CoC:DCotE is a survival horror game based on the Cthulhu mythos and the works of the American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, in particular the two novellas "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "The Shadow Out of Time". The game's protagonist is Jack Walters, a private detective suffering from amnesia regarding the last six years of his life. In addition, he is haunted by strange visions that sometimes help him in solving cases with apparently insufficient evidence. He accepts a missing person case and is sent to the town of Innsmouth. Over the course of his investigations, Jack slowly unravels some strange and terrible secrets behind Innsmouth, the missing person and even his own past.

When I was a child, I read everything from H. P. Lovecraft I could get a hold of. So obviously I had to try out a game based on his work. But before we take a look at the actual game, let me put one thing straight: the sheer amount of bugs and glitches is utterly ridiculous! And I am talking about crucial bugs that literally prevent the player from proceeding with the game. Those problems should never have passed the quality assurance in the first place. But in this particular case things are a little different.

CoC:DCotE was developed by Headfirst Productions and published by Bethesda Softworks. Shortly after the release for the XBox in 2005, Headfirst ran into financial problems and eventually went bankrupt in 2006. While the company was in its final throes, the game was ported to the PC and released for this platform in 2006. According to rumors, the port was done single-handedly and free of charge by the lead programmer himself. So don't expect the usual quality standards and, even worse, don't expect a patch... ever. But despite all the problems – some of which were infuriating to say the least – I kept on playing. So obviously the game did something right. Let's take a look.

Absence of HUD
The first notable thing is the total lack of a HUD, which promises some immersive gameplay. The immersion actually works quite well in-game, despite some minor flaws like the fact that you can't see Jack's feet when looking to the ground or that he still holds his weapon while climbing ladders. Also, you lose control over Jack during cut scenes and conversations. Half-Life, for example, did a much better job in this regard. However, those things are easy to get over. The missing HUD raises one important question, though: how is the player kept posted about Jack's status?

First of all, what information is there that could have been displayed? Due to the lack of armor, the vital status information basically narrows down to the amount of ammo as well as the player character's health. As for the ammo, well, scrupulously reload the weapons after each encounter and you should be fine. Seriously, there is no way of telling how much ammo is left in a given weapon unless you know its capacity and counted your shots. And since the story is set in the 1920s, there was no option to bypass this problem by simply placing displays on all the weapons.

Next up is the player character's health status. But before I describe how this information is conveyed in-game, I first have to explain the underlying system.

Health system
There are two separate health characteristics: physical and mental health. For simplicity's sake, I will refer to the former simply as "health" and to the latter as "sanity". The possible states of Jack's health and sanity have a certain diversity that you won't find in many other games.

The health system features several hit zones and a range of different injuries, each requiring a particular treatment. For example, lacerations can be treated with simple bandages, while deep cuts require immediate suturation before the blood loss becomes fatal. When suffering from venomed wounds, Jack needs to apply an antidote and in case of a broken limb you better have a splint ready. So forget about your average health pickup. Moreover, each treatment triggers a cut scene and thus should not be performed during battle.

In terms of sanity, the possible states range from fear over panic, delusion and schizophrenia up to the point where Jack develops a suicidal drive and kills himself. Sanity is compromised by scary and horrifying sights as well as the presence of cosmic entities from the Cthulhu mythos. Oh, did I mention that Jack suffers from acrophobia?

Still, the question is how does the game keep you informed about all this stuff? The answer is visual and auditory feedback. In terms of health, the feedback comprises

• blood stains in your vision and heavy breathing to indicate an injury,
• fading colors and blurred vision when suffering from blood loss,
• groans and grinding noises when moving with broken limbs,

while the sanity feedback consists of

• heavy and accelerated breathing as well as chattering of teeth,
• blurred vision, vertigo and increased motion blur,
• muttering, soliloquies and panic screams,
• visual and auditory hallucination.

Overall, the health system is a nice touch and it delivers a clear statement: Jack is not the gun-wielding elite soldier eating bullets for breakfast. He is a both mentally and physically fragile human being and it doesn't need much abuse to take him down.

Graphics and sound
In terms of graphics, CoC:DCotE is far from being top notch, even compared to the standards at the time of its release in 2006. It mainly suffers from blurry low resolution textures which is a common problem in PC ports. Nonetheless, the dark and worn visuals manage to transport a certain sense of realism and subtle peril. Especially the townspeople of Innsmouth have a convincingly creepy look. It's all about atmosphere. Which brings us to the sound.

