Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet

About Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet

Shadow of the Comet came out for MS-DOS in March 1993, made by the French studio Infogrames and later sold under the Call of Cthulhu name. Steam and GOG both sell it with the floppy and the CD-ROM versions in one package.

In 1834 an English lord, Boleskine, came to Illsmouth to watch Halley's comet and went mad. In 1910 the comet is back, and so is a young photographer, John Parker, who has read Boleskine's papers and wants to take the pictures his predecessor never could. Illsmouth looks like a sleepy fishing town, but its people are frightened and strange, a library holds books no one should read, and there's an old ritual ground in the forest marked by a carved cross. You have three days before the comet passes.

It's a third-person adventure in pixel art. You walk Parker around the town and the woods, talk to its people, read journals and old books, gather items and use them as the cult moves toward the night of the comet. A notebook sums up what you've learned, and a map lets you jump back to places you've seen. The first day is slow detective work. Watch who sits with whom in the bar, not only what they tell you. Days two and three get much faster, with chases and moments where one wrong step kills you.

The story borrows from The Dunwich Horror and The Shadow over Innsmouth. Close-up portraits show some of the townsfolk turning into something not quite human, and a retro reviewer spotted faces modelled on Vincent Price, Jack Nicholson and Lovecraft himself among them. The voice acting is famously rough.

It was built for the keyboard, and the mouse controls added later feel clumsy. Some early mistakes don't stop you until much later, so save often and in more than one slot. It suits players who like Lovecraft and older adventures and can live with a dated interface. Steam players praise its art, story and creepy cut scenes, and warn that a walkthrough helps.

How to play Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet

1. Buy it on Steam or GOG. Both include the floppy and the CD-ROM versions.
2. Walk Parker around Illsmouth with the arrow keys and press a key to act when he faces something.
3. Talk to the townsfolk and read the books and notes you find to piece together the town's past. Your notebook keeps a summary.
4. Collect items and use them from the inventory to get past each obstacle.
5. Use the map to jump back to places you have already seen, when the game lets you.
6. Save often in more than one slot, so a wrong move does not cost you hours.

Tips

• Save in several slots as you go. Some mistakes on the first day only end the game much later.
• Read the journals and old books you find. They hold the clues you need.
• Talk to everyone, and come back to them when something new happens.
• Watch who is in the bar with whom and who leaves whose house. What people do matters as much as what they say.
• If the mouse feels clumsy, walk with the arrow keys and keep the mouse for objects and menus.
• Keep a walkthrough nearby if you get stuck: Steam players say many of them needed one.

Questions