"Who did you expect at the end of all this? God? The Devil, perhaps? No... it's just ME."
Got another incarnation of the Crawling Chaos for ya.
The Work[]
Dusk (or DUSK as it is stylized) is an indie FPS game inspired by Doom and Quake with Lovecraftian overtones. You play as Dusk Dude, a treasure hunter who sneaks into the abandoned town of Dusk, Pennsylvania, which has been walled off from the rest of society due to a horrible curse that fell upon its residents. As Dusk Dude ventures through the isolated town, he discovers the awful truth: the townsfolk have gone absolutely crazy from a thirst for bloodshed, with a cult harnessing magic and desires to offer sacrifices to their god. Dusk Dude is the cult's next major target.
Said god is none other than our "good" pal Nyarly.
The Candidate[]
In this game, Nyarlathotep comes from a place known as the Nameless City, a hellish dimension consisting of temples made of flesh and torture chambers, so many in fact that by simply getting closer makes you go mad. The building blocks of Nylarly's home? Human resources. I don't mean like resources made by humans, but HUMANS themselves. And based on the layout of his ci=ity, he's been at lots of humans. See the endless ocean of red supporting the concrete altars underneath the Nameless City? That's not lava. That's blood. His end goal is to eventually escape from the portal leading to the Nameless City and convert the entire world into his playground of torture and murder.
Said portal is in the ruins underneath Dusk, where Nyarlathotep corrupted the residents that lived above with "sparks" and influences them to "take what has never been taken before". Many people fell into his possession and were driven to insanity by his influences. Under his orders, a cult was established to sacrifice numerous others through the portal via the Thresher, a machine that fed blood and bone into the portal. Following numerous attacks from the feral Dusk residents, the government sealed away Dusk beyond a wall to prevent anyone from finding out the horrible secrets that lay within it.
Then comes Doomguy, I meant Dusk Dude. Throughout his exploration of Dusk, Nyarlathotep's corrupting influence had a drastic effect on the town; numerous skeletal remains of previous sacrifices, horrific scientific experimentations run amok, and a pit confirmed to have over thousands of victims residing at the bottom. Even Dusk Dude was nearly killed and preserved on a meat hook as the next one to go through the Thresher. Despite multiple near-death exchanges, he continues forward and slays the monstrous abominations that the residents of Dusk became.
At the end of the game, Dusk Dude enters through the portal to the Nameless City, confronting the leader of the cult, Jakob. Upon defeating him, the true source of the Nameless City's power emerges, Nyarlathotep. Dismissing the death of his champion, Nyarlathotep immediately finds interest in corrupting Dusk Dude due to him being stronger, thus more worthy. Despite weakening the mad god by exposing light into his underground lair, Nyarlathotep successfully corrupts Dusk Dude into becoming his next pawn. He sends his minion to wait underneath the cities of Dusk until the need of him is had again, for Nyarlathotep must "always reign underneath Dusk." The game ends with Nyarly's sinister laugh.
The Factors[]
As expected for one of the most sinister characters in the Cthulu Mythos saga, Nyarlathotep has none. Even with the minimal plot provided and his limited screentime until the final boss battle, all of Nyarlathotep's atrocious actions are seen in-game. From the blood-filled ocean to the numerous torture chambers, all of them are his doings, and yet he shows sadistic glee with causing countless suffering that he plans to bring to all humans one day.
The Standards[]
Everything in the game is his fault both directly and indirectly, given how the members of the mad cult of Dusk (including Dusk Dude at the end) are possessed under his influences.
The Verdict[]
Keeper.
Yes: 4
No: 0
Undecided: 0
Final Score: +4
Consensus: Pure Evil