Anchorhead
| Anchorhead | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Michael S. Gentry |
| Publisher(s) | Self published |
| Designer(s) | Michael S. Gentry |
| Engine | Z-machine |
| Platform(s) | Z-machine version 8 |
| Release | 1998 |
| Genre(s) | Interactive Fiction, Adventure, Horror |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Anchorhead is a Lovecraftian horror interactive fiction game, originally written and published by Michael S. Gentry in 1998. The game is heavily inspired by the works and writing style of H.P. Lovecraft, particularly the Cthulhu mythos.
Anchorhead takes place in a fictional New England town of the same name, where the unnamed protagonist and her husband, a professor and aspiring writer, have relocated to in order to take possession of his ancestral family home. Through historical investigation of the town and her husband's family, the protagonist uncovers a conspiracy to perform a ritual that will summon a Great Old One and put the planet in jeopardy. The protagonist must stop the ritual from occurring and save her husband. The game story takes place across three days, with the first two corresponding to whole days and the third day divided into a number of segments. There is no time limit in the first two days; each day ends when the player has completed a required task or tasks. Only during the third day does the game impose constraints on the number of turns a player can take to solve the necessary puzzles.
Anchorhead was hailed by critics and players as one of the best interactive fiction games available due to its complex and intricate backstory and well-written dialogue and descriptions. In the 1998 XYZZY Awards, Anchorhead received the award for Best Setting, and was also nominated for Best Game.
The game is played through the perspective of an unnamed woman whose husband, Michael, suddenly inherits a large mansion in Anchorhead, Maine, from family that he wasn't aware existed. The previous owner, Edward Verlac, killed his wife and daughter before taking his own life under mysterious circumstances. The game itself is split into 4 "days", each of which contains a set of puzzles that are required before the advancement of the next. From the first day, the town itself proves to be host of secrets and mysteries, starting with the sudden disappearance of the realtor, who was supposed to meet with the protagonist and give her the house keys. Due to this, the protagonist is forced to climb in via window to retrieve the keys, and notices that the office appears to have been hastily deserted. The denizens of the town prove unhelpful, most ignoring the protagonist entirely or warning her outright not to investigate anything that happens, lest mysterious consequences occur.
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