Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

About Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth was developed by Headfirst Productions and published by Bethesda Softworks, first for the original Xbox in October 2005 and then for Windows in 2006 (April 26 in North America). Today it is sold for Windows on Steam and GOG; the Steam release is in English, while GOG lists English, German and French voices and text. Critics gave it generally favourable reviews (76 on Metacritic for PC, 77 for Xbox), praising its atmosphere while faulting its bugs and its difficulty, and it sold poorly on release.

It opens in 1915, when Boston police detective Jack Walters walks into a cult's manor house during a siege and comes out apparently insane. Years later, working as a private detective, he takes a missing-person case in Innsmouth, a hostile, half-empty coastal town in 1922. Behind its unfriendly townsfolk are the Esoteric Order of Dagon, the fish-like Deep Ones and beings of the Cthulhu Mythos, drawn mainly from The Shadow over Innsmouth.

The first part of the game is about getting away: after a night at the town hotel turns violent, you are unarmed and must sneak through alleys, buildings and sewers past police patrols and cultists. Later come 1920s firearms such as a revolver, a shotgun and a Thompson, always with ammunition to conserve, and melee with a crowbar or knife. The path through the chapters is linear and heavily scripted.

There is no on-screen health bar, ammo count or crosshair: you hear your heartbeat and breathing grow louder when hurt, and each injury, a bleeding wound, poison or a broken leg, needs its own remedy, such as bandages or a splint. A sanity system makes Walters lose his grip when he looks at things no one should; the screen warps, sounds distort and the controls turn unsteady, and at its worst it ends in madness or suicide and a game over. Elder Sign marks are places of safety and where you save.

On Steam players are divided, about two in three reviews positive, and many note its age. For readers who want Lovecraft's Innsmouth itself, with a long first stretch of being hunted rather than doing the hunting, it remains one of the closest adaptations in a game.

How to play Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

1. Buy it on Steam or GOG for Windows.
2. Investigate Innsmouth as Jack Walters, talking to townsfolk and searching for the missing clerk.
3. When the town turns on you, sneak and run: stay out of sight of patrols until you find a weapon.
4. Use your scarce firearms carefully, and save at the Elder Sign marks.
5. Treat each wound with the right remedy and avoid looking at horrors for too long, or your sanity will slip.

Tips

• Listen to your heartbeat and breathing; they are your health.
• Carry the right medical items: a splint, bandages and antidote treat different wounds.
• Conserve ammunition; even once armed it is often better to avoid a fight than to win it.
• Save whenever you reach an Elder Sign, since that is where the game lets you save.
• Look away from disturbing sights to protect your sanity; sanity also returns in safe places.

Questions