Lovecraft's Untold Stories and its giant penguins get a release date

You can’t walk down the street without tripping over some kind of eldritch horror these days, so Lovecraft’s Untold Stories has an uphill struggle convincing me that there’s anything left to say about the Cthulhu mythos. After a stint in Early Access, the action roguelike is launching on January 31. Check out the official trailer above.

In a previous life as a freelancer, I reviewed the Early Access version of Lovecraft’s Untold Stories, and the one thing that’s stuck with me is the penguins. The objectively best birds aren’t the sort of critters you might expect in a Lovecraft game, but they’re all over the place in the chilly final level.

We’re not talking regular penguins, either. These are the massive albino penguins from At the Mountains of Madness, and while they never attacked me during my journey through these apparently Untold Stories, they did freak me out quite a lot with their horrific screams. Horrific, human screams. Awful stuff.

I’ve never been so afraid of penguins before, so I guess that’s one mark in Untold Stories’ favour, though the Early Access version was pretty bare bones and, despite the name, largely mining the same Lovecraft yarns we’ve seen countless times already.

Check out our list if you fancy some horror universes that have nothing to do with Lovecraft.

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.