At the Mountains of Madness is one of my favorite pieces of Lovecraft's work, not just because it's a great example of a short fictional horror story but also because of just how much it reminds me of John Carpenters "The Thing". It's one of my favorite movies of all time!
That same daunting sense of isolation and distrust is ever-present here, being out on polar expeditions hundreds, maybe thousands of miles from safety, cut off from any form of support.
Can you trust your crew? Playing through this gamebook, you'll constantly have to make large, impactful decisions about the expedition and more often than not, it will Kurt-Russell a few feathers with your colleagues. So can you trust them or even do they trust you.
There's a constant theme of betrayal that you'll have to keep in mind while playing and it adds a brilliant level of tension to the experience.
There’s not much globetrotting in this one however there's a really cool section that lets you explore one of the expedition camps freely to gather evidence and make up your own conclusions about what the hell is going on.
And of course, it's jam-packed full of horrific death scenes, from cannibal tribes to mutant penguins, decapitations, plane explosions, cosmic terrors from under the ice and of course the harsh weather of the Antarctic itself.
It's a fantastic gamebook adaptation of a story that was way ahead of its time, full of atmosphere and guaranteed to send a chill down anyone's spine. And not just because of the snow.
Of course, I may be a tad biased as it shares some similarities with one of my favorite movies but this really is another flawless transition from short story to adventure gamebook. The Choose Cthulhu series continues to impress and this one, in particular, has really set the bar high for me.
Reviewed by Harrison Marchant
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