History VideoGame / Anchorhead

* NintendoHard: The puzzles in the game tend to have very obscure solutions and are very difficult to solve without a guide.

* ShoutOut: As the author puts it, plainly clear to anyone who's read Lovecraft or the Cthulhu mythos, or even "stood downwind from someone who has." Among them are the city of Arkham, Whateley Bridge, the Miskaton University library...
** The magic shop's violin (and the violin music you can hear in the lane nearby) are an extended reference to ''The Music of Erich Zann'', also by Lovecraft.
** The paintings in the mansion's gallery are horrifying, fantastical, and detailed to the point of photorealism. Paintings by Richard Pickman, in ''Pickman's Model'' (a short story by Lovecraft), were said to have the same qualities. [[spoiler: And, in both cases, they actually depict reality]].

** [[spoiler: William]] is most definitely inspired by ''The Dunwich Horror''. [[spoiler:And he finally shows up on Whateley Bridge, named after the monstrous brothers in that story.]]

* DissonantSerenity: You, in the NonStandardGameOver where you [[spoiler: go mad from reading the book and [[EyeScream claw your own eyes out]]]].

* AndIMustScream: One ending involves [[spoiler:getting trapped in a dimension filled with nothing but "the necrotic folds of the womb of Nehilim"]].

''Anchorhead'' is a 1998 award-winning work of InteractiveFiction written and programmed independently by Michael S. Gentry, and is heavily inspired by the Franchise/CthulhuMythos. The game is set within the titular town of Anchorhead, which rests firmly within LovecraftCountry. You play the role of a nameless woman who has moved into town with her husband Michael, and quickly becomes enmeshed in the dark, disturbing goings on -- to say more would be to spoil a truly excellent plot.

[[caption-width-right:350: Not even the "R" key can cure the fear of unknown...]]

''Anchorhead'' is an award-winning work of InteractiveFiction written and programmed independently by Michael Gentry, and is heavily inspired by the Franchise/CthulhuMythos. The game is set within the titular town of Anchorhead, which rests firmly within LovecraftCountry. You play the role of a nameless woman who has moved into town with her husband Michael, and quickly becomes enmeshed in the dark, disturbing goings on -- to say more would be to spoil a truly excellent plot.

* CorruptHick: [[spoiler:An entire town full of them, actually.]]

* {{Diary}}: You can find two of them, belonging to [[spoiler:Edward and Anna Verlac]].

* InTheBlood: '''He always [[DemonicPossession returns to]] his blood.'''

!!Anchorhead provides examples of the following tropes:

* TheAntichrist: [[spoiler:Croseus Verlac; or at least, he and his followers seem to believe that he is.]]

* BabiesEverAfter: A very, very dark subversion. [[spoiler:In the "best" ending, the protagonist learns that she is pregnant, to her shock and horror, with the fear that Croseus may still somehow return. The story comes to a close with Michael ominously (though innocently) saying that he hopes the baby will be a girl.]]

* BigBad: [[spoiler:Croseus Verlac.]]

* BodySnatcher: [[spoiler:What Croseus Verlac has been doing to his male descendants for four centuries, including your husband.]]

* BurnTheWitch: After Croseus's death, many of the townspeople of Anchorhead, led by the local Calvinist minister, turned on his daughters, branded them witches, and burned them all at the stake (except for the youngest, who somehow managed to escape).

* ClosedCircle: Your car broke down and has been towed away to the city of [[ShoutOut Arkham]], and your purse and phone are in it. The only phone you can find doesn't work; the road out of town leads into wilderness. In addition, as [[spoiler:[[DemonicPossession Croseus's power over him]] grows]], Michael outright refuses to leave, and you're determined not to go without him.

* CosmicHorrorStory: Arguably -- [[spoiler:you ''can'' win in the short-term and wreck Croseus's centuries long plan, but it's not exactly LovecraftLite, either; the "good" ending strongly implies that [[TheEndOrIsIt everything is about to start all over again]].]]

* DemonicPossession: [[spoiler:Croseus Verlac]] has possessed several generations of [[spoiler:his offspring]], and does the same to [[spoiler:Michael.]]

* DraggedOffToHell: Or to the Womb of Nehilim, to be precise. Can happen three times: you can get trapped there if you mess around in a certain area, it can happen to the whole world in one of the bad endings, and in the good ending, [[spoiler: this is how you'll defeat Croseus.]]

