I don't get all the negative reviews of this game. The story is phenomenal, the gameplay is simply riveting. Do you die and have to play a portion of the game over... yes. Is it that frustrating... no! The most I have had to re-do is a 5 minute section, and I needed to do it 3 times until I completed it successfully. So... if the game didn't have any challenging areas it wouldn't be fun! The mood is great, and the graphics are very good. Are they "oblivion" good, no, but they are still quite sharp and the environments are very detailed. This game is simply terrific. You can snag it in malls for $20 now... and for that price you won't be disappointed. The only thing dissappointing about this game is watching ther percent complete crank up towards 100!

Even many years later, this remains one of the creepiest, coolest and most fun games around. You don't have to be a Lovecraft fan to love the craft 9sorry) that has been put into this compelling story.

Brilliant, This is the game I have been waiting for. Great story, Exploration and something totally different. It's not just another mindless shooter.

this is my favourite game ever, a very atmospheric game with great story that gives u chills on your spine.i feel so sorry that the company who made this game is no more, i wanted more great horror

Amazing, old game, one of the first Scary games, didn't get why here it's as 2006 game, I have disc purchased in February of 2004 and can say it was really great games, never see so deep story in most of modern games, also it's FPS, if you love classic really can recommend it, it's not too expensive on Steam, but find disc will be really hard nowadays.
I can say that it's classic in genre, and really one of the best ones if compare to many modern games too.

Wow! Really, scarry... i could not play it more than a hour. But now, it has some unseen addiction, that i must finish it! I'll recommend it to every horror-fan around the globe.

Best horror game, and best video game based on book story ever made. 10/10.

Yes there are a few shortcomings but a great story and great atmosphere. you don't even get a weapon till a third of the way through but this works very well. Lots of variation in gameplay from chase scenes both on foot and in vehicles. My niece wandered in and caught a glimpse of this game before I sent her out of the room. She didn't sleep for a week and now she seems slightly odd. Buy it.

Would have been 10 if not for the amount of bugs. Headfirst Productions should have been given a little more time to finish it.

Unusually scary game. Good atmosphere. Slightly dodgy controls. Not, really, Cthulhu but as close as it gets in a computer game and that is good.

The game follows the Lovecraft style very well. The main character is influenced by the things he sees, and he gets (annoyingly sometimes) dizzy, hears voices, etc., as he "loses sanity". Find a quiet place to hide and you calm back down, so its generally not a problem, per se. The developers kept the screen clean, so there is no HUD or crosshair. You aim weapons with the metal sites that have become more popular recently (e.g., STALKER, COD4). The plot pulls from many different Lovecraft stories, but perhaps follows the Shadow over Insmouth most closely. If you are looking for a game that has a story to it, I highly recommend this one.

awesome game. The story is filled with twists and turns and generally a lot of weird shit. Theres no hud wich makes things even nicer and theres this sanity thing wich is a very unique touch to the gameplay. It takes quite long before the action starts and you cant skip the cinematics wich could get annoying. Also the engine is well shaky, it just takes an alt-tab to crash the game. I lost count of how many times i crashed but i kept on playing it and playing it. The story makes up for the imperfections cause its just so surreal and you really want to see it trough to the end.

First I must say, this is one of my favourite games. Despite its age, it's still a good game if you're looking for a horror game with a good story. The gun play might not be that good and the game does become slightly less good once you get a gun, but even there it's still above average. I expecialy liked the fact that they didn't add the crosshair, it really adds to the immersion and difficulty. But I don't think that anyone would play this game because of the shooting part (btw you only get your first gun after about 40% of the game). The game really shines when you don't have any weapons and must use stealth and your wits to outsmart your opponents. It also isn't a game to play if you want to blow up some steam, because it also includes some "brain" because of the many puzzles you'll have to solve.

Fantastic game, lots of interesting gameplay elements and intelligent puzzles set it aside standard first person games. My only gripes with the game is the way the enemy corpses fade away quickly and then constantly respawn until you pass the area. This spoils the otherwise fantastic immersiveness of the rest of the game!

Great atmospheric game with some intense action scenes. The story is really what drives the game; without it there would be little value to it. I kept playing through all the bugs and difficult sequences just to find out what happens to Jack. After finishing the game I am more interested in reading H.P. Lovecraft than playing another Lovecraft based game. Be warned this game is one of the more difficult out there. Many long portions are played over and over again due to save system. The save system is designed to make the game more intense, but in the end it make it more tiresome than anything. I ran into one big glitch while fighting the Great Ones on the ship. The Great Ones would stop coming, but all my shipmates would continue firing at nothing. For some reason the game would not go to the next portion. I had to restore to a saved game from just as I got on the ship to resolve the problem.

