Dr. Moreau's Island

"Not to go on all-Fours; that is the Law.  Are we not men?"

I've never had any interest in the Animal Crossing series, but watching a few clips of the newest entry in the franchise (Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the Nintendo Switch) unearthed old memories buried deep my brain.  It took a while for me to connect the mental dots: a small lush island inhabited by a few humans and a bunch of anthropomorphic animals...building a community...house of pain...?  What is the law?

If those last two phrases don't ring a bell, it's because they're not from Animal Crossing.  They are actually quotes from H.G. Well's novella "The Island of Dr. Moreau".  If you are not familiar with the story, it's basically about an eccentric psychologist fleeing to a remote island in the South Pacific after being exposed for performing unethical vivisection and gruesome experiments.  The reader's entry point to the story comes in the form of chronicle written by an shipwreck survivor, who washes up on the shore of the titular island only to discover the doctor still up to his old habits.  In this case, he has refined his skills to such a degree that he trying to turn animals into crude approximations of people.  Given the time in which the book was written, Moreau's techniques seem rather dated; a mixture of surgery (without anesthetic!) and hypnotic suggestion.  It was state-of-the-art at the time in which the story was written but, obviously, science and technology marches ever on...because of that the three movie adaptations of the story, that came afterward, all use more contemporary concepts such as DNA manipulation.  Sadly, and partially because of that, all the adaptations stumble visually.

As previously mentioned, the doctor's experiments (or "Beast People") are described in the original text as animals made to look and act vaguely human.  However, in every film version of the story, the Beast People are portrayed by actors using a mix of costumes and prosthetics.  Hence, they are very much the opposite; humans trying to look and act like animals.  Personally, I think stop-motion animation or puppetry would have been the only way to achieve the imagery described in the novella (assuming that an animated film is off the table).  Anyway, this isn't really a blog for movies or books, so let's get to point of this post and talk about a video game adaptation of Island of Dr. Moreau.

As far as I know there has never been a video game based on the IP.  There is one FPS entitled Heathen that claims to be inspired by the story but, as far as I can tell, replaces the Beast People with supernatural monsters.  To me the interesting thing about H.G. Well's novella is the animals ultimately being just that.  Some are curious like the Monkey-Man and pink Sloth Creature.  The Dog-Man is outright friendly and an ally of the protagonist.  Meanwhile, most are indifferent to anything that isn't food or a perceived danger.  Only a small minority of the Beast People (namely the Hyena-Swine, Bear-Bull Man, and several others of lupine origin) pose a real threat to humans.  So, in that sense a pure survival horror experience wouldn't fit the material.  Rather, a combination of Stranded Deep and Miasmata with a bit of character interaction would be a much better fit.  In addition, visually rendering animals forced into humanoid forms is definitely within the realm of possibility when it comes to the medium of video games.  What's more, no need to worry about creating polygonal models that look and animate like something dwelling at the bottom of the uncanny valley.  That is pretty much what these wretched creatures are described as in the text.  Yeah...I know it's not anything like the warm and inviting atmosphere of Animal Crossing, but the Island of Dr. Moreau is great fodder for a developer looking to make a horror title in the same style as the works of Frictional Games.