Theatre of Cruelty

Theatre of Cruelty is an interactive fiction game created for TIGSource's Commonplace Book contest. It was inspired by the following entry from H. P. Lovecraft's commonplace book:

Disturbing conviction that all life is only a deceptive dream with some dismal or sinister horror lurking behind.

The game is set in 1912. The protagonist is Thomas Needham, a teacher who has been assigned to the village of Aberwick, in the heart of Essex. Very soon upon entering, Thomas finds the town has been the site of a bloody massacre, and now has to stop things from escalating to worse.