Written by Vince
“This song perfectly captures the feeling of visiting a Minecraft world you left 7 years ago.”¹ - @The_Immortal
One of the most repugnant things about Rockettes Modern Flick is that there are like a billion ways to kill the thing. Well, kind of. One of the most repugnant things about Ricky’s Saddle Bricks is the way that it acts like an activation phrase for those already prone to unhealthy pattern recognition. Well, kind of. One of the most repugnant things about Ray Guns Selling Pics is how it got co-opted by a miasma of factists, tech bros, and the deeply insecure. Knowledge can hurt you, kiddo, but first you gotta take a minute to do one of those grounding exercises I keep putting off. You gotta take life by the tail and shake it until it starts dropping vending machine fodder. You gotta strangle Roko and his goddamn Basilisk.
Except you don’t.
Because Robert W. Chambers already did that in the late 1800s.
You thought this was going to be about music? I’ll go down swinging, on fire, screaming to all the worlds dead sparkplugs that this is Theatre, baby.² It’s full send dramaturgy wrapped in a bow with a note from the bombardier in love laced calligraphy reading thus:
“Robert W. Chambers wrote The King in Yellow. A book comprising of several short stories, most of which revolve around ‘The King in Yellow’. A play³ that is infectious. To read it shows you glimpses of a world that is awesome. By which I mean the old school, too big for one person, definition of awesome. Where you become overwhelmed with awe, terror, and feel grain-of-sand small. Read the play enough and you’ll start to know stuff. You’ll know what other people want and where to find it. You’ll have prophetic dreams of you and your loved ones. And you’ll lose more of yourself. You could hop between points in time, reanimate as an evangelist for the play, and become so far removed from your original desire that you may as well be a different person. I’ll get right to it. I’ll welcome you to the fold of the court.
The King in Yellow is knowledge that is meant to permeate time and media. Chambers himself borrowed names and ideas from the author Ambrose Bierce and let his ideas move onto future creators. It’s pervasive throughout literature, television, and video games. The King in Yellow was borrowed by Lovecraft and renamed Hastur the Unspeakable which, in time, was passed to any creative who iterated on the worlds of weird fiction. Be it the novel or deific character, The King in Yellow shows up in Signalis, True Detective, the entire line of ‘Souls’ games starting with Demons’ Souls and ending with the Elden Ring DLC.
And in Fear & Hunger. That’s where our opening quote comes from. A comment on a song titled ‘Ma’habre Streets’. It is a track sopping with the sobs of a dust-entombed music box, the key stripped into the crank. You’d find it at an autumn yard sale and your friends would tell you how haunted it was. The answering machine of a long-vacationed psychopomp.
The song shows up in a few places in Fear & Hunger. It’s possible to hear it early by finding an item that transports you to the city of Ma’habre for a short time. It’s also played late into the game when you go to Ma’habre for a longer stay. I would describe it as an arresting track. You have found something new and are unsure if it is safe. Upon finding that it is, in fact, not safe you are forced to linger in its presence.
When I was much younger I went on a hike with my family and we brought along our dog. Our dog, named PD, was an energetic sharpei. A fuzzy bicep of an animal. We were on a fairly open trail when he backed up a little and began to bark in a sharp tone that suggested anger and surprise. It was then my mother screamed as a large snake made its way by us. The place I live is not known for snakes of dangerous size. It is the only time I’ve seen an animal like that outside of a controlled environment. The scales had a dark black sheen to them. It slid by our group with confidence. And more importantly, as if we were not even there. As if there was no barking dog or terrified people. “Ma’habre Streets” exists in a headspace similar to that moment. This entity, this force, may be dangerous. But more than anything it is unknown, intimidating, and does not seem to register you as a thing worth caring about. Its only reaction to barking, snarling, screaming, and panic is to slither slowly into some bushes.
The track is also gorgeous. I adore how it haunts me as a listener. Several times during the writing of this essay I’ve put it on loop to bask in the feeling. It’s not very long at about a minute and a half. It peters out into a collection of tinny, bangy, soft percussion. It also differs from most other music that I enjoy even outside the realm of video games. A lot of my regular listening diet consists of faster, more intense, songs. Much more The Mars Volta much less ambient haunted house music.
The game? What’s the game Fear & Hunger like? It’s a horror immersive sim made in RPG Maker. You play as one of four characters in a fantasy world. And you crawl around a dungeon. The Dungeons of Fear & Hunger to be precise. It’s got a top down perspective with turn based RPG battles. You can even get party members! How exciting! You can even get married!! How exciting⁴!! Fear & Hunger has many features including but not limited to: hunger and fear, management of food in your inventory to prevent it from rotting, a crafting system, a magic progression and resource management system, intentional and accidental hardlocks that prevent progress, trading party members for items, the ability to talk to enemies which can lead to many results, RNG–based saving, a hidden timer that changes the trajectory of your playthrough, several false endings, and at least one questline that involves the cockroach king⁵. Truth be told I’ve played a fair amount of Fear & Hunger. I’ve gotten to the late game⁶ but never quite made it to the final string of bosses. To say nothing of the future dinosaurs. Or the King in Yellow.
Oh right.
He’s here too.
The King, that is. In Yellow, of course. My King in Yellow. He makes an appearance in the game as a god of potential and the future. The god of possibilities. In this story The King in Yellow starts as a man and ascends to the as mentioned godhood. Should your character defeat him as well as the many other trials, they may also ascend to godhood. Would you desire such a thing? An ascension like that? What kind of god breaks the gears of a music box just to hear the chimes cry? You could find out. If you wanted to. Though that depends on how much you’re willing to distance yourself from others. As such “Ma’habre Streets,” the location and song, evokes a brilliant solitude. As the player you are a lone puppet master pulling the strings of your paper craft marionettes. Forcing them to spring along the cobblestone to a song that begs you to leave this place. By choosing to frolic in the world of Fear & Hunger you will only be pulled deeper by each unknown. Why are some enemies grinning yeti, and some enemies fleshy furniture, and some enemies chitinous mantis men? At least, I was pulled deeper. To a land of subterranean suns, vacuous black stars, and excerpts of the lost and stolen. A place we cannot return.
With wistful longing,
An Orphan of Carcosa.”
¹ @ The_Immortal, youtube, 2 years ago at time of writing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJEMDlNXjW0&list=RDuJEMDlNXjW0&start_radio=1
² “Man, Vince’s ‘tism is really on one today!” -My coworker, laughing (positive), when I decided to turn an unrelated conversation into a word association game.
³ The King in Yellow is a play. You read House of Leaves? Well it’s from this totally niche subgenre called whatever it was Hamlet did with matryoshka doll narratives. His name is Ozymandias King of Kings.
⁴ Getting married in Fear & Hunger is optimal but not exciting. It is, in fact, hard to watch and changes how you play the game.
⁵ Also a formative part of my well balanced listening diet
⁶ I made it to The Bed (™) and survived the Skin Granny (™)