Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet

Shadow of the Comet is a good example of the adventure genre in the 90s, with its merits and flaws shining like the stars over Illsmouth on Halley’s passage. However, what the game does wrong may require your patience and goodwill more often than not. Therefore, its appeal is a bit more narrow than other titles, even from that period. On the upside, first things first: it’s Infogrames, it’s Cthulhu. That alone could take you through. This version contains decent voice acting. Nothing extraordinary, but still giving a serviceable personality and flavor to almost all characters. The overall plot is charming, par for the course for Cthulhu lovers. Art direction is stylish, especially the scenery and building design. Other than that, you’ll probably find out for yourself that Shadow of the Comet’s best quality is a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’, a mysterious style that guarantees its place in the gaming cosmos. On the downside, I’d start with sound design. I always chuckle when reading the official line about this: “Bone chilling sound effects that hurtle you into the depths of chaos!”. Uh… no. Sound effects are lacking when compared to similar titles from its time (even other Infogrames’ titles), sometimes just plain weird and funny and also very sparse. Many a scene will feel bland precisely because of this shortcoming of “silent” events. Some puzzles hinder the game’s progression, locking your progress if you make “wrong” choices. Save, save and save, my friend. Dialogue choice structure is linear and also blemished by the 'game-over mechanic' problem. Plot progression felt weird and sometimes nonsensical, tarnishing the story. Not the plot itself, which I quite enjoyed it, but the transitions between the main scenes (the diary helps to bring rythm to the story, but not as much as one would think). In the end, I'd still recommend Shadow of the Comet without hesitation. It’s very didactic of its time if nothing else. Game history par excellence.

I thought this might be fun, but the puzzles are impossible without a walkthrough...and some are even difficult WITH a walkthrough. The graphics are pretty good for the era. The voiceovers are alright. The story is just ok, and to me, is lacking a fair bit.. Having played dark corners and then going back to this I guess I had too high of hopes.

I wanted to like this game. I really like the source material, and I enjoy adventure games, but this one just commits too many faux pas of game design. I understand that things have changed, but it becomes unenjoyable pretty quickly. Mazes where the correct path forward is to go back into the door you just left, or to wait for secret doors to open are bad enough, but inexcusable when there are no clues. Pixel hunting is even worse when you don't actually click on things to interact with them. Combining items is done entirely contextually, and you can break sequences pretty easily if you don't do the exact song and dance that the game intends. Most puzzles are complete guesswork, like being asked a riddle made up by a six-year-old. Locking yourself out of finishing the game because you didn't pick up a hidden item hours previous is another common feature and, again, no clues are generally offered to point you in the right direction. The story is fun at first, and the characters are altogether likeable enough I guess, but the writing completely falls apart about halfway through the game. There are one or two really atmospheric moments that show a lot of potential, but the game becomes so nonsensical that it ruins the immersion. Things go beyond Scooby-Doo levels of cartoonish campiness and with less justification. The ending is also incredibly weak, and was a complete letdown. I really enjoyed the art, and what music there is. I would have liked for the artists to be able to flex a bit more. The Museum feature included with the game has some awesome stuff to see that exceeds most of what you see in the game proper. Altogether, I'd say that this was an almost entirely unenjoyable experience that requires a guide to complete without tearing your eyes out. I'm moving onto Prisoner of Ice after this, which I've heard is a better game overall. Lovecraft and adventure games sounds like an easy layup for a talented team, but this game just falls short.

Shadow of the Comet has a great story and atmosphere to it, but unfortunately that's where the good things with it stop. You play as Parker, sent to check out Halley's Comet in a small New England town and to investigate claims of what occured there 75 years earlier. Instead you uncover something more dark and sinister in the perfect fashion of H.P. Lovecraft. The gameplay is right out bad, even compared to other point n click games at its time. I don't know if the CD version made it worse, but controls are unresponsive and hard to figure out. The writing is... mostly serious but oddly comedic at times. The voice acting might not be the best, but it was also the early 90s so it can be excused. I don't recommend this game unless you're a hardcore Lovecraft fan or a point n click veteran. Definitely not something for newcomers of the genre.

Shadow of the Comet starts off as a promising Lovecraft adventure game, but around the halfway point really loses its way. The biggest issue is puzzles which the player isn't given enough information to solve. In the early game, the main character can "look" at many of the objects and areas in the game world and will provide a description of what he sees. A lot of these details are important for solving puzzles and allow attentive players to progress using logic and memory. In the second of three in-game days, there are suddenly far fewer opportunities to "look" at the environment, and consequently very little information about what the next steps should be. This is also the point at which the game begins peppering puzzles with lots of fail-states which require a reload. The end result is the player having to brute force most puzzles and being punished for not saving constantly, which isn't satisfying gameplay even when the solution is guessed quickly. Shadow of the Comet is clearly made by developers familiar with Lovecraft, and the Cthulhu Mythos is mostly well used ... except when it comes to the non-player characters. There are numerous NPCs in the game which get little introduction (some introductions can even be missed) and most of those are frontloaded early in the game. Later in the game, conversations will start referring to these characters the play has met only briefly, if at all, and it's really impossible to remember who the game is talking about. Worse, remembering who 's who becomes important the gameplay, resulting again in the feeling that the only way forward is trial and error. Not to mention making it difficult to follow the plot. Overall, Shadow of the Comet is pretty weak. What starts as a classic feeling 90s point-and-click adventure game devolves into a rushed feeling mess in the back half of the game. It's a shame, because the first third or so is quite promising.