6. The Sinking City

Detective work, supernatural insanity and a city that really needs a plumber

The Sinking City might be one of the most obvious choices on this list because it isn't merely inspired by Lovecraft.

It practically walks into the room wearing a giant sign reading:

HELLO, I AM A LOVECRAFT GAME.

Developed by Frogwares, the game is set in the fictional city of Oakmont, Massachusetts, during the 1920s.

The city is being slowly swallowed by an enormous flood.

Naturally, this is accompanied by supernatural events, strange cults, bizarre creatures and visions that suggest reality itself is having a nervous breakdown.

You play private investigator Charles W. Reed, who arrives in Oakmont to investigate mysterious visions and becomes increasingly involved in the city's disturbing secrets.

The game's investigation mechanics are particularly appropriate.

You're not simply blasting your way through hordes of monsters.

You're investigating.

You're looking for clues.

You're connecting evidence.

You're uncovering things humans were probably better off not knowing.

And then you discover another horrible thing.

Then another.

And another.

Oakmont might be one of the worst places in video game history to receive a job offer.

Why it's Lovecraftian: 1920s New England, cults, forbidden knowledge, mutations, madness and direct inspiration from Lovecraft's fiction.