Elden: Path of the Forgotten is a stylish, lonely RPG full of Lovecraftian monsters

Elden: Path of the Forgotten bills itself as a Lovecraftian ode, and while he's the last person that needs another videogame ode, the trailer has piqued my interest. It's a medieval cosmic horror RPG that's light on exposition and heavy on handsome pixel art.

As the titular Elden, you'll traipse around what looks like a very striking fantasy world, unfortunately full of monsters inspired by Lovecraft's nightmares. It's not giving much of the story away, which will be told indirectly, "like reading a book in a language you don't understand".

"When the world forgets, the past is primed to repeat," the Steam page warns. "As Elden struggles entering adulthood, the world is becoming a darker place. Forgotten evils are returning and only you are positioned to act."

You won't be without some tricks of your own, and you'll be able to teach Cthulhu's mate's a lesson with a variety of spells and weapons, a few of which are briefly teased in the trailer.

Shaun took it for a spin at PAX Australia back in 2016 and liked what he played.

"This is a gruesome top-down pixel RPG which deliberately evokes the mystery of the Dark Souls series," he wrote. "It’s difficult to convey that loneliness on a show floor, but even without a headset I could tell Elden has potential. The skewed art style recalls something you might have booted from a mysterious floppy disc on your Commodore 64 in the late 1980s, and while One Rat Games’ methods of evoking unease is indebted to Souls (vague dialogue, gruesome environmental storytelling), I feel like this is darker and more unsettling than the likes of Salt & Sanctuary, or Titan Souls."

Elden's been in development since 2015, but it's finally coming out this year.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.