This is where the game excels. The music, the ambient sounds, the voice acting... it all fits and creates a dense and suspenseful atmosphere. Granted, the sound is rather minimalist at times, but in this case less is definitely more. The only weak point is the fact the Jack's dialogs do not adjust to his current sanity state. Don't get me wrong, for a private detective the voice acting is certainly convincing. But even when facing disturbing and unearthly horrors, Jack's voice remains remarkably calm and steady, which is even more puzzling with regard to the effort that was put into the sanity system.

Controls
The controls are nothing special, but they serve their purpose. Thankfully the PC port allows a decent usage of the mouse-keyboard combo. In this regard I still vividly remember the PC port of "Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance" as a negative prime example. When aiming in a first person perspective, you weren't able to use the mouse. The game forced you to use the directional keys instead. At least it had the courtesy to let you bind actions to the different keys at will. But the labels of the actions had such illustrative descriptions like "Joy1" or "ShoulderButtonLeft". Honestly, how am I as a PC gamer supposed to know which action is bound to "Joy1" in the console version of the game? But that's another story.

The one thing that bothered me about the controls in CoC:DCotE is the jumping. Normally, you would walk towards an obstacle to gain some momentum and then jump. But if you do it that way, you often get stuck at the edge and fall down. Instead you have to stand still in front of the obstacle, then jump straight up and start walking while in mid-air. This doesn't make too much sense, but then again it's just a game. There is also a stealth mode, but it's pointless to further delve into this topic since the stealth system is so heavily messed up that it basically comes down to trial-and-error. The following quote sums it up perfectly:

Death is frequent and repetition likely.

Save mechanism
CoC:DCotE uses a console-style savepoint system. The checkpoints take the form of signs painted to the walls in a lucid white color and come in two varieties. The basic version is shaped like an eye and simply allows to save the current progress. The enhanced version features a much smaller eye shape surrounded by a pentagram. In addition to the saving function it also serves as a safe haven by repelling enemies in immediate vicinity.

The checkpoint system appears to be a reasonable choice since the possibility to save at will would definitely destroy the anxious suspense that is a key element of this game. But the checkpoints are spaced so far apart that you are often forced to replay the same five to ten-minute segment again and again before making any kind of progress. These segments frequently contain cut scenes and dialogs which make the repetitions even more tedious. On top of that, there are only six save slots which forces you to constantly overwrite old savegames. So, if you goofed up in a level and need a fresh start, you better have a sufficiently old savegame somewhere or you're done for. Backing up your progress is highly recommended anyway since CoC:DCotE is notorious for savegame corruption.

A perfect example of a frustrating sequence is definitely Jack's escape from a cave system near the end of the game. You have to make a dash for the exit before the whole place collapses and you have to meet a strict time limit in doing so. And believe me, your accuracy has to be perfect. If you strafe only once, you're dead since this already cost you too much time. If you get stuck, even if it's only for a split second, you're dead. If you don't follow the shortest possible path, you're dead. At the end of the run you have to operate a panel in order to open the exit. But if you head straight towards the panel and activate it, you're dead. Why? Because in order for the game to acknowledge that you reached the goal, you have to cross a certain invisible border that lies past the panel. That's some wicked game design, isn't it? Even worse, your vision is constantly blurring and billowing like crazy since Jack is understandably terrified by the whole situation. This makes it even harder to avoid falling rocks and master some of the necessary jumps. Taking into account the facts that

• the whole sequence takes about two minutes to complete,
• prior to each attempt you have to sit through a ten-second cut scene,
• after 45 (no kidding!) unsuccessful attempts I finally gave up and watched the game's ending on youtube,

this example clearly shows how painful the checkpoint system can be. I am utterly incapable of completing the final two minutes of the game. Although it wouldn't come as a suprise to find out that this is yet another glitch, I honestly don't care anymore.

In conclusion, while managing to keep the player vigilant, the save mechanism is a constant source of frustration and definitely could have used some improvement.

Artificial stupidity
Let's talk about the so-called artificial intelligence. Oh boy, when witnessing the behavior of the NPCs in this game, a lot of terms come to your mind, though "intelligence" certainly isn't one of them. The game manual states that

[...] the special AI enables your enemies to track you down and pursue you, either alone or in groups.

The term "special" is clearly a euphemism. It's like when your little son tells you that the other kids at school call him dumb and you answer: "No. You're not dumb. You're special." Seriously, there was this particular incident where I ran into a guard while ascending a stairway. I bumped right into him, standing with my forehead to his chin and he didn't notice me at all. "Could be poor visual detection." you might say. But let me tell you this: at times the senses of the townspeople of Innsmouth have an almost uncanny quality. More than once I was "seen" through obstacles and solid walls while crouch-stealthing in shadows so dark that I couldn't even see were I was heading.

