During Summer Game Fest 2021, Supermassive Games treated fans to an extended trailer for the third installment in its interactive survival horror anthology series. The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes looks set to offer fans the branching narrative and choose your own adventure-style choices they've come to expect, as they desperately fight to keep the star studded cast alive in a underground Sumerian temple.
What stands out about The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes the most though, aside from an Indiana Jones style adventure setting and host of monstrous bat-like creatures, is the ultimate evil that the game is setting up. All indications and promotional material point to a demon named Pazuzu, an entity all too familiar to horror fans, being the one manipulating events behind the scenes.
Mythology of Pazuzu
The Pazuzu that's set to terrorize the cast of House of Ashes appears to be closely based on the first recorded stories of the spirit. In ancient Mesopotamian religions, Pazuzu is said to not only be a demon of the southwest wind, but also a king to others of his kind. According to the time, in warm and humid months the demon was feared for his ability to bring famine. On the other hand, When things became wetter during rainy periods, he's said to have displayed a fondness for terrorizing the land as a plague of locusts instead. Both of these abilities are likely just the tip of the sword when it comes to the powers he'll likely find within his arsenal in the game.
One detail in particular that could be worth keeping in mind, going into House of Ashes, is the fact that Pazuzu is almost always depicted in direct opposition to another rival spirit. In ancient Mesopotamian religion, Lamashtu is described as a vengeful female demon that terrorizes expectant mothers during child birth. There appears to be a case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" surrounding the pair.
Despite being a pure evil entity, Pazuzu decorated statues and jewelry were once used by the fearful to ward off his rival. Supermassive Games are known for their commitment to folklore accuracy, so there's a chance that Lamashtu might also be lying in wait for unsuspecting players. With branching narratives being one of the studios staples, it's not hard to imagine some form of decision between the two might even play a factor in the narrative as well.
Pazuzu in Pop Culture
The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes won't be the first time a piece of pop culture has modernized Pazuzu for a whole new generation, with terrifying results. Most notoriously the demon has been the main antagonist for The Exorcist novelizations, TV show, and film series, for the last 50 years. Each incarnation depicted within the franchise can directly trace it's origins, and at least some of its powers, back to the mythological version though.
In both the book and film, Pazuzu is inflicted upon the cast of characters via one of the previously mentioned statues, after it's uncovered in Northern Iraq and brought to the United States. With House of Ashes already being set within the region, it's more likely that instead of being summoned by an object, that this Pazuzu is motivated to leave to similarly nefarious ends.
While his origins within The Exorcist are largely faithful to the original story, Pazuzu is expanded upon significantly in each adaptation. By demon standards, the versions of the spirit within the horror franchise more closely resembles those seen in other western media: Chiefly being the spawn of hell, driven by a determination to torture humanity via possession and corruption. Whether or not Supermassive Games plans on giving its version of Pazuzu similar abilities remains to be seen. With a host of physical threats already having been shown in-game, there's an ominous gap for a presence to psychologically torment and play off the cast's fears and drama.
House of Ashes' Pazuzu
The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes will mostly be set in and around a long forgotten Sumerian temple, hidden beneath the Iraq dessert. Here the cast will enter Kur, the titular House of Ashes, a cursed place in Mesopotamian lore where souls of the dead are said to reside as they attempt to cross over to the underworld. Pazuzu's status as a king amongst demons appears to be one of the driving forces behind the game's narrative, as lesser beastly demons have been shown to inhabit the location as well. One of the main plot points could involve the cast unknowingly being forced to awaken the ultimate entity, before dealing with Lovecraftian style horror consequences.
In terms of physical appearance, the Pazuzu that Supermassive Games have teased bears a striking physical resemblance to the ancient Mesopotamian descriptions. Throughout the game's trailers and promotional material, a statue that resemble an amalgamation of humanoid and animalistic parts has been prominently placed, and even features on the cover. What form the demon decides to physically take once he's awoken is still unclear at this time, despite this. With pop culture having added to his myth so definitively, there's a strong chance he could end up inhabiting the body of any of the main characters, depending on player choices.
Dark Pictures: House of Ashes will release on October 22, 2021, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.