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/