Dagon: by H.P. Lovecraft
Spoilers! 7/10. This game really shocked me. It was the first game I have tried on steam Vr (I downloaded it a while ago, but never played). The game is free so no matter what you don’t lose anything to try. The game is only around 30 minutes and is based off of an H.P. Lovecraft book by the same name. The game definitely did its research, as the game is chalk full of references, lore, and info about Lovecraft. You find out about his works, what some things represent, and you can even find info about old stories that some of his works are based on. The game's name “Dagon” was a god of fertility and crops in the Middle East. The name is often mistaken as “fish god”, due to the word dag meaning fish in Hebrew, and that’s what this game is about.
As the game starts you learn about the character, and how he has a serious drug and alcohol addiction. you find yourself in a boat, and you and 5 other people are taken captive by another boat. You escape with a boat and some rations + water, and sail out to sea. You can’t find anything for days. One night you wake up and all the water is gone. You see strange underwater creatures never seen before the eyes of anyone. The ground is muddy and you will sink if you try to go anywhere. You stay there for a couple days, slowly driven mad by the smell of fish, until the ground dries up and hardens by the sun. You decide to start traveling in one direction and come across a mountain far in the horizon. As you inch closer the mountain appears much bigger than anticipated. You sleep and in the night when the sun is not present and neither is the heat, you climb up. At the top you spot an assumedly bottomless pit, where no sunlight has yet reached. You decide to climb down and come across a small pond and a monolith that stretches hugely. The monolith has many strange carvings, and as you inspect them, you hear a noise and a ripple in the pond. A giant humanoid fish taller than the mountain appears, and doesn’t seem to notice you, paying its respects to the carvings. Out of sheer terror you run all the way back to the boat and try to forget what just happened. You struggle to fall asleep, but end up passing out of pure exhaustion. You wake up in an office on the ship being questioned by someone, but no one seems to believe nor pay attention to anything you're saying. You end up heading home, and are plagued with nightmares of that strange, mysterious place, never knowing if it was real, or all a delusion. The game ends with him writing a note before ending his life, as he has become a drug addict trying to forget, but only making it worse. Then, the door opens and a strange scaly hand appears. The door opens to show a fish-like creature, supposedly a follower of Dagon. He slowly walks forward, as your only choice is to jump out the window, and as the glass breaks, the credits roll.
Horror-wise it wasn’t that scary but more insanely cool. The game would be pretty bad on a normal flat screen. But in vr everything feels so life-like, and the giant creature feels unstoppable on a massive scale. Overall this game was pretty good, and an enjoyable half hour experience. Very cool