Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
 

Prepare to embark on an eldritch adventure of cyclopean proportions that will plumb the depths of madness and fill your mortal mind with unspeakable cosmic horrors!! -eek-

In case you haven't been following it, this game has been in development since before R'lyeh sank into the ocean, but now it's finally been released in stores for humans to purchase. Dumped might be a more appropriate word. I hadn't heard a peep out of this game for months, and I assumed that yet another delay was in word, but then without any fanfare whatsoever, this game almost magically appears on store shelves yesterday, just in time for Halloween. The XBOX is the only one I saw. I think the PS2 version got canned, and although I assume the PC version is still coming, who knows with this game.

Anyway, I've managed to put about an hour into this game, and so far so good. The graphics won't win any awards, but that's more than made up for by the atmosphere, which this game oozes...so to speak. Right from the beginning you know you're in for something good.

As far as the Lovecraft connection goes, the game at the moment seems to be loosely based on "Shadow Over Innsmouth." After a pretty intense prologue, you find yourself investigating the disappearance of the First National Grocery store manager from the Innsmouth branch. For some reason the locals don't seem very hospitable...

Anyway, that's all I've got for the moment. Check out these screenshots and review snippets, and then go buy/rent/borrow/steal this game.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/arti...3051406512.jpg

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/arti...3051404590.jpg

http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/arti...3051421400.jpg

Didn't know it was out. Looks good like ice cream. I don't know if I can pick it up. Been burning off xbox games.

Wow, I haven't even heard of this game up until I read your post. Now I'm eager to go out and pick this up tomorrow. After reading the full review from EuroGamer it definitely sounds like something I can throw myself into and enjoy.

After playing this game for a few hours, I've come to the conclusion that this might just be the most pure horror game I've ever played. Generally speaking, most horror games are action games at their core. In between the scary bits, the main gameplay mechanics involve shooting zombies and maybe trying to find a key every once in a while. In Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, you don't even have a freaking weapon. The "people" who wish to kill you, however, do have weapons and they will use them. Most of the game is spent running, hiding, and hoping that there isn't something icky waiting around the next corner (there is). Now that's survival horror!

You do eventually manage to arm yourself, but not for several hours. This is mainly a horror/adventure game. None of the puzzles have been overly difficult so far, and for the most part they're integrated realistically into the enviroment. In one early scene, you have to make your way through a series of connecting hotel rooms, locking the doors and moving bookshelves in the way to block the path of people who are after you.

Speaking of which, if you've read the H.P. Lovecraft short story Shadow Over Innsmouth, you'll probably remember this scene. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth borrows much of it's plot from Shadow Over Innsmouth and is fairly true to the source material. Of course new material has been added and some details have been changed in order to turn it into a videogame, but Lovecraft fans should be pleased with the end results. I know I am.

I think I'm going to pick this up today. I remember reading about it like a year ago. I didn't realize it was out. Probably my last game purchase before 360.

I want this!

I've been playing it for about an hour now. Still haven't found a weapon yet. I really like it so far. It's much more of an adventure game than action. The atmosphere is crazy. I'll post some more impressions when I get a few more hours in.

It took me about three hours before I finally found a weapon. Although you'd think it'd help to have a gun, the game actually gets significantly harder at that point.

Anyone else play this and have responses? I just finished the PC version. I found it a mixed bag -- some things done extremely well, with other things really annoying.

The good:
-Atmosphere: really captures the look and feel of Lovecraft's mythos stories.
-Scariness/intensity: this is a "real" horror game. It's not about "blasting" monsters -- it's about actually scaring and creeping out the player. There are several sequences in the game that I'm sure I won't forget for some time.
-Storyline: solid story carrying you through, though there won't be too many surprises if you're familar with "Innsmouth" and "Shadow out of Time".
-Interface: I like the minimal on-screen interface. You just see what the character sees -- which works great for this, since seeing stuff like a health-meter or ammo-count would detract from the immersion.
-Injury system: I like it. No health meter -- just more visceral cues like limping, shaking, bleeding. Bleeding wounds will get worse unless you treat them. You can't move well with a leg injury. You can't aim well with an arm injury. And no instant healing in the middle of a battle -- if you want to heal, you need to find a quiet place and take the time to treat your injuries.