Graphics? Who cares? The graphics are on par with Call of Duty and there was nothing wrong with those or the fun to be had in that game. Don't get hung up on that. This is NOT a shooter, this is an adventure game, so if you want non-stop zombie killing this isn't the place to go. The game is creepy and does capture Lovecraft (almost). This isn't the early Alone in the Dark style...this is more horror movie based than fantasy. What bothers me, like Call of Duty did, is that the game appears "wide open" but in reality is restricted and has a "stiffness" to it where you need to stay near the path the game presents. The one other thing that bothers me like Call of Duty is that I get headaches from this graphic engine for some reason...no problems in any other first person games, just this style. I liked a lot of the atmosphere that was put into the game and it is fascinating at times with some of the creatures that appear. Having no HUD does make you feel like you are inside of the game world and when I got to Innsmouth and saw a guy peeing in an alley and another digging through the trash, that really suprised me and shows the depth these guys put into the game. Still it is difficult trudging at times through the game and I doubt I could feel motivated to sit all day and play; some of the "fun" is missing for me. Lovecraft stories aren't really about "fun" though, they are about the fantastic vs. puny humans. Yet at times I felt like this was more slaughterhouse than exploration of the quantum-occult wolrd that Lovecraft was best at telling. I give it a 7 (10 means perfection to me, which I think few games are)...not bad but the game needed a little something more to it.

Good ambiance and mood all over. Story is well based on Lovecraft's literature with interesting additions. Voice acting and dialogs are good and reinforce the atmosphere and time setting in the early 20's. Concept is quite unique blending 3 or 4 major genres, and it is one of a very scant group of games based on the Cthulhu mythos. The "however" is that, at least once along the game, all of these genres perform ifalteringly when compared to the average of games using as their core one these styles. Puzzles unintuitive or strangely easy (you are done and do not realize it); shooter erratic and with an infinite amount of respawns; stealth with unreadable patrols to almost render this nice possibility unfeseable; etc. Anyway in most cases the game pulls through and no matter how frustrating it could become, and how close to real insanity it may push you towards, you very soon forget and forgive, since it has the virtue of truly making you curious of what is yonder the next, very dark, corner.

Nice athmosphere, bad gameplay. Looking for savepoints never worked before and never will do in the future. Without a quicksave some parts are too frustrating. This is an adventure but when you are chased there's no time to search for desired sequence of actions. So, you have to start over 20 times before you know where you should go. And don't make jumping errors. Bad purchase. I'll wait for a quicksave patch or else I simply dump the game.

a very linear game with not that good story and very weak and boring gameplay the graphics as well are not good the only good thing about this game is the atmosphere other than that nothing special here

A game that could have been so much more is what I can say about this video game....

The atmosphere, the audio, just incredible. All through the first chapter of the game it dares you deeper and deeper into it's dark story and is one of the most unnerving video games I've played in the longest time. The gameplay in the first chapter is a First person clues to find, people to talk to investigation, teasing you with ammunition boxes scattered around the levels having the player eagerly anticipate when they'll finally get to use their first weapon. This, unfortunately is the worst element of the game. The gunplay,

Once the player is given his/her first gun there is a heavy focus on it's gunplay, it incredibly awkward to aim and hit enemies and when you FINALLY accomplish killing said enemy another will regenerate in his place, meaning a lot of wasted ammo and no sigh of relief knowing that there's one less brute to deal with. There's a stealth mechanic but it's buggy,

This game had so much potential, buckets of it. It's atmosphere is perfect, it's story progression is great, I'd say if it had ditched the gunplay/action sequences altogether and focused more on it's puzzle solving /clue finding it'd deserve a 7.5. but because of it's bug ridden and awful gunplay experience it gets a solid 6/10 from me.

Oh, and the graphics are just fine, perfect for the game's mood.

Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of The Earth (Steam PC) Released 2006 (Head First Productions / Bethesda Softworks)
Played date 2012.02
Genre: Horror Adventure

Overall Score: 6
Controls: 7
Graphics: 7
Story: 9
Audio: 10
DRM: Steam

[Playthrough] I was interested in getting to know about the Cthulhu World through the eyes of game artists but I had never read any of the books or played the RPGs; I went in expecting nothing. I really enjoyed this story and the mood set by the game, in fact for the first four hours the game was freaking me out. All hell started to break loose in the game.... there are many difficult sequences that end in death and require reloading....but as I was in it for the game-story-environment so I held in there. I leaned heavily on a walk-through to get through the game - but I could never finish it.... the last sequence was just to hard ! ! ! Play this on â

I understand that its a horror game and all, but i HATE checkpoints. when the game crashes and you haven't been near a check point in a while, you will understand what i mean. this is a nice game with a nice story, but it is RUINED because it is dependent on finding a glyph on the wall to save. I am busy and have to stop what i am doing sometimes to do something important, and the check point system is garbage. SHAME ON THE DEVELOPERS.

It had a fantastic story but was ruined by frequent crashes. The no HUD is good for immersion but it would have helped so much during the times when i was getting shot at.

I see this game as practically a prototype for survival horror games that have come since penumbra, amnesia, etc… although not in a good way but it does win points for it, like the first types of aeroplanes. The graphics are good for its time of release (but if you’re using a newer graphics card you might want to read up on installation) however the light effects are in summary “dark and light” this ruins a few of the stealth elements when there’s a light on and your staring eye to eye with an enemy that doesn’t notice you 2m in front of him. The gameplay is hit or miss depending on the level, the stealth and shooting is fine but without a sprint options all the chase scenes look like a corny silent film chase. Once you get the crowbar/guns it goes from being a Lovecraft survival horror game to Half Life in 1920’s New England, start off with the crowbar companions the die off all the time government conspiracy with alien portals better weapons industrial facility stationary claw/arm monster alien sea world vs. alien space world alien tech final boss that’s both easy and a letdown.

Also there’s a game breaking glitch at the boat level when you need to shoot the island’s sages on PC with new graphics cards.

I bought this game years ago and never finished it. I bought it back on Steam and played it again, confident in my ability to finish it.

Since I read all Lovecraft novels as a teenager, and I appreciate today both first-person shooters and adventure games, this one started with the exciting promise of a truly horrific adventure game.

The first 2 hours of the game put me in the mood, with some thrilling and engaging moments in the retired city of Innsmouth. Unfortunately, I reached the "wake-up-in-the-hotel-at-night-and-get-the-hell-out-of-here" sequence in which I had to perform an escape with a non-human level of cold blood and accuracy.

At first I told myself "Now, that's pressure! These guys aren't joking!" but after a dozen of attempts (assorted with the pain of viewing the preliminary cinematic) I ended up thinking it was a mix between sadism and sabotage.

In a wicked way, the developers prefered to humiliate me instead of challenge me. Maybe some players do have the necessary level of insanity to pass this point, but this kind of test is not for me. The sad thing being that I could consider myself the target audience.

So if you're a masochist gamer looking for a game that can torture you, this one is probably a great start.

I only dream of what this game was supposed to be. Originally, this game was supposed to be a much larger, non-linear RPG-type storyline, including more characters and locations, as well as a co-op system for up to four players. This would have enabled players to pick one of four characters and carry out their own investigation independently or team up with the others. A multiplayer version of the game would have allowed for on-line deathmatch battles in specifically designed levels. A lot of other features, such as high environment interactivity, were also scrapped due to budget and time constraints and problems with the level design. Multi-player would have drawn a larger interest from the PVP/PVE crowd who don't like single player games to enjoy with their friends. A larger RPG element and environment interactivity, along with editing tools would have created a community continuously willing to improve game play, graphics and providing new content to explore. This game has neither element. It's heavily scripted and very linear, with only one path through the chapters from start to finish. Lots of good things can be said, its scary, eerie and creepy. The sound quality is nice. Lovecraft's work in it. The graphics look nice. It has a small fan base to patch it well enough for playability, relative to other games currently available. The vanilla version is buggier than Virginia, USA in the summertime. The learning tutorial is non-existent, so you simply have to dive into the key mapping to know what you are doing. It's not the next best thing to propel the thriller/horror based video game genre to a whole new level. I am sad that Bethesda Softworks had anything to do with its release, because it's nothing like Skyrim or Fallout. It's Bethesda 'light'. No light deserves to be in a Cthulhu game.

