I bought this game on a whim, never played it back in the day when it came out, actually, not really having heard of it before. I trusted the score and the reviews here on GoG and oooh boy am I glad i did. This game, with all the flaws that other reviews point out- which are definately there - still it's a masterpiece. Yes it's janky, yes gameplay it's outdated, yes combat can get boring (like any oldschool jrpg though, I might say), yes is kinda incomplete, but all in all this game is still head above shoulders many new AAA titles, because it has a soul. If you are familiar with "classic" jrpg and dont' mind them, absolutely buy this gem.
This game is a step forward from its predecessor Shadow of the Comet, and its definetly more comfortable for the modern audience, but it also lacks the atmosphere of SotC and it's very short. Graphics are good (for '95) (monsters look silly though and aren't very lovecraftesque) Controls are good (classic point n click controls) Sound is ok (I had few sound and fmv glitches, but nothing major) but music kinda sucks (15s loops repeated over and over) Voice acting is good Puzzles are ok, nothing special but they follow logic and are pretty straightforward. There are a few hard, pixel hunting puzzles, but in general this is an easy game. There is an autosave system so death scenes aren't a big deal. The story would be nice and interesting (much better than SotC IMHO) if it wasn't extremely rushed: the game starts in media res and feels like it's the final act of a much longer game. Monsters and magic are introduced right away at the beginning with no explanation, so the game lacks the mistery and suspense of a good lovecraft story. The characters, even the protagonist who plays a pivotal role in the plot, are extremely dull and generic and lack any kind of conversation beside what is strictly necessary to make the game progress. The world is not interactive at all. The story it's also a direct sequel to Shadow of the Comet so everything will make more sense if you played it (even though it's not mandatory). In the end, it feels like the authors learned and improved from SotC and had an actually really interesting story in mind for this one, but lacked the budget or the time to make a full fledged AAA point n click adventure title, and resorted to put everything togehter in a very condensed manner. The same story but with a Broken Sword or LucasArts production value would deserve 5 stars. As it is, it only deserves 3: buy it on sale if you liked SotC or if you like CoC and 90s adventures.
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.
A really great game - Revolution Soft at it's best. A shame it's too short (but I think it was okay back then).