The bad:
-Save points: I hate when games don't give you the option of saving anywhere. I understand the argument that save points add tension and excitement. But this game is discouraging of exploration and unforgiving of mistakes -- some sections will have to be played over and over again. The first couple times are scary and exciting. After that it becomes tedious and frustrating. At least give the player an option of playing with or without save points.
-Difficulty: Really hard. Even the easiest setting (which promises to be a cakewalk) is tough. There's a lot of trial and error -- and if you chose wrong you die. And there are several action scenes you can do over and over since a single slip will kill you.
-Inflexible gameplay: IMO the best games are flexible enough for you to play with multiple styles and succeed at all of them. This game pretty much expects you to play one way -- sneaking, crouching, hiding. Deviate from that, and you'll likely die. If that's your prefered gameplay style, that isn't a problem. But if it isn't, playing can be a long and frustrating affair.
-Ending: a minor point, but this game made the decision to only give the ending that best explains what was going on in the game to those that got the highest in-game rating (pretty much limited to uber-expert players, people using walkthroughs, or playing the second time through). I understand "rewarding" players for getting that high rating, but doing so with the only ending that really explains things sucks for everyone else.

Neutral:
-Graphics: Serviceable. Purposely made ugly, with cutscenes scratchy the way a movie from the 20s would be and the color scheme being mostly drab (think lots of greys and browns).
-AI: So-so. At times good, but at other times really stupid.
-Insanity measurements: In theory, it sounded good. The first couple times you start to talk to yourself, or the screen goes dizzy, its effective. But it gets old fast, especially when your struggling with a difficult action sequence. I didn't like the idea of penalizing you for looking at "horrific" scenes. We're playing a horror game -- what do they expect us to do? Aside from making some action scenes tougher, it didn't seem to have much bearing on gameplay for me (except in a couple places that supernaturally would keep increasing insanity until you moved away from them).
-Stability: pretty bug-free for me (impressive since no patches were needed). Maybe a couple CTDs. Only one really annoying trouble spot for me:
-Not enough RPG elements: Why bother even licensing the RPG from Chaosum if you don't include any of them? My own personal bias comes into play here (I love CRPGs) -- I kept thinking how great this game could've been if it was closer in design to action/RPG hybrids like Deus Ex and Vampire: Bloodlines. Dialog options, story branching, character stats -- just something to add a layer of depth that could've really taken this game to the next level.

Any other thoughts? I'd probably still recommend this to Lovecraft and survival horror fans, despite the flaws. It certainly tries some things differently, and has its own flavor.

I've been wanting to play this even though I am unfamiliar with the books. It is part of gogamers 48 hour madness for 17.90, but I think I might wait for it to drop some more.
http://www.gogamer.com/cgi-bin/GoGam...ont/EN/Catalog

I thought the first 3 hours were pefect. The opening scene at the mansion, and then your introduction to Innsmouth were everything that I could have possibly wanted. Starting with the truckride out of Innsmouth, things really started going downhill. As you said, the game gets really hard even on the lower levels, forcing you to replay a lot of areas repeatedly in order to figure out the perfect strategy. That kind of killed the mood. Really once you got a weapon, it started to slip. I still liked it, but that first part was by far the best.

I like your idea of making it like Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, that would have been awesome. That game had it's flaws too, but it did a great job with balancing characters, plot, action, and atmosphere. It's too bad Troika went ka-put, because I'd love to see them take a shot at a Mythos inspired game.

possible spoilers?



Loved the hotel room part the best where you had to run and escape. sadly i don't think ill finish this game because that part where you ride in the back of the truck and escape with whats his face is WAY too hard. i spent a long time doing that part and still haven't gotten past it. it's like 2 shots and you're dead. and whenever i try to bandage myself i get shot in the face.

Yeah, I really had big hopes for this, after the hotel thing, I'm giving up.
Not worth it, not fun enough to keep me.

Uh oh, the truck-ride of doom with your fate in the hands of a driver that makes Toonces the cat look good :) Actually, that bit wasn't too hard once I figured out the way to do things. What worked for me was:



But as Joe Molotov said -- this is when gets really hard.

I don't blame anyone for bailing. I'm a pickler for not leaving games unfinished. But I'm not proud -- I'll admit to almost constantly referring to walkthroughs. I'd give each level a few tries (sometimes succeeding), but then I'd cut my losses and see what the game expects me to do. There were still some good parts. My favorites were and Aside from my crash location, the part that annoyed me the most was

I'm glad to hear I wasn't only one who found this tough. Reading the forums at the game's site, uberfans jump down the throat of anyone who dare to suggest this game is less than perfection, and insult the manhood of anyone who claims it was too hard.

Well, I know my next game -- Elder Scrolls: Oblivion!!! And I know exactly what kind of character I'm going to play. A sword-wielding barbarian warrior (that Nordic-looking race) who lives to kick ass. No sneaking, no hiding, no backstabbing, no wussy long-range attacking. Just a He-Man who will run right up to enemies and go toe-to-toe. No offensive magic -- maybe just some healing or support spells (like telekinesis, fly) that could come in handy in a dungeon. After playing CoC, it will be a pleasure to play a game that way.