This game was not very well thought out at all. First off, the sanity level was completely useless most of the time. At first it was entertaining, but then you realize that most of the shocking imagery that you must avoid to keep your sanity detracts from the over all feeling of horror. You find yourself walking by corpses, not looking at them, and that actually makes the whole scenario seem not as intense, not that I am a sicko and like to stare at mutilated corpses. I just feel that instead of the screen going crazy and the character killing himself, I feel that I myself would feel freaked out enough. Not to mention, this character has every single phobia in the book. He is afraid of heights, which is annoying because there are some parts where you need to look down to figure out on how to get back down to ground level. He has claustrophobia, which is a pain because you have to travel through vents. Had this been toned down in some areas and peaked in some areas, it would have been more enjoyable and freaky, rather then terribly annoying. The game is also easier to play on the x-box, being that the aiming is much easier. On the computer, the aiming is much harder, and very annoying. The ironsights aiming in other games, such as Red Orchestra, are far superior. It seemed as if I was playtesting a basic, earlier version of the game, in which all the bugs were not worked out yet. Trying to shift your aim slightly is near impossible, not to mention you cannot aim to great when leaning around corners, something that is possible, and I have done it while playing paintball. It can be done. The stealth would be better if you could move faster, instead of crawling slowly, and the stealth is near impossible at points because the game is so linear that you find yourself trying to hide while you and an enemy are both in a very tight hallway. It is much easier to overcome the whole idea of not killing every creature in a survival horror, which makes you not feel as fearful, being that you just blew away everything you are supposed to be afraid of (Food for Thought: Wouldn't killing everything affect your sanity more then looking down a ladder that goes down about ten feet? Wouldn't that kind of make you a gun toting psychopath? Especially if you beat them to death with Gordan Freeman's crowbar?) Many people complain that the NPC's are morons, and not the greatest fighters, even when armed, but this actually makes sense, don't you think? This is not some well trained army that you are fighting, just a bunch of idiot hicks. However, I did not think there be would be much gunfighting, more like shooting hordes of insane monsters with needle teeth and curved claws. And now, THE DAMN WALKING!!! What the hell?! There are man times where all you can do is hope that you are lucky and that you be able to run, ahem, WALK out of that collapsing building or away from the monster that can kill you with one hit. I could not beat the game until I read on how to hack the game and turn up the movement speed. Seriously, I think that is the only way to beat this game. The no HUD thing is pretty cool, as well as the health system (medkits only contain medical supplies such as splints, stitches, bandages, morphine, etc. which must be applied to a specific wound; your arm gets cut, bandage of stitch it, broken leg, limp to a safe spot and use a splint), but the game is far from realistic. First, why the hell can you not pick up guns from dead enemies?! How many times can I break my arm in a day?! I thought the damage through the whole game would accumulate or something, but now, once stick a splint on a broken limb, it magically is fixed and good as new, which is ridiculous. And back to the game be linear: it is annoying, and if you manage to do something very small yet outside the script, the whole game just freaks out. The game is loaded with an insane amount of other bugs, which can severely limit your experience. If this was a mod, I would be very surprised and more approving that a small independent team managed to make this on almost no budget. However, this was supposed to be a professional and well made game, and it simply wasn't. This is a game for people who are not associated with any of Lovercraft's work (because even so-so fans would s*** themselves at some of the more insane happenings later in the game) and want to have more of a semi interactive horror movie experience. That's how I think of it, as a movie, not a game at all.

I couldn't figure out what the heck this game wanted me to do and was confused and frustrated right from the beginning. The art design seems great and the inspirationg from HP Lovecraft is awesome, but this game is just not any good. It's a real shame that it has to be such a vague, confusing, and bland adaptation of great ideas.

With Call of Cthulhu (COC) appearing in so many "Top 100 Games Of All Time" lists, and as a huge Lovecraft fan, I was eager to play this game.

Many people have discussed the game's instability and bugs, particularly on newer systems. This is all true, but the game's most major problem is poor design, pure and simple. The game commits numerous cardinal sins of game design that make the whole experience a frustrating mess for the player.

When the game works, as it does occasionally, it is extremely eerie and atmospheric. In particular, the hotel escape is an excellent recreation of a sequence from Lovecraft's writing. Some of the gameplay choices, such as the sanity system, are also quite daring. Unfortunately, the game's moments of brilliance are all too few and do not make up for its horrendous failings.

Additionally once you acquire weapons the game attempts to become Half-Life, but without Valve's finesse. The shooting destroys the game's tension and the dialogue and design also seem to go downhill from this point. That parallel is not accidental by the way - if you know Half-Life, you will see some *very* similar areas and puzzles in COC.

