Liam Cunningham Discusses Playing The Host in New Social…

Eyes of Hellfire is an upcoming social horror game inspired by the many stories of the Hellfire Club in Dublin, Ireland—an old ruined hunting lodge in the mountains. During the 18th century, the location was host to all manner of sinister and occult rumors, and developer Gambrinous Games aims to tap into this legend by depicting it through creepy co-op puzzle gameplay.

The Best War Games recently spoke with veteran actor Liam Cunningham, who plays the Host in Eyes of Hellfire. Cunningham won plaudits for his role as Ser Davos Seaworth in HBO's award-winning series Game of Thrones, and the Irish actor has plenty of experience playing a wide variety of roles spanning decades in the entertainment industry. He discussed how he brought the Host to life and what he found unique and exciting about the character.

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By Rachael Phillips

How Liam Cunningham Brought the Host to Life

Liam Cunningham's first acting role was as a police officer in the 1992 movie Into the West. Since then, he has appeared in a plethora of movies and TV shows, ranging from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to Netflix's 3 Body Problem. Despite this, his work in video games is less prolific, with Squadron 42, a game that has been stuck in development for over a decade, being his only credited role. However, this will change when Eyes of Hellfire is released, and Cunningham was eager to play the role of the Host as soon as he was introduced to it. He explained,

"I'm very fussy about stuff that I do, and I hope I tried to make that reflect in my career, that I tried to make interesting choices. I probably turn down 19 out of 20 jobs that I'm offered. I don't do things just because there's blood involved, put it that way. The writing was excellent on this. The character was really good. When I asked if we could get some sort of dry humor into the script, it was agreed. The Host seems to be enjoying himself just a little too much. He's not just this horrible specter in the background, he's actually an enjoyable part of the events. I wanted him to be that guy that you kind of love to hate."

Eyes of Hellfire's Premise Immediately Stood Out to Liam Cunningham

As someone who doesn't exactly take on every role he's offered, Cunningham's endorsement of Eyes of Hellfire and his willingness to be involved should not be taken lightly. He explained that it was the core premise of starring in a horror movie with your friends that really caught his attention. Cunningham continued:

"I don't do very many games. I'm pretty fussy about these things. I'm not in the games world an awful lot. I would like to do more. But the idea of being able to participate with your friends in a horror movie? I mean, that's not a thing that I've come across very often. It's great when you're in a cinema with your friends in a row of seats, and you'll have that feeling of everybody getting scared together. So the idea of participating in a game like this with friends, I think that the hook on that is really clever. I really like that because there's a certain strategy involved in it. There's lateral thinking."

The recent rise of social horror games has given Gambrinous Games the confidence that Eyes of Hellfire should do well with fans of the genre. Its use of mechanics such as proximity chat, along with the studio's willingness to use Early Access as a platform to listen to and act on player feedback, could bode well for the game's success.

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