** In one dream, you're a little girl, waiting for your father to come and tuck you in to bed... but when your "father" comes in to your room, you realize it is actually your husband Michael, as he starts to remove his belt. [[spoiler:In the best ending, you find out that you are pregnant - this dream was a vision of what could have been [[FridgeHorror your unborn daughter's future]], had you not stopped Croseus.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: Anna Verlac died young, at only 25, and it is heavily implied that she committed suicide. Her son Edward does the same thing after killing his wife and daughters. [[spoiler: All the deaths were desperate attempts to end Croseus's reign of terror over the family.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Edward Verlac's final journal is full of this. His mother Anna had made sure he was protected from Croseus, but Edward spent 30 years never taking off the amulet and never believing what would happen if he did. When he finally sells it, Croseus is still waiting for him. Edward spends ''months'' fighting for his sanity and desperately trying to recover the amulet. He finally breaks by murdering his wife and children, and then himself, seeing it as better than [[FateWorseThanDeath what Croseus would do to them]].]]
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Verlac, i.e. "warlock" (it's German). Edward's letter calls Croseus one.

** Actual deaths include getting [[spoiler:fatally poisoned by spider bite, killed by monstrous tentacled things, hit by a train, cooked alive by high-pressure steam, mobbed and lynched by the cultists, strangled by your own possessed husband, choked to death by the ghost of Croseus Verlac...]] Yeah, it's a pleasant game.

* PortraitPaintingPeephole: You can [[spoiler:spy on Michael through the eyes of [[SpookyPainting Croseus Verlac's portrait]]]] in the sitting room.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: Red-rimmed eyes are seen in all depictions of the Verlacs over the years, [[spoiler: and when Michael develops his own, it becomes clear it's a sign of Croseus taking over.]]

** Croseus Verlac's M.O. is taken straight out of ''Literature/TheThingOnTheDoorstep''.

** Croseus Verlac's painting in the sitting room, described as pure madness captured in a portrait.

* TheEndOrIsIt: ''Heavily'' implied in the true ending - [[spoiler:the protagonist learns that she is pregnant, and evidently fears that the spirit of Croseus may still somehow return through her unborn child.]]

* VillainousIncest: [[spoiler:How Croseus' spirit has carried on his bloodline.]]

* EyeScream: At least two, both ''by you'' (in self-defense, although one involves [[spoiler:you losing your mind and [[DissonantSerenity calmly clawing your own eyes out]] in a bad ending]]).

[[caption-width-right:350: Not even the "R" key cure the fear of unknown...]]

%%* NonActionGuy:

* TownWithADarkSecret: All of it.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Edward Verlac. His mother Anna had made sure he was protected from Croseus, but Edward spent 30 years never taking off the amulet and never believing what would happen if he did.

* BrownNote: If you continue reading the book in the church.

* DrivenToSuicide: Anna Verlac died young, at only 25, and it is heavily implied that she committed suicide. Her son Edward does the same thing after killing his wife and daughters.

* TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday: Source of a key artifact you'll need to win the game.

* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:William Verlac.]]

* CosmicHorrorStory: Arguably -- [[spoiler:you ''can'' win in the short-term, but it's not exactly LovecraftLite, either; the "good" ending strongly implies that [[TheEndOrIsIt everything is about to start all over again]].]]

* DraggedOffToHell: Or to the Womb of Nehilim, to be precise. Can happen three times: you can get trapped there if you mess around in a certain area, it can happen to the whole world in one of the bad endings, and in the good ending, [[spoiler: this is how you'll defeat Croesus.]]

* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Your nightmares. In one dream, you're a little girl, waiting for your father to come and tuck you in to bed... but when your "father" comes in to your room, you realize it is actually your husband Michael, as he starts to remove his belt. [[spoiler:In the best ending, you find out that you are pregnant - this dream was a vision of what could have been [[FridgeHorror your unborn daughter's future]], had you not stopped Croseus.]]

* NonActionGuy:

* [[RedEyesTakeWarning Red-Rimmed Eyes, Take Warning]]

* SpookyPainting: Croseus Verlac's painting in the sitting room.

* YouCantGetYeFlask: Averted.

* DownerEnding / BolivianArmyEnding: It depends on your interpretation, or, rather, on what you want to believe happens after the end.

* DreamingOfThingsToCome and DreamingOfTimesGoneBy: In your nightmares. Pay attention, they hold useful clues.
** In one dream, you're a little girl, waiting for your father to come and tuck you in to bed... but when your "father" comes in to your room, you realize it is actually your husband Michael, as he starts to remove his belt. [[spoiler:In the best ending, you find out that you are pregnant - this dream was a vision of what could have been [[FridgeHorror your unborn daughter's future]], had you not stopped Croseus.]]

* AncientConspiracy: It goes all the way back to the town's founding.

* BookEnds: Both at the beginning in the deserted office, and at the ending scene which [[spoiler:takes place in your bathroom]], you hear that:

* GeniusLoci: The EldritchAbomination the cult worships is a living comet.

* DraggedOffToHell: Or to the Womb of Nehilim, to be precise. Can happen three times: you can get trapped there if you mess around in a certain area, it can happen to the whole world in one of the bad endings, and in the good ending, [[spoiler: this is you you'll defeat Croesus.]]