Ia, Ia! Let's play Arcane: Online Mystery Serial!

I really don’t know exactly what it is that I hoped to gain from these visits.



Actually, that’s not completely true. I heard it from a friend of a friend, what was my initial draw. Something about an old lady who liked to tell stories. Fantastical stories, see. Not just the regular fare. These had cults and demons, aliens and mad men. The stuff of real pulp, real horror. I could get those from any dime store. What made her special was that they were apparently real, at least the way she told them. I couldn’t let a chance like that pass by without some investigation.



So I found myself in New England once more, digging for my next story. Or the basis for one anyway. That’s when things got…. Worse, I think. Dreams came to me. Stars, buildings, terrifying things. I dreamt of things I had only read about in old stories. As I continued my trip, the dreams only got worse.

The last time I had visited I had followed the coast, visiting some sleepy coastal villages. The locals had been… less than amenable. Here though, in Southwick, the locals were much more tractable. It didn’t take me long to learn the mysterious old woman’s name, or the home that she was being kept in. Something of a town curiosity.



An hour later, I was in front of a door, escorted by an orderly. She was a chubby one, but good natured enough, I suppose. Her voice, though, was grating. I cannot understand would put up with her presence for terribly long. Maybe they didn’t.

“Ms. Ophelia, you have a visitor.”

And with that, my entire life would change.



The shriveled old woman sat in the dark, obscured by shadows and engulfed by her chair.

“Of course,” her old voice intoned, “Let him in. And could you turn the radio off on your way out?”

Funny thing was, though, I could hear no radio, much less see anything. Perhaps she was batty as the locals said.



“Of course. Radio! She doesn’t even have a radio, see what I mean?”

The orderly slammed the door on her way out. Truly, not the most endearing figure I had ever met in my journeys, but far better than that Arabian fellow I had met long ago that wanted to give me an old book.



The old woman chuckled from her corner, pulling the string for her light. It didn’t do much to help her age, that was certain.

“Poor Janet, she thinks I have lost my mind. Perhaps I should stop toying with her like that.” At least she isn’t completely gone, anyway. Perhaps she can help. “And you, my young friend, what brings you here? Have the signs begun to appear again?”



I could not ignore such a blatant request. I stepped inside fully now, sitting across from the woman on her bed.

“Well, yes, maybe. I heard from a friend that you could help me with something, the truth, perhaps.”



The old woman grimaced, then held out the large volume she had. “Here, take this. I’m not sure if it will be what you are looking for, but here, read this. Everything that happened to me 75 years ago is in this journal. Maybe it will help you understand what, or who, is behind what is happening to you. The rest is up to you.”

And with that, my world changed.

(Those who want to can watch the introduction, in all its early Flashy voiced goodness, here.)

So what is Arcane?

Well, exactly what it says on the tin. Arcane is, or was, an Online Mystery Serial created by Sarbakan and hosted on the WB’s website. It’s…

Wait what.

Yeah, the WB. See, around the year 2000, the WB Online decided that games were probably a pretty cool thing and would bring hits. What’s more, they wanted original IPs. Now, I’m not sure why they wanted IPs, or why they decided games were pretty cool in the first place (which isn’t to say they aren’t, mind you), but hey, whatever.

Note that I said IPs. I’ll get further into that later.

So why Arcane?

Because a perfect world would have let me get started with the LP sooner rather than putting it off as long as I have. Plus it’s October, and I fucking love anything based on Lovecraft. And I don’t have Eternal Darkness. And I have a soft spot for old, relatively early gen Flash games. And I’m fairly sure that it’s obscure enough that a lot of people haven’t heard of it, much less played it.

Wait, Love who?

H.P. Lovecraft, noted horror author from the early 1900s. Trust me, we’ll get into him. Also, check out those eyes. He's like Percy before Percy. Creeeepy.

Right, so, you’ve got an obscure game, why should we care?

Because an LP is the perfect place to see those obscure games that may or may not be good. Because it has at least one relatively interesting mechanic that sets it apart from its peers. Because I’m going to be posting stuff about various topics, such as Lovecraft and Flash games: Then and Now, in order to provide some illumination on why Arcane holds a place in my heart. Because this is going to be a test of my own nostalgia with the game.

Maybe you just like reading things about video games. I make no promises on the quality of writing, mind you. In fact, I fully expect some of it to be dreadfully inadequate. Apologies in advance.

So right, Arcane. My hopes are to have something new posted every few days. Apologies for the tardiness, let’s hope this goes well.

One more thing! Arcane is fully voiced, for each of its chapters. This was pretty impressive for the time! The voice acting isn't so bad either. After every post, I'll put up a link to the chapter. Some things work better in motion, especially in this game, but I'll point out a lot of the cool bits.