The Lurking Horror

Infocom's 1987 entry into the horror genre opens in the computer lab at G.U.E. Tech. You've braved a snowstorm to finish an important assignment, but find your work interrupted by strange nightmares. When your paper vanishes from the server you find yourself exploring the campus for answers.

The Lurking Horror is one of Infocom's easier text adventures, but has some very creative puzzles and great writing and atmosphere. Definitely Needs More Love.

Tropes used in The Lurking Horror include:

• Blob Monster
• Closed Circle: You're forced to spend the night in the computer lab by a blizzard.
• Copy Protection: Your user name and password.
• Expy: G.U.E. Tech for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Feelies: Your student ID card and a little rubber centipede.
• Have a Nice Death: Averted, surprisingly for the usually snarky Infocom.
• Lovecraft Lite: The monsters are terrifying, but for all the Lovecraftian trappings it's more general horror than a Cosmic Horror Story.
• Mad Scientist: If you consider alchemy a science.
• Moon Logic Puzzle: The maze at the bottom of the tunnels.
• Mundane Utility: The disembodied hand. And how.
• Nightmare Sequence / Or Was It a Dream?
• Summoning Ritual
• Time Marches On: Much of the premise relies on 1980s computer networking technology, enough so that at times the game feels like a Period Piece.
• Unwinnable by Design: Generally falls under Tough on Zarf's scale.