Here are some of the major flaws with this game that will make you tear your hair out:

> Poor level design: A non-intuitive mess that will leave you wandering around levels aimlessly for hours. For instance, doors that you have previously tried and were locked will suddenly become open-able after you complete a seemingly unrelated task (e.g. turning the gas on in the next room).

> Poor game design: Jumps that can only be completed from a precise angle. Objects that take five clicks to be picked up and added to your inventory. Traps that require in-human micro-second timing to avoid and are instantly fatal.

> Poor puzzle design: Puzzles frequently require items to solve them. That sounds simple, but the game doesn't tell you what items you need, or even that what you are looking at is a puzzle at all. For instance, you might come across a heavy grate. If you have missed the crowbar earlier in the level (easily done thanks to poor level design and muddy textures) then you cannot open the grate. You will simply think this route is a dead-end and have no idea you need to find a crowbar, unless you read an FAQ. It's even possible to progress to a point where you cannot backtrack to get an item you need, making the puzzle unsolvable!

To illustrate just how appalling these design problems are, here's an example of a typical COC experience. At one point in the game I spent about two hours trying to move past a street with several enemies in it. I tried sneaking. I tried fighting. Nothing worked. The reason? One of the enemies was invulnerable. Deliberately. This was how the designers chose to stop the player progressing in that direction. Instead of blocking off the street, they created an invulnerable enemy that looked like any other. As a result, many players will literally be throwing themselves against a brick wall. It turned out that I needed to pick up a certain object earlier in the level and then progress through a different area - but there was nothing to tell me this - no hint that I needed the item and no sign that the other route was the correct one. Welcome to COC!

Add to these issues a waypoint saving feature that forces you to replay large sections when you die, unexpected game crashes and plenty of unavoidable "instant death" moments and you have a recipe for pain and frustration that will test your sanity more than your character's.

All this leaves you facing two major irritations. One is that you will simply become lost, not knowing where to go or what to do next, and wander aimlessly until you stumble on the way forward by chance. The second is that you will know what you need to do, but the game's poor control systems will not allow you to do it. For example, you may need to crawl under a broken fan with split-second timing that takes 7-8 attempts - and each attempt requires you to reload and replay through the entire previous area.

Bottom line: COC is not a diamond in the rough. It is a diamond in the septic tank, and I wish anyone who wants to try it the best of luck digging it out. If you are eager for the plot, watch a play-through on YouTube. Avoid this game at all costs.

I despise giving a game based on Lovecraft works a 0, but that's all I can do for this miserable pile of bugs and nonsense. Usually I can ignore bugs and compensate to deal with tiny issues, but this game was full of (as much as I hate this term) game breaking bugs. First off: CRASHES GALORE! I have never seen a game crash this much, even when it was patched. You can't alt+tab and come back or it crashes. I know this because of the many times I had to (regrettably) look at a guide for the game because what you were supposed to do was so incredibly unclear and ridiculous that I had no other option. A random crowbar the same color as the texture it's sitting on in a random location that is necessary to progress? Check. A conveniently carved out hole in the middle of a solid wooden crate for you to crawl through to get behind an enemy gunner? Check. The final blow for me was at the first appearance of a real monster: a Shoggoth. Straight out of Lovecraft, terrifying as hell, aaaaand bugged. To pass it, the monster must attack you with it's tendril, which is supposed to stick in place so you can run past the spot it was blocking. Instead, half of the time it will one shot you, the other half it won't stick, it'll just go back to the default position instantly and get you stuck. After 3 days of constant frustration, this is where I quit. The shooting is also absolutely horrendous (I felt like I was playing the first Medal of Honor game, but worse), and unfair (instant death by headshot is incredibly common and unpreventable). The only good thing about this game was the horror elements; The sanity effects, the eerie mood, the sounds, everything was pure Lovecraft and it was fantastic. Sadly, I never got to experience it in full, because between every 5 minute horror sequence was 2 hours of frustrating, buggy shooting and nonsense. So disappointing.

Too dark, too frustrating. Maybe if you like HP, but I never read anything by him.

So many bugs and the gameplay is boring and agonizing. I'm not sure how anyone could rate this game above a 1, with the amount of times you die because you go into an area with no escape due to bugs it's plain unplayable. I completed the game only because it was highly recommended by a friend, but I hated it all the way through.

If you want a terribly linear game with unskippable and extremely long cinematics that doesn't allow you to save, this is for you.