Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
| Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth | |||
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| Studio |
 Headfirst Productions
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| Publisher |
Bethesda Softworks 2K Games (Xbox) Ubisoft (PC) 
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| Senior Developer | Simon Woodroffe, Michael Woodroffe, Christopher Gray | ||
| composer | Greg Chandler | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
Xbox: October 24, 2005 October 28, 2005 Microsoft Windows: March 24, 2006 April 26, 2006  |
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| platform | Xbox , Windows | ||
| genre | Survival horror , first-person shooter , action-adventure | ||
| Subject | Occultism , Cthulhu myth | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Gamepad (Xbox) ; Mouse & keyboard (PC) | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
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| medium | DVD-ROM (Xbox) , CD-ROM (PC) | ||
| language | English voice output, German subtitles | ||
| Age rating |
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| information | German Xbox version censored. | ||
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a computer game from the development studio Headfirst Productions from 2005, based on the content of various short stories (in particular Call of Cthulhu and Shadows over Innsmouth ) by HP Lovecraft , which was created in collaboration with Bethesda Softworks and for Windows and Xbox was released.
Backstory
The player takes on the role of Jack Walters , a private detective who is tasked with finding a missing person in the 1920s. The last known whereabouts of this person is a remote fishing village called Innsmouth . After his arrival there, he quickly notices that the residents of the village are very closed to strangers. There is not much more left for him than to investigate on his own. Over time, he uncovered a secret that the people of Innsmouth want to hide under all circumstances. Walters' life is in danger. Suddenly the residents show their true colors and hunt him down. It is now a matter of bare survival.
Game mechanics
It is a 3D - Action-adventure with horror elements. The player spends the first third of the game interviewing people, searching rooms, and doing research. There are no weapons available to him here. Later, when the situation becomes more dangerous for the player, he will gradually find various handguns that he must use for his defense. The game then plays like a first person shooter , although the adventure elements are retained. You play the game from a first-person perspective .
The game has a gloomