racism. But as I continued reading his more well known work, I was increasingly put off by the the climaxes of each story, that felt like sad and unfulfilling farts each time. That's not even mentioning the amount of racism he integrated with his concepts of "fear of the other". I really wanted to like him, I really wanted to enjoy his work, but I just couldn't. All that aside, I'm in love with your casual wit and humour. Easiest sub of my life.

[@MertKayKay]

Gladiator thanks so much! I'm really glad you liked the video and I liked reading about your experience with Lovecraft. I had the same; found a list of some of his best, read a few, and realised I just really wasn't getting any enjoyment from them. Not to say his work didn't have impact on the wider culture which it certainly did, but I just was so uninterested. Thank you for the sub too! Really appreciate it 🥰

[@grumpyAF]

Alina hoards stuff like the usual protagonist of old point&clicks (I'm biased here). Absolutely love your sarcastic manner of speech, don't know if it is a natural British perk. I'm curious, what's your take on Poe?

[@MertKayKay]

Bless Alina, she's just permanently confused. And I like Poe! I recently re-read The Tell-Tale Heart. His stories aren't super scary or creepy but they're a sweet bit of fun

[@bersabrie]

lemme get this straight, Lovecraft was more of an Alex Jones than a meek imaginary Tim Burton character? Got it 👍

[@FullOfDarkness13]

Lovecraft will build up, build up, build up and then the reveal is literally just that he's racist lol.

[@MertKayKay]

This is actually hilarious, brilliant comment

[@HosKaetan]

Your channel is amazing, I've watched almost everything and caught myself wishing for more at the end of every video Made my depression manageable just as much as sertraline I hope you find success, this is great

[@MertKayKay]

Aww Niko thank you! That's honestly one of the nicest comments I've ever had 😭 I've got more stuff on the way, I hope you enjoy them when they're out

[@HosKaetan]

@@MertKayKay I'll be waiting I'm not even into trophy hunting myself, but I greatly appreciate your lists and analysis, the extra work you put in to make your videos unique and personal is inspiring, I definitely admire that It's refreshing in comparison to most gaming content who really seems to either pick things at random or copy previous lists/points So if you ever wondered if that extra care paying off, I would say it is, you got me good 😭

[@jonathonmccomb9671]

You can't just say "Bloodborne controls like sh**" and go on like you never said it.

[@anthonymoore-ny6jy]

yea you can

[@harryknapper1133]

I would say that the racism of Lovecraft is more nuanced than I feel you made it out to be. However I do also understand it. This is a quick video linked just to put my statement into context. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iV6ln4mebZt4o9k He was a racist but I believe he grew out of it. Not to say those tones are not in his works because they are. No offense ment if it is taken just sharing my view point

[@MertKayKay]

Yeah you're right in that he did grow out of it, I remember shortly before his death he wrote a letter about how he regretted his previous attitudes and how he felt he'd learned. It was a really good example of growth and the ability to look back on oneself and change! It's a shame his earlier writings were tarred with it in places, but it was cool that he could look back on himself and make that change

[@harryknapper1133]

@@MertKayKay Totally agree on everything you said I was literally looking for that quote but is rather hard to find

[@torsui]

"And they're full of eugenics" had me wheezing. Good old HP.

[@pngvnskn]

The voice acting is so bad in this game that I lolled every time they spoke, seriously. Other than that, pretty spooky but tedious to play. Hated the camera angles (never found them good or convenient since the resident evil for PS1 times), the voice memos is my huuuge pet peeve and overall the game just tries too hard to keep you scared and engaged, so that over time you're truly exhausted and couldn't care less. The "clue first, puzzle later" approach must die and generally these are very annoying puzzles that usually make you grind your teeth, when you realise you gotta return to the 3rd floor to look up a code but you're already in the basement and you've just been to the 3rd floor. For tldr, didn't like it 😂. Edit: spelling

[@Greaseball01]

That cat actually belonged to his grandparents when he was a kid but there's a cat in The Rat's in the Walls by the same name. I also have to say people talk about lovecraft describing all his monsters as indescribable but it almost never happens, like if you take a story like Shadow out of Time or the Dream Quest series he spends ridiculous amounts of time going into frankly uneccessary detail about how all the monsters and aliens and stuff look, it's why you get such detailed and similar artist depictions of like the Mi-Go or the Yith is because he spends ludicrous amounts of time and space describing how they look in painful detail. So yeah I think people only say that because I think that's how he describes the shoggoths in Mountains of Madness? I feel like he describes the actual dunwich horror monster in a lot of detail once it stops being invisible but it's been a minute since I read that one, so I'm not honestly sure where that assessment comes most commonly from. But the thing you're really spot on with is that it's more about his ideas, imagination, and the basis of his work than his actual writing, and that's why the stuff inspired by him is often technically better. Having said that, Nyarlathotep is one of my favourite pieces of writing ever, and he has some stories that are genuinely good - Rats in the Walls, The Outsider, Colour out of Space, there's an obscure one I really like called The Festival, and I'd put Dunwich Horror in the list too, but thematically they are mostly the same story just with emphasis in different areas, different takes on what a monster could be, and some of them have a cool twist. I think Stephen King summed it up best in a talk he gave one time - "This guy can't write a scene" that's what weighs most of his work down, it's often more stream of conciousness (especially dream quest) than prose.

[@someperson2159]

Oof. Testing that best girl status but I'll be generous... Why yes, yes I do own everything Lovecraft wrote that is possible to buy. But nah, really. He is a strange writer. It's more like a diary where the writer already knows everything so there's not a reason to explain everything to a reader. When he isn't writing as if no one will read it, it's almost unbearably detailed describing the most simple things in ten different ways. And if anything, at least the misery and cancer made up for like 10% of the racism. I just like being a pseudo-intellectual edgelord though. 😌

[@nickw8718]

This was great! If you liked/gained a +5 heart attack modifier from Song of Horror, Iron Lung is a similarly terrifying game that's only an hour long.

[@MertKayKay]

I think I've heard of Iron Lung! Thank you for the recommendation Nick!

[@midori_the_eldritch]

lovecraft was a step past xenophobic, he was so scared of the idea of anything new or different that he literally wrote a surprisingly effective horror story about AC. he was one of those people who sees anything "new" as EVIL, anyone different from his upper class raising as wrong, inferior, impossible to understand, and probably bad or evil in some way. if the man lived today he would be perfect pickings for fascist recruitment (i doubt he could handle qannon) or some fundamental christian cult, if he wasnt lucky enough to have gotten the more effective help for whatever sever mental heath issues that poor creature that could have been a man had.

[@AghiTron]

That opening statement about Lovecraft is absolutely how I feel about his work. I absolutely love the ideas he popularised, even if they were the result of a terrible worldview, but I feel like my GM for Call of Cthulhu can weave a better narrative and he GMs only once a year or so. Hell, I have low esteem and I believe I can weave a better lovecraftian story for a CoC one-shot.

[@TheCreepyLantern]

Thing i know about Lovecraft that sums up my view of him as a person. "His Jewish wife often had to tell him 'remember who you're married to dear' to make him stop going on angry rants about 'The Jews!!!!!'." ah ha ha. no. just no.

[@michaelkelly1267]

It's a common belief that Lovecraft doesn't describe his monsters but with a few exceptions, it’s not really true. Like, in The Call of Cthulhu, he writes that Cthulhu can't be described, but... he already did. It's the monster from the idol he described at the beginning of the story.

[@MertKayKay]

Definitely sort of :D

[@SuperJohn1011]

I developed a lil thought when discussing Lovecraft work, there's macro and micro writing. Lovecraft was adequate at macro writing, and that Is a stories concept. But he fumbled at micro writing which is the dialogue, action to action writing. He was terrible at dialogue tbh. The parts I found most intriguing includes a story that it is told from the point of view of a article, and the rambling monolog of a homeless man

[@TacoBelle100]

I always thought that Lovecraft's writing was elegant in it's own right, and that his story ideas and the universe he built were brilliantly unique... I just also don't think he knew how to end a story to save his skin... I would always start out really enjoying his work, and then the story would just sort of flop right there at the end. Like fantastic foreplay, and a disappointing climax. Perfect example: The Dunwich Horror. I was really enjoying it, and then the ending was told through a telescope from the base of a mountain. Like... come on, man. You're literarily blue-ballin' me here...

[@MertKayKay]

Yes! Absolutely! Like I know that what he's saying isn't something that can be described, but there are surely other ways to build tension and give a proper payoff to a really interesting story

[@melopuss375]

lovecraft has always come off to me as the "confused racist". he was not the kind of racist with a pitchfork and an agenda. lovecraft's racism feels more like a byproduct or singular manifestation of his general paranoia. he was spiteful of other races, sure, but no more so than he is of air conditioning, medicine and everything outside of his immediate line of sight. not that there is truly such a thing as a harmless racist, but as far as they go he's at the bottom of the threat chart. his actions towards the people he claimed to hate were never as egregious as his words, and even his words weren't so blatant as to be self-evident without a 7 minute ramble affixed to every piece of media that mentioned him. more of a troubled edgy teen and less violent idiots in ridiculous headwear. at the end of the day, his was a kind of racism that required education and therapy instead of the typical perscription of a swift punch to the throat and teargas up the ass. he was a miserable little man and all around less than pleasant to be around, but not the kind of monster to warrant balling up all of his literary merits and tossing them into the bin. on a side note, would be grand if people can stop going on about his cat's name. it was a family cat and he was 9 when they got it, i heavily doubt he took the reins when it came to naming or that a 9 year old can be fully responsible for his vocabulary. every other point on him is entirely valid except this one.