Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet

At a certain point in the game, you must use a "small key" to unlock something. However, this did not actually work for me and for at least some other users (as seen on the forum). This locks all progression and when I tried to restart from previous saves it didn't work. Trying to use saves off the internet didn't work either, as for some reason, the game failed to ever display them as an option to load even when they were in the saves folder. Game is pretty neat other than that. The old graphical style holds up alright and enhances the mood to me. That said, stay *far* away because there is a 0% chance of this game-breaking issue getting patched.

This game is very hard. I often found it unclear what needed to be done to progress. In addition to that, for those that hate mazes, be warned! Graphics set the mood but are uneven with several (what appears to be) very bad cut & paste jobs. These things disrupt an otherwise atmospheric adventure based on the works of Lovecraft. There are some very memorable scenes in the game. If you're a fan, give it a try, but you might want to have a walkthrough handy.

The interface and navigational controls were outdated at the time. Making travel take much longer than is needed even when you crank up the speed, though it brakes your immersion in the atmosphere to do so. While the game is filled with objects they exist only as placid elements of the background art. You cannot interact or eamine them to learn more about the world save for a few examples. Talking with ohter characters is as frustrating as can be. Your character must be aligned properly in relation to yourself. Your characters do not do so automatically. Same goes for picking up objects. The writing though is sharp and done well. The chracters are believeable enough though we have the usual early 90's VO hamminess. In the end it is a shame that the mechanics kept me from enjoying it.

There are just a few games I'm not able to finish but this is one of them. Everything from the controls to the puzzles to numerous cheap deaths, Shadow of the comet is just a mess. I fought my way through the infamous catacombs but decided to just quit because I was not having any fun with the game. The puzzles are absolutely the worst part of the game and most of the time make little to no sense. Add in some timed puzzles and mazes and you got yourself an extremely frustrating adventure game with awful controls which only merit is a decent story and setting. Even though I paid next to nothing for it on sale, SotC has not aged well and I just can't recommend it even to the most die-hard Lovecraft fans.