To put it bluntly: the NPCs are basically retards with occasional X-ray and night vision. Other than that, there is little more to say. The guards are easily alarmed, but quickly return to normal duty, unless you encounter the infamous glitch that keeps them highly alerted for an infinite time span. However, while patrolling, they follow their predefined routes to the letter. No noticeable variation or pseudo-randomization of any kind.

Bug-o-rama
As I already stated in the beginning, the amount of serious bugs and glitches in CoC:DCotE is unparalleled in my personal library of games. A walkthrough I found on the internet starts with the section "Bugs - The Basics Of All Bethesda/Headfirst Games". And as far as my experience goes, this is no mere exaggeration. I myself encountered three critical bugs that almost prevented me from proceeding with the game:

• Prologue:
  you have to climb down a ladder below a trap door. There is no alternative route, but as soon as you are on the ladder, the game crashes. After countless attempts I finally found a pattern from which direction to enter the ladder and where to look while descending so that the game wouldn't crash.
   
• Attack of the Fishmen – Warehouse:
  you enter a room through a trap door that closes right behind you and can't be reopened. The only other way out is blocked by a crate, but as soon as you try to move the crate, the game crashes. It took me about an hour to find a pattern in which order to touch certain objects and pickups in the room so that I could move the crate without crashing the game.
   
• Devil's Reef – Collapsed bridge:
  you are supposed to use a pulley to slide along the single remaining rope across the chasm. But Jack always fell to his death. Since the pulley ride was a cut scene, there was no point in pressing any buttons. I was quite perplexed and consulted several walkthroughs – even a video walkthrough on youtube – and followed them to the letter, but to no avail. At some point I almost resigned. Out of curiosity or desperation I let Jack take a morphine injection prior to his pulley ride... and suddenly it worked. The game manual states that the morphine is your last desperate measure to prevent or stall death from injuries. It should be used with extreme caution since the side-effects may far outweigh the benefits. I honestly have no clue why this worked.

The above problems were by far the most serious I encountered. But there are tons of annoying bugs in this game. Here is an assortment of the most memorable:

• Attack of the Fishmen – Escape:
  Jack is sleeping in his hotel room, when suddenly some citizens start breaking in the door. You are supposed to flee through the building, while closing and locking every door behind you to gain some precious time for your escape. At two occasions you have to jump to an adjacent building. During my first attempt I blew the second jump, so I hit the continue button and wanted to try again. But for some reason this did not reset the status of the doors in the building. They were still broken in. So, before Jack was even able to leave the bed, the citizens were all over the place clubbing him to death.
   
• Attack of the Fishmen – Water tower:
  you start at the top and have to make your way down to the ground level without falling to your death. At the same time, some townspeople are searching for you down below. You hear someone barking the orders "Search the area!" and "Spread out!". The only problem is that these orders are repeated in an endless loop. I needed a while to master this part of the game and constantly hearing these two orders was like some kind of Chinese water torture. Luckily, most speakers have an on-off switch.
   
• Marsh Refinery – Gold repository:
  the goal is to gain access to a gold vault. Even if you know exactly what to do, getting to the point where you can actually open the vault door still takes roughly two minutes and there is no checkpoint along the entire way. After several attempts I reached the door and activated the opening mechanism, only to have the door blown towards me by an explosion. I managed to stay alive and found myself crouching behind the remains of the wrecked door. Finally I was only one jump away from entering the vault. At this point the game decided that it would be a good idea to centuple the jump height. As a consequence, hitting the jump button propelled Jack to unknown heights, way beyond the level architecture. Unfortunately, increased jump height is usually accompanied by an according falling damage. So I had to start all over again.
   
• There is an option to skip cut scenes, but it should be used with caution. Sometimes the game may freeze or it may reset the level and put you back at the beginning. On one occasion it went completely nuts, put me back to the level start while still playing the ambient sounds of the location where I skipped the cut scene.
   
• Minimizing the game via Ctrl+Esc inevitably results in a crash. At first it seems to work, but the game only minimizes to lull you into a false sense of security. As soon as you try to return to fullscreen mode, it crashes. In combination with the game's checkpoint-based save mechanism, this can be a real annoyance.

Bottom line
Despite its aged graphics, CoC:DCotE could have been a good game. The approach of using visual and auditory feedback instead of a HUD as well as the diverse health system clearly stand out. Moreover, the game features excellent sound, an interesting storyline as well as a varied set of unique environments. But what ruins it all are the atrocious bugs and glitches, some of which may even make the completion of the game impossible. Depending on the amount and severity of the bugs encountered during gameplay, even die-hard fans of H. P. Lovecraft may find it increasingly hard to muster the necessary patience and persistence to keep on playing. But if you see the game in a store as a bargain and happen to be into the survival horror genre and/or H. P. Lovecraft, I would recommend giving it a try.