You'll take on the role of John T. Carter, a brilliant young astronomer, piecing together the puzzling history of the village and its cryptic inhabitants. Incredibly realistic action and supernatural chaos intertwine to draw players deep into the puzzling mysteries within the Shadow of the Comet.
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Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet, originally just Shadow of the Comet, is a Lovecraft themed 1993 point-and-click adventure game for the PC DOS. Its character portraits are just the tracing of famous actors, its interface was already outdated by the time it came out, and worst of all, its puzzles fucking suck. But, in conjunction with that all, Shadow of the Comet features a unique setting, awesome monsters, and some absolutely chilling scenes. All in all, it resulted in it getting this sort-of hated soft spot in my heart lol.
The weakest point in the entire game are its puzzles. Shadow of the Comet's puzzles are genuinely terrible, and impossible to figure out without a guide, as a significant number of them are also timed! The first true puzzle you run into in the game involves developing photos with the game giving you 8 chemicals to choose from. You only need to use 4; in a specific order mind you. There are absolutely no hints, except for expecting the player to know the scientific terms for the chemicals that make up the developer and what order to use them… naturally of course! All the other puzzles are not any better, in fact the game starts to make you time everything right with a countdown on top of it all. The last in-game day is impossible without a guide, genuinely. At least the creators seemed to release a guidebook about a year after the release of the game… but honestly, as a kid, I probably would have just dropped the game instead of searching for a guidebook.
The graphics, sound and interface are all a bit dated, even when it was first released in 1993. I mean like, come on, Myst and Day of the Tentacle came out the same year and were infinitely more impressive (Myst) or charming (DotT). Shadow of the Comet has a lot going for it, taking the lore of Lovecraft, something that uses the reader's imagination to physically shape their deepest fears, and using an interactive medium to tell it. I think the especially ghoulish scenes, such as the cemetery and jump-scare monsters are where the game really shows its strengths, making a really thrilling point-and-click adventure game. Just wish it focused on it a bit more. Sound wise, there’s I think 3 unique songs in this game, one of which only plays when you leave the town at the end. It gets annoying pretty fast.
Overall, I don’t think I would recommend Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet to too many, unless you’re dying to try a Lovecraft themed point-and-click. It’s not very fun because you really do need to look up everything you have to do, since so much of it is timed, you don’t have time to mess around and try stuff out. Cthulhu isn’t even really in the game! You see its tentacles kinda at the end, but that’s it. They should have just kept it named Shadow of Comet, since that’s what the game focuses on more, but I guess it doesn’t sound as scary. Some cool scenes, but pretty forgettable overall.
2/5
The weakest point in the entire game are its puzzles. Shadow of the Comet's puzzles are genuinely terrible, and impossible to figure out without a guide, as a significant number of them are also timed! The first true puzzle you run into in the game involves developing photos with the game giving you 8 chemicals to choose from. You only need to use 4; in a specific order mind you. There are absolutely no hints, except for expecting the player to know the scientific terms for the chemicals that make up the developer and what order to use them… naturally of course! All the other puzzles are not any better, in fact the game starts to make you time everything right with a countdown on top of it all. The last in-game day is impossible without a guide, genuinely. At least the creators seemed to release a guidebook about a year after the release of the game… but honestly, as a kid, I probably would have just dropped the game instead of searching for a guidebook.
The graphics, sound and interface are all a bit dated, even when it was first released in 1993. I mean like, come on, Myst and Day of the Tentacle came out the same year and were infinitely more impressive (Myst) or charming (DotT). Shadow of the Comet has a lot going for it, taking the lore of Lovecraft, something that uses the reader's imagination to physically shape their deepest fears, and using an interactive medium to tell it. I think the especially ghoulish scenes, such as the cemetery and jump-scare monsters are where the game really shows its strengths, making a really thrilling point-and-click adventure game. Just wish it focused on it a bit more. Sound wise, there’s I think 3 unique songs in this game, one of which only plays when you leave the town at the end. It gets annoying pretty fast.
Overall, I don’t think I would recommend Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet to too many, unless you’re dying to try a Lovecraft themed point-and-click. It’s not very fun because you really do need to look up everything you have to do, since so much of it is timed, you don’t have time to mess around and try stuff out. Cthulhu isn’t even really in the game! You see its tentacles kinda at the end, but that’s it. They should have just kept it named Shadow of Comet, since that’s what the game focuses on more, but I guess it doesn’t sound as scary. Some cool scenes, but pretty forgettable overall.
