Cthulhu Lurks In Dark Gaming Corners, Heeds Call

Thanks to C+VG for its interview with Chris Gray of Headfirst Productions regarding PC/Xbox first-person action title Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, as "based on the Call of Cthulhu tabletop RPG and works of author H.P Lovecraft." Gray notes of the long-in-development title: "we've got a completely new engine... [featuring] vertex and pixel shaders", and elaborates: "It wouldn't be a Lovecraft game without some big monsters; these include a Shoggoth, Father Dagon, Mother Hydra, Flying Polyps and a few other surprises." Elsewhere, Yog-Sothoth points out the new publishing of the 6th Edition of Chaosium's Call Of Cthulhu tabletop RPG rules, as originally penned by Quake level designer Sandy Petersen.

Comments

I'm really tickled by this one!

[AtariAmarok]

I wonder what the Night-gaunts will be like? Also, will there be a racing mode a la the "Cthulhu-Kart" game?

Random Thoughts

[vjmurphy]

The video game is taking too long, and seems to promise more than it can deliver (I'm betting). I enjoyed some of the old licensed Call of Cthulhu adventures from years ago, though: Prisoner of Ice, I think, and Shadow of the Comet?

For those looking for Cthulhu-like games now, I'd suggest Undying, an older FPS with a lot of great atmosphere.

The RPG has always been a favorite of mine, though I haven't played it in forever. The character creation and mechanics are superior to the D20 system, I think. Plus, if you have a copy of Superworld (uses a similar system) you can try pitting superheroes against the eldritch horrors of the Great Old Ones. Nothing beats pitting Robin, the Boy Wonder against a shoggoth.

I also liked the Delta Green expansion for Call of Cthulhu: a very nice modern setting that let's you more logically get disparate characters together for an adventure.

Re:Random Thoughts

[AtariAmarok]

"Nothing beats pitting Robin, the Boy Wonder against a shoggoth"

"Holy giant amoeba, Batman!"

"Don't worry, old chum. It washes off"

Re:Random Thoughts

[mwheeler01]

Also for those with a gamecube I'd highly recomend Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem which is clearly heavily influenced by Lovecraftian fiction. The more the characters are exposed to the supernatural in game the more the game messes with the character and the player. Blood would run down the walls, screams would be heard in the night and limbs would fall off only to reappear. Also the game might pretend to turn down the volume on the TV among other things. Play it with Dolby surround sound in a dark room and you'll find yourself freaking out.

Re:Random Thoughts

[Jeranon]

Is there anywhere that details the differences between the 6th and previous editions (or even between any each of the point releases)? I search but can not find.

Popularity of this Game?

[routerwhore]

I remember reading the Lovecraft stories as a youngster and even procurring the Necronomicon itself (you had to be 18 to buy it) and the mystery and fantasy that it provided for me. I was one of just a handful of kids that knew anything about the obscure writings at the time (and we were all rejects). Not that I'm exactly on the cutting edge of the next generation, but I wonder how many have heard of or read Lovecraft. It isn't like a major movie has been made recently to clue them all in. Should be interesting...

Re:Popularity of this Game?

[bartok]

"It isn't like a major movie has been made recently to clue them all in"

Hellboy

Re:Popularity of this Game?

[irokitt]

Hellboy was neither Lovecraft-inspired (although elements were thrown in) nor is it worthy of being associated with his work. I'm not being a prick here. It would be really hard to make a movie with subject matter like that and make it work. I think it would have to have a gestation like Peter Jackson's rendition of LotR: a fan who is truely interested in being true to the original theme could pull it off, but Hollywood would want to turn it into Godzilla.

Re:Popularity of this Game?

[JasdonLe]

Who is talking about the movie Hellboy? There's a comic as well, case ya haven't heard, which has always had a very Lovecraft feel.

Re:Popularity of this Game?

[irokitt]

The grandparent was complaining about a lack of Lovecraftian movies. The parent was responding to that aspect of the post. Try reading the grandparent, and get enlightened.

Re:Popularity of this Game?

[buffer-overflowed]

We have Herbert West: Re-animator and recently(ann also directed by Stuart Gordon) Dagon.

So, recently? Yea, within the past 3 years. Blockbuster? No.

Then there's a slew of Lovecraft influenced movies(most good horror was influenced by Lovecraft and Poe).

Long Time Coming

[samael]

I'd given up on this game, I'd assumed that as it's been in development for years and years that they'd given up on it.

Joy of joys

[Brakz0rz]

I have faith in this title since I am playing through Bethesda's Elder Scrolls III:Morrowind for the third or fourth time... I am still finding things that I missed and entire questlines I didn't follow. These cats give good game. I don't think that there is a better RPG out there.

Come again?

[ex_ottoyuhr]

"[The game's features include a d]iverse array of levels from quaint towns to alien locations, including Deep One City". I _hope_ they mean R'leyh and just got the name horribly wrong, or else that they mean that city that the German submarine stumbled across... (Never mind how one is supposed to be doing much of anything on the bottom of the Atlantic with 1920s technology.)

If the fish-things are supposed to be Deep Ones, they have the skin coloration all wrong -- "their predominant colour was a greyish-green, though they had white bellies," to quote the Lovecraft Online Archive linked to via their website. Not diarrhea-brown. Besides, they're only Deep Ones. Mi-go or Elder Things or Nightgaunts are _infinetely_ more interesting...

