BAFTA-award winning “3 Body Problem” and “Game of Thrones” star Liam Cunningham is a self-proclaimed “nepo daddy,” thanks to his game-developer child, Len Cunningham.
In August, Blumhouse Games released the co-op Gothic horror video game “Eyes of Hellfire” into early access, an Irish folklore-inspired game developed by Len Cunningham’s Dublin-based indie video game studio, Gambrinous.
Per Blumhouse, in “Eyes of Hellfire,” “Each player harbours a hidden curse, twisting their abilities and motives, as they explore the ever-shifting rooms of the lodge. With a dynamic card-management system that changes turn by turn, you’ll need to strategise carefully, share discoveries, and combine your strengths to solve cryptic puzzles, uncover unsettling lore, and survive the escalating threats that roam the manor.”
Complicating matters is the insidious Host character (voiced by Len Cunningham’s father, Liam Cunningham), who manipulates the players’ reality.
“My dad hosted essentially a tabletop role playing murder mystery party when I was a kid, where he played this host role and did all these things–,” Len Cunningham, lead writer and narrative designer at Gambrinous, said in a joint interview with Variety with their father, Liam Cunningham.
“In costume!” Liam Cunningham, known for his role as Davos Seaworth in HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” interjected.
“Full costume, full voices, the whole shebang and everything,” Len Cunningham said, laughing.
“For your birthday,” Liam added.
“For my birthday, for Halloween — I’ve always been a big Halloween person, I’m getting excited now,” Len said. “So that was actually one of the things that led me to think that the host thing would work really well for him.”
“I’m officially — I think I may be the world’s first one; I’m claiming it — I’m the nepo daddy,” Liam said, adding: “I have to say, as well, I’m very cutthroat when it comes to work. You’ve seen the sort of stuff that I do. I’m fussy. I turn down 90% of the stuff that I’m offered, and I’m very lucky to be offered this stuff, but I only lend myself to stuff I think I can bring something to or that, if I’m involved, the finished article will be worth looking at. And when this was presented to me, it was one of those things where I couldn’t say no. He’s a fun character. He’s really annoying. And I like that kind of character you love to hate. And he’s this kind of Machiavellian figure that hovers over people and kind of enjoys their misery, and that’s fun. So you gotta go with that. You can’t turn down an opportunity like that.”
Len Cunningham explains that when the Gambrinous team started out developing the Blumhouse Games-published “Eyes of Hellfire,” there wasn’t actually going to be a villain.
“When we originally started planning it, because the game is based around a real set of ruins in Dublin that hang over the city in the Dublin mountains, and we originally planned for the ruins themselves to be sort of the villain, in a way,” Len said. “But then I kind of thought, I love writing a villain, I have to try out one. So we came up with the idea of the host, who’s sort of this game master, narrator, antagonist. And he sort of is very playful and unnerving and dramatic and likes to playfully mock the players and challenge them.”
“And turns them on their friends!” Liam added.
“And then when I wrote it down, I kind of thought about, who have we got for this? And he flashed in my mind at my birthday party doing that whole thing,” Len said. “And I thought, oh, God. And then once I thought about it, I couldn’t really think of anything else, to be honest.”
“Eyes of Hellfire” is on sale now on Steam, where Blumhouse Games is also offering a bundle with its 2024 release, “Fear the Spotlight.”
