Pool Of Madness is pool by way of Lovecraft

It's not every day you get to use both the 'sports' and 'horror' tags for the same game. Pool of Madness, an upcoming eldritch pool game where your surroundings get more bizarre and maddening the longer you play, is the latest game to crowbar Lovecraft into a place where no Lovecraft existed previously. It’s also the latest game to make me, someone who’s ostensibly had enough Lovecraft for one lifetime think: actually, yes, go on then.

Pool of Madness touts itself as a "Lovecraftian pool game with roguelike elements". You’ll uncover a haunting tale and watch the visuals get ever stranger as you play. You’ll also unlock a variety of grizzly cue accessories, such as an eyeball that grants you aim assist. “Sink some balls…unleash horrors from beyond,” threatens the trailer. Cue it up below:

Here’s a feature list, as per the game’s Steam page:

• enjoy a completely new take on the game of pool/billiards
• build a personalised, eldritch cue from parts collected along the way
• test your sanity on different tables
• unlock new powerups, balls and cue parts
• discover the story of the ship’s crew
• watch your sanity slip away as the pool balls start to explode, fish heads pop out of the holes, blood fills the table and strange whispers fill your ears

You know what? Played out or not, it looks neat. I especially like the grainy PSX visuals, and the customisable cues are a nice touch. There was a demo available during Steam’s Lovecraftian Days fest, but since time itself is merely an illusion projected by a false corporeal reality, we elected to deliver this news fashionably late. The mystery is now well and truly preserved until the as-yet-unannounced release date rolls around. The fest also brought us such unearthly delights as parkour platformer Grimhook, and card game The Horror At Highrock.

There’s probably a joke here somewhere about dingy pubs already having at least one boring xenophobe as part of the furniture, but that’d be far too obvious. The game is from Bit Golem, who've previously made Dagon, which has great Steam reviews.