2/5
Shadow of the Comet is what a 1950's Hollywood adaptation of HP Lovecraft's mythos might have been like. The surface elements of Lovecraftian horror are all accounted for, but the framing is something else entirely.
Where Lovecraft's protagonists were often pitiful and cowardly, Shadow of the Comet is played from the perspective of a handsome, capable hero in John Parker. Parker not only faces up against the unfathomable horrors of the cosmos, but does it without succumbing to them any way.
Whereas Lovecraft imagined his beings as entities whose presence and morals were far beyond human understanding, Shadow of the Comet turns them into evil kaiju monsters, commanded by the nefarious whims of an (of course) Native American summoner.
Then the handsome white guy literally punches out Cthulhu and saves the day. And then the whole town throws him a surprise party before he rides off into the sunset. Nothing in the previous two sentences is an exaggeration or a joke.
The basic mechanics are often just as baffling. Movement is stiff and the backgrounds are so richly detailed that it's often impossible to make out which objects are interactable. Sometimes, they will be highlighted with a white line, but not always, because that was acceptable game design in 1993.
While Comet doesn't exactly capture the atmosphere of Lovecraft's stories, it does have a decent atmosphere of its own. The game can get delightfully creepy and exploring the town of Illsmouth (heh) leads to meeting a small gallery of intriguing characters.
The instadeaths and moon logic puzzles make the game feel older than it is, though. I would not have been shocked if I'd learned that Comet was actually from the mid 80's. However, some terrific animations and music give it an edge and shows that this was no throwaway title. There's a lot of ambition on display, and it's frankly a shame that Shadow of the Comet has been so forgotten over time.
For all it's many puzzling narrative and mechanical choices, there's charm here. Lovecraft fans will get a chuckle out of where the game hits and misses when adapting the mythos, and fans of old adventure games with tolerance for jank are sure to appreciate its eccentricities.
If you want more of me talking about this game, check out this episode of the DOS Game Club podcast:https://www.dosgameclub.com/shadow-of-the-comet/
Where Lovecraft's protagonists were often pitiful and cowardly, Shadow of the Comet is played from the perspective of a handsome, capable hero in John Parker. Parker not only faces up against the unfathomable horrors of the cosmos, but does it without succumbing to them any way.
Whereas Lovecraft imagined his beings as entities whose presence and morals were far beyond human understanding, Shadow of the Comet turns them into evil kaiju monsters, commanded by the nefarious whims of an (of course) Native American summoner.
Then the handsome white guy literally punches out Cthulhu and saves the day. And then the whole town throws him a surprise party before he rides off into the sunset. Nothing in the previous two sentences is an exaggeration or a joke.
The basic mechanics are often just as baffling. Movement is stiff and the backgrounds are so richly detailed that it's often impossible to make out which objects are interactable. Sometimes, they will be highlighted with a white line, but not always, because that was acceptable game design in 1993.
While Comet doesn't exactly capture the atmosphere of Lovecraft's stories, it does have a decent atmosphere of its own. The game can get delightfully creepy and exploring the town of Illsmouth (heh) leads to meeting a small gallery of intriguing characters.
The instadeaths and moon logic puzzles make the game feel older than it is, though. I would not have been shocked if I'd learned that Comet was actually from the mid 80's. However, some terrific animations and music give it an edge and shows that this was no throwaway title. There's a lot of ambition on display, and it's frankly a shame that Shadow of the Comet has been so forgotten over time.
For all it's many puzzling narrative and mechanical choices, there's charm here. Lovecraft fans will get a chuckle out of where the game hits and misses when adapting the mythos, and fans of old adventure games with tolerance for jank are sure to appreciate its eccentricities.
If you want more of me talking about this game, check out this episode of the DOS Game Club podcast:https://www.dosgameclub.com/shadow-of-the-comet/
Easily one of the cooler point and clicks out there. Love the atmosphere and narrative. You really feel like a Lovecraft protagonist how you have to investigate and keep notes of everything. The animation and the art is really cool, too. I love their use of portraits of famous actors like Vincent Price, makes it so much easier to keep track of the characters and gives it a more cinematic tinge.
Es un juego altamente recomendado para los amantes del género terror y lovecraftiano. Nos encontraremos ante una conspiración enorme y ante una de las mejores adaptaciones de los relatos de Lovecraft. Nos vamos a encontrar asesinatos, sectas, monstruos, deidades antediluvianas y referencias al mundo de Lovecraft, Una investigación completa con cientos de cosas para leer. Aunque tiene más de 20 años, ha envejecido muy bien y sigue dando sustos y miedo en su atmosfera.