Yeah, I was going to say much the same thing about ROM hacks. For once, I am actually impressed! The custom graphics and sound are great, the challenges are sensible, and the level designs are wonderfully creative. Whoever made this hack has managed to capture both the essence of Lovecraft, and the essence of what makes a game enjoyable; rare feats indeed.

My favorite level was probably the Non-Euclidean Path (7:55).

Cthulhio

Maybe you can blame it on growing up in gloomtown but I never really got into Lovecraft or the people that read it in middle school and high school. We had weird literary factions and mine was definitely Jimbo and such, but this is cool.=

the entire Chaotic Nightscapes level is a riot

It's annoyingly easy these days for someone to just slap tentacles on a game, namedrop an elder god and phone it in as "Lovecraftian". These hackers actually made the gameplay itself a surreal mindfuck, and I love it. I nearly groaned at the old "That is not dead..." quote, but then they actually made it a clue to proceed! Marvellous stuff.

That's not how it happened.

A small steamship, originally made hardened and combat-ready by a group of Cthulhu cultists, was captured by the crew of a large Norwegian yacht after the cultists tried to attack the yacht. The cultists were killed and the Norwegian survivors were forced to abandon their heavily-damaged vessel for the steamship.

The Norwegians investigated a mysterious island occupying what was supposed to be an empty patch of ocean. The island had been only recently thrust up by volcanic activity. he Norwegians disembarked and discovered too late the mysterious island and the strange city covering it were R'Lyeh, ancient home of Cthulhu. Their presence awakened the elder god and he emerged from his tomb/sleeping chamber.

Only two crewmembers survived the race back to the steamship. Cthulhu pursued the vessel and, in desperation, one of them steered the boat directly at Cthulhu's head in the water. The boat sliced through, but the sight of it re-forming instantly drove the crewmen to the brink of madness and they set the ship at full speed away from the island.

Cthulhu didn't bother pursuing them because the stars were not properly aligned for its return. It simply went back to sleep in R'lyeh, which sank beneath the waves, to await the proper time.

So basically Cthulu's head has the consistency of a water balloon and can be punctured by turn of the century steam ships. And then he "let" us win because he wanted to take a nap.

Do you have any idea how much cruelty humanity is capable of? If we fought Cthulu today, it'd be like Godzilla, only our weapons would tear him to ribbons. We'd blow his head clean off and dump acid in the wound so he'd be perpetually burning and in ceaseless agony as his body kept regenerating itself, and we'd take selfies in front of his screaming hell.

Binro, that sounds suspiciously like an episode of Whale Wars. Seriously, swap "Cthulhu" with "gray whale" or such and tell me I'd be wrong.