Written by Jonathan Lee, August 20, 2016, 2:00 am
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” – H.P. Lovecraft
In 1890, on this day, a man by the name of Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born. And with him came a new vision of horror in the strange, the unknown, the incomprehensible, and in Humanity’s insignificance in the face of the Cosmos.
Originally seen as an obscure pulp writer, H.P. Lovecraft later became hailed as a prime example of excellent fiction in horror and the weird. His tales, particularly his famous ones regarding the Cthulhu mythos and the other Elder Gods, are terrifying because of how vividly they display the human mind unraveling in the face of that which we have feared for eons: The Unknown.
Enter Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Created by Headfirst Productions and published by Bethesda Softworks. Originally on the Xbox back in 2005, and then later ported to PC, this game was an adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s story Shadow over Innsmouth.
But wait, there’s a Call of Cthulhu story that H.P. Lovecraft wrote. Why isn’t it called Shadow Over Innsmouth? Shhh, it’s okay. You’re 11 years too late to pick on that.
What Made Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth So Great?
For a survival horror game that ran on a scripted linear path, it pulled off the oppressive, creepy atmosphere well. You found yourself feeling helpless, desperate, and dreadfully curious of the Cult of Dagon and the unseen presence looming over the dusty, rundown town of Innsmouth. There was no HUD or aiming reticle. You had to aim your gun using your sights, and remember your ammunition count. Just got shot? Now you’re limping, slowing down, and will have to patch up. And if you ran across one of the many disturbing sights of Innsmouth, your sanity took a kick in the teeth.
The Unknown played such a big part of this game’s appeal and horror. There was a cult, yes. But who is Dagon? What are these statues really of? Those symbols? The strange paintings of things indescribable except “nightmarish”? And what if you ran into any of those?
You didn’t know what you had in the ammo clip, your health, or sanity. You had to remember it. Your gun fired exactly where you aimed, so you had to pay attention to that too. Who knows what was waiting in the next area? More goons? An abomination that looked like a sponge-beast hominid? A fish man thing?
Really, the only other games that gave me any sort of anxiety like that was the first Dead Space and Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly.
The tension and morbid wonder that permeated the story experience was reflective of the same story-telling that Lovecraft infused into his tales. You want to know what’s out there. But at the same time, you really… really don’t. To know the truth of things too great for our minds is, and will be, enough to shatter us completely.
Was Call of Cthulhu Perfect? No.
The graphics were fairly dated. There were bugs that would have you stuck in doorways or cause the game to crash. And to be honest, it was a very difficult game, which sadly turned away some gamers. But otherwise, this game had a lot of charm. Someone had really loved H.P. Lovecraft’s work, and it showed in the presentation.
What Happened to Call of Cthulhu Then? To Headfirst Productions?
Sadly, the game didn’t pan out commercially. It had good reviews. It earned praise for being a faithful adaptation. Headfirst Productions was unable to find a new publisher and went bankrupt. There had originally been plans for sequels and more games taking place in various Lovecraftian tales, including an adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness (Oh, I would’ve so loved to see that!)
But wait! Something to remind you that there is hope. Next year in 2017, there is an upcoming game of the same name. Call of Cthulhu by Cyanide Studio, Chaosium Inc, and Focus Home Interactive is in the works! At present, the game’s full website is unavailable, but I’m excited to see what comes of this!
Here’s the E3 2016 trailer for the new Call of Cthulhu, in case you didn’t catch it!