<!--
	Title: Lurking Horror
	Author: William E. Carte
	Source: Questbusters, v4(7)
	Date: July 1987
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

<img class="float-right-half" src="/public/img/articles/questbusters-lurking-horror-review/monster-sketch.png" alt="Sketch of a Lovecraftian monster">

This is not a typical Infocom game: It can't be called a mystery or science
fiction and should not be confused with *Moonmist*, a "ghost story" in which you
are really a detective. Instead, *Lurking Horror* introduces a new kind of story to
the Infocom catalog: horror. Don't expect the kind of gorey horror typified
by Halloween and other contemporary slash films, for this is literary horror
along the lines of the eerie tales that formed H.P. Lovecraft's "Cthulhu
Mythos." (A computer in the game even bears Lovecraft's name.) The result is as
intriguing as it is different.

Penned by Dave Lebling, the story takes place on the campus of G. U. E.
Tech, reflecting M I. T., the school where the Infocom story itself began.
You've put off doing an important term paper that's due the next day. Despite a
blizzard that has blanketed the entire campus with snow, you brave the storm
and make your way to the campus computer center to pull an
all-nighter. But the weather and that deadline-are just the first of your troubles.

Like Lovecraft, who borrowed the trick from Arthur Machen and Bram Stoker,
Lebling successfully employs the device of making a fantastic story believable by
introducing evidence in a letter, a rare book-or in this case, a word processing
file. After logging onto the computer, you discover a mysterious message in
place of your term paper files. The message tells of a hideous creature, a
summoning, and even a sacrifice. Then you "see" a picture of the monster
onscreen and faint from fright. When you awake, your files have vanished forever
and you now possess a peculiar looking stone: Drawn by the stone into the
building's subterranean rooms and halls, you ignore the student manual's warning
about the dangers of the underground tunnel system that has been closed for
years. Something is wrong here, something that demands your exploration
of these nether regions of the world of academia; besides, this would be a short
game if you didn't head for the basement.

You must search from the building's outer dome to its deepest dungeons. (The
snow storm prevents you from straying far from the building.) In the assortment
of rooms uncovered—a kitchen, a chemistry lab, an ancient chamber with a
stone altar—you will meet a number of strange people/creatures.

The first person you'll deal with is the hacker. Examine him carefully, for he has
something you need. If only you had something he wanted... Then you'll run
into an urchin. Don't worry about him now. Just don't leave any valuable items
lying around downstairs, for he seems to be an incarnation of the Thief in *Zork I*.
The janitor and his waxing machine will block your progress unless you can
disable his machine. Then there's the dreaded professor, who practices alchemy
when he's not teaching chemistry. And rats—I haven't seen so many rats
since Willard. While many scenes and situations are straight out of a "Fright
Night" feature, none are stereotyped or cliched—not even the slime thing or the
detached but lively hand. The one monster I didn't run into (and which you
would expect to find in a game whose name included the word "lurking") was a
grue. That's doubly surprising when you consider that the grue was one of
Lebling's contributions to the original Zork (he attributes it to a Jack Vance
science fiction novel, The Dying Earth).

Manual labor is involved in some puzzles, from operating a forklift to
cooking in a microwave and even doing some electrician's work. Since you're
pulling an all-nighter, a source of caffeine would be nice, and you'll definitely need a
light source. No brass lanterns are in sight, but a contemporary alternative will
do. You'll have no magic spells at your disposal, but knowing the ins and outs of
magic pentagrams will definitely be useful. By getting to the bottom of the
unearthly doings at the university, you'll get a chance at saving the school,
yourself, the nation and very likely the world from a horrorific fate.

The documentation is superb, including a student manual with an aerial view of
the building complex. Copy protection is built into the packaging, so you can back
up the unprotected program. A technical manual explains the Infocom approach to
interactive fiction and offers a few tips for novices. You also get a packet of
rattlesnake eggs and a coupon good for a $14.95 copy of Suspect, Lebling's murder
mystery. As usual, the Infocom parser remains top gun.

Conclusions: *Lurking Horror* is exactly what a text adventure should be:
The puzzles require real thought but are not impossible, and the story is original
and convincingly conveyed. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 9.5. Why not a 10? The
ending was a little anti-climactic, because the story line had led me to expect more.
Otherwise this is a great program, so study that student manual, boot up and get
to work on that term paper.

<hr style="border-top: 6px double;">

**System:** Most Computers on This Planet<br>
**Skill Level:** Intermediate<br>
**Price:** $34.95, AT 8-bit & C-64; $39.95, others<br>
**Company:** Infocom
