Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet

Although the atmosphere and the good intentions are there, the stern control system and poor game design did not leave me much to enjoy. Top that with the fact that the game does not run smoothly no matter what settings I made in-game and on DOS-box, and it is easy to understand the low score. I never managed to synchronize the spoken with the written dialogue. The character's speed (which is customizable from the in-game menu) also affects the text speed, and the cinematics animation speed, so you either play with a character that walks like a snail, or you see the cinematic/animations on some silent-movie like speed (if not faster), which REALLY kills the suspense/atmosphere. The death scenes suffer from the lack of a decent auto-save system, raising the frustration rather than the horror levels. I found myself playing with only the keyboard, as the character has to stand in front of an object to examine it (think original "Grim Fandango"), and you cannot simply click on the spot you want your sprite to go to, but rather keep the left mouse-button pressed and guiding him around paths with mouse movements, but only up-down-left-right, no diagonal. Or resort to keyboard movement, which is a little less frustrating, although still no diagonal movement (no way is this point & click!) I would recommend playing this game only for historical or nostalgia reasons, especially if you find it in a bundle with its successor, "Prisoner of Ice" for under 5$, which I was relieved to see had none of the above problems, and the return of a couple of this games characters was a pleasant surprise, as it has a complete different tone.

Gog version is buggy. There's no way to correctly set dosbox' cycles so you either have slow as hell walking speed and dialogues or fast as lightnigh and unintelligible animations. THe game froze 6/7 times and I got stuck at ~90% due to a bug (you are supposed to use an object to progress but when I do it nothing happens). Graphics are kinda bad and uneven. Controls are atrocious. Using the keyboard is the less terrible option- forget about the mouse. Music is good, voice acting is ok. Puzzles are hard, sometimes bordering on insanity (like using a random object at a specific unrelated place in a specific unrelated screen to make the game progress). You often don't have any idea on what are you supposed to do. Eventually you'll resort to walkthroughs. You can also enter a failstate, meaning you can't progress in the game because you didnt' get a necessary object at the right time and you cant' go back to get it. I didn't mind the death scenes- I found them funny. If you save often (you should) they aren't an issue. I kinda liked the maze. It's easy and straightforward enough as long as you don't lose track of where you are. I suggest you to finish it in one session. The story isn't that good. It's the most stereotyped call of cthulhu plot there is and it's not that well narrated either. If you are familiar with coc you've already seen it, if you are not then it probably won't make much sense. It feels like a bad CoC tabletop rpg adventure. You'll read some very positive reviews and it's obvious that some people really liked this game. And I completely understand why: it has the early 90s charm mixed with a good atmosphere and the cthulhu mythos. Unfortunately, Shadow of the Comet it's a bad game that can only be considered good through the lenses of nostalgia. Buy it on sale only if you are a real 90s adventures and lovecraft fan.

Classic game, but this version is nearly unplayable. You have to tweak the config options *a lot* just to run it, to begin with. Then you can't skip dialogue lines or speed text up, so you have to sit through a suuuper slow and long dialogue. Controls are terrible (they were back in the day, and I don't expect a full overhaul of the game, but allowing at least walking with a single click would have been nice). I couldn't get past the first screen, shame I can't refund it.

I begin with the disclaimer that I've never read any of Lovecraft's works, aside from owning a copy of the Necronomicon, so maybe there's something I'm missing something, but when not a single voice actor can properly pronounce the titular Eldritch Horror's name, you're already in for a rough ride. I did like the visuals, especially the town, and the music sets the tone very well, but unfortunately, the game fails to actually have that tone. At a select few points, some surreal and horrific things occur, but much of the game's story just drags with nothing much going on. You'll meet a lot of important characters, and be expected to remember them all, as well as where they live, without ever setting foot in most of their houses or even talking to many of them. Worse than anything, though, is the gameplay: it's outright marinated in everything that turns people away from the genre. I'm more than familiar with it, and I've been playing Point-and-Click Adventures since the first King's Quest, but this takes it to a whole new level. Lots of enemies to avoid in the caves, and sometimes, they'll just spawn right on top of you as you enter a room, or get stuck in the exit. You'll be dying a lot, and the Game Over screen mourns the loss of poor "Carter". Your name is Parker. Yes, the voice-over guy gets it right. You know the rest: moon logic puzzles, vague hints, illogical item combinations; the works. They even managed to screw up the interface. I'll save you a lot of hassle: ditch the mouse and just use your keyboard. The speeds are all wrong, too; the game is incredibly sluggish at most speeds, but regardless of which one you choose, the timing on the speech and animations are always off, sometimes even cutting off a voice-over in mid-sentence. This game is required reading for the genre, but it's less Canterbury Tales and more A Separate Peace.

With the parade of Lovecraft based games out there, this one remains the true daddy of them all. A game that right from the beginning suffocates you with a building tension and dark atmosphere and does not let go until you finish the game. Do not be fooled by the graphics, It is easily one of the scariest games I have played, due to good dialogue, extremely eerie soundtrack and cleverly written story. I cannot express how happy I was when I saw this game available. If you are a Lovecraft fan THIS is a must have. Thank you GOG seriously thank you.