By "Meerkat" Shaw
For those not familiar with HP Lovecraft, he was an American author who published stories in the early 1900’s. Lovecraft's stories tell of unthinkable evil, psychic possession, and mythical worlds and his work has profoundly influenced numerous fantasy and science fiction writers, including Stephen King and Anne Rice. While you do not need to be familiar with Lovecraft's work or the Cthulhu Mythos in order to play and enjoy Dark Corners of the Earth, the game does include quite a bit of information about the Mythos. Some of it is revealed as part of the story, while other information is hidden away in parts of the game.
Dark Corners of the Earth takes place in the 1920’s and is taken from the writings of a Journal discovered in 1924, belonging to Jack Walters, who is the main character in the game. Jack Walters is a former policeman, whose original encounters with the horror of the legions of Cthulu left him insane and committed to an institution. Eventually released Jack did not feel able to return to the police force, but opened up his own Private Investigation service which only took cases that he thought might lead to more information as to what he saw that day, which had nearly destroyed him. He learns of a store manager who had gone missing in the New England fishing town of Innsmouth -- a place that Jack had heard numerous stories about during his own investigations. Jack took the case, packed a few belongings, and traveled to Innsmouth in an attempt to find out more about this disappearance...and maybe answer a few questions of his own.
So begins the story, and as Jack you are plunged into a mystery that threatens your life and your sanity, through the 16 chapters of his Journal. To solve the mysteries at Innsmouth you will draw upon your skills in exploration, investigation, and combat while faced with the seemingly impossible task of battling evil incarnate. This is a fully immersive game, with no controls to click on. Instead, you will use more intuitive tools to interact with your environment and to tell you what Jack’s condition is. Combat is a combination of fighting and strategy---many times you will find yourself hopelessly outnumbered by powerful creatures and will need to find a way to outsmart them in order to defeat them. When the horror becomes too much, Jack’s sanity begins to slip. You will have to keep your mental health in check as you are exposed to the increasingly shocking images of the Cthulhu Mythos. You will need to combat enemies using the environment, powerful and evil artifacts, Alien technology, or by fighting with weapons that are completely authentic for the period. The combat within the game is extremely realistic, with a detailed damage and healing system that breaks down the healing process into conditions and treatments - rather than having the typical FPS 'health packs' lying around everywhere. You are given the choice of approaching the game using easy or more challenging ways to make your way through the chapters and there is a “sneak” mode, giving you a chance to cleverly evade enemies you may not wish to face.
Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth fills a niche too often overlooked in the world of computer gaming, an adventure game, complete with detailed exploration and problem solving, combined with true action and FPS excitement in an environment based on raw, primeval horror. It is scheduled for release this coming Fall and will be playable on PC and XBox.
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