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A Valentine’s Day Message from ‘Outlast 2’
Eddie Gluskin, aka The Groom, may be the most tragic character I’ve seen in a video game. We barely had time to get to know him before he met a violent end in Outlast: Whistleblower. All he ever wanted was a wife, like the one his dad had.
He was misunderstood. Gluskin wasn’t a murder-giddy psychopath, he was a romantic. The only thing he was truly guilty of was being willing — eager, even — to do whatever it took so that he could find a silky smooth darling to call his own. And when that didn’t work, he got resourceful.
Red Barrels knows this, so they cut him loose from the ceiling he was probably still hanging so he could deliver a very special Valentine’s Day message while we wait for Outlast 2.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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