Why do I get the impression that the designers just wanted an excuse to clone _Resident Evil_, only snobbishly? It's not a very impressive-looking game, if one can judge from its promotional materials...

Re:Come again?

[PierreTheMime]

One thing you have to remember is that "only" Deep Ones pose a great threat to a Cthulhu investigator, not to mention a number of them. The Mi-go, though beatable, would be extremely difficult to kill in a FPS game (since all projectile weapons are effectively useless against them and they can fly). Elder Things and other "high-end" mythos creatures would utterly destroy even the most well-stocked human investigator in both mind and body. Of course, this information is based mostly off of the Chaosium system rules, but I'd still doubt that intrepid invesigator Jack would stand any chance against anything bigger than a few Deep Ones.

Kudos to them...

[beeglebug]

You've got to give the developers some credit for sticking with a such a hardcore licence, it's not like Johny Mainstream knows that much about Lovecraft, or gives a damn about Cthulhu.

Having said that, I'm surprised there haven't been more official games before now, most horror titles seem content to rip it off poorly, rather than license it, and I bet it's not the most expensive deal in the world, given it's niche popularity...

as long as they dont use d20

[Anonymous Coward]

it will rock as the newer d20 version of CoC sucks Thank god there released a new edition of the old system

City of the Deep Ones

[AtariAmarok]

"quaint towns to alien locations, including Deep One City". I _hope_ they mean R'leyh and just got the name horribly wrong, or else that they mean that city that the German submarine stumbled across..."

I think it refers to the city under the ocean near Innsmouth, from "The Shadow over Innsmouth".

Re:City of the Deep Ones

[ex_ottoyuhr]

Yes, the city near Innsmouth was the one I had in mind; I didn't have the text of _Shadow over Innsmouth_ handy (danged college!) and so couldn't remember the name.

Re:City of the Deep Ones

[slaker]

Good thing there's an internet!

I like my Elder Gods like I like my women: Squamous and Gibbous.

Could be tricky -

[nicky_d]

The main thing the CoC RPG had going for it was the sanity point system. That's not a criticism, I used to love Call of Cthulhu (like I'm going to use the acronym in that sentence...). But sanity has been very effectively handled as a gameplay element in Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube, so it'll be interesting to see how well this title matches up.

The article does touch on the role of sanity in the game, but it doesn't hint at anything too inspiring. Fingers crossed, though.

FWIW, I didn't really rate Eternal Darkness as a game, but I thought they handled sanity very well, with a few effects that would really shake you up. Combining a good sanity system with a good RPG plot that's not too focused on combat but more along the lines of the great Lucasarts games - with an authentic Lovecraft feel - could make for a wonderful game.

I don't know how much vertex and pixel shaders are going to help here - you could make a great Lovecraft game with just a text adventure engine (as someone did back in the 8-bit days with Pickman's Model). It's just a matter of getting the atmosphere right. Vertex shaders etc. can put a very nice sheen on an atmosphere, but they can't create one - they need a solid foundation. Hopefully Lovecaft's mythos will provide this...

Might convince me to buy an Xbox...

[gamgee5273]

...maybe. :)

Actually, the lack of multiplayer could hurt it with the CoC crowd from the 80's & 90's. Playing that RPG with friends was one of the real reasons to get into Lovecraft. If the videogame has no multiplayer elements (and it sounds like that's not even in the works any longer), then this had better be one damn fine work. Trust me - I'm not attacking it. I'm hoping I hear rave reviews that cause me to go out and pick up a $99 Xbox (should be around that price by the end of 2004, right?). :)

As an aside. a Lovecraft MMORPG would be really cool to see. Base it in either 1920's America or Victorian England and let it run. The beauty of CoC was that your character could almost be anyone or any profession so you could have a witch who's day job is being a maid at Buckingham Palace and have fun with that. Think of it as CoC meets The Sims, even. :)

Re:Might convince me to buy an Xbox...

[Destoo]

I doubt the general concept of MMORPG would work in the Lovecraft universe. The average life of our adventurers in our games would be around 1-2 game sessions.
People who have seen The Sign don't tend to have long life expectancy.

And I can see what threadmilling would be like. Spending 3-4 hours in a library looking for a book.. Or 6 months in the asylum recovering a bit of sanity.

I think this is the point MMORPGs are missing from Paper and pen RPGs.
Trivial/boring tasks can be played with a single roll of dice in a few seconds.

Eh huh...

[Lord_Pain]

A game with Shoggoths, Father Dagon, etc., etc.

Well, to really enjoy this game in the spirit of Lovecraft the player must:
1. Go insane and kill himself with repeated attempts at Rocket Jumping for no reason.

2. Running gibbering to the loving "arms" of Hastur because you know he'll love you a long time back!

3. Be devoured by something whose shape, geometry is so mind-blastingly bizarre as to cause your eyes to mercifully slide away...

4. You... Oh my god! What the hell is crawling up my

Sandy

[Torgo's Pizza]

Ahem, Sandy has done more than just do Quake. He's done fantastic work at Ensemble Studios, almost single-handedly designing the Rise of Rome expansion pack. He knows games inside-and-out. Yeah, I'm biased since I worked with him at ES but don't sell him short. He's a fantastic human being and one of the best designers in the business.

D&D versus CoC

[Phoenixhunter]

Hands down if you're looking to have fun with the roleplaying of CoC versus the loot-hoarding, min-maxing aspects of D&D (or most D20 games for that matter).

Re:D&D versus CoC

[DAldredge]

Perhaps you should play with better DM's.