Infra Arcana
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ASCII illustration
The descent is an investigation with a cost.
2011: first public release.
By Martin Törnqvist.
Infra Arcana brings the dungeon expedition into early twentieth-century horror. Its public history begins in 2011. The objective lies beneath the grounds of the Church of Starry Wisdom: the Shining Trapezohedron, an object drawn from Lovecraft’s fiction.
The setting makes a useful change to the usual promise of descent. Knowledge is attractive, but approaching it does not feel like ordinary heroic advancement. Cultists, unfamiliar creatures and the pressure of the place turn a small tactical encounter into part of a much less reassuring journey.
The developer names Lovecraft, B-horror films and the shooter Blood among the influences. That mixture gives the game a particular texture within traditional roguelikes: occult objects and desperate violence, with the time to consider an action before committing to it.
Infra Arcana is included here as an example of the form’s adaptability. The turn-based expedition can support horror without relying on reflexes or a camera suddenly revealing something behind the player. A bad position and too few good choices can be enough.
Sources
Infra Arcana: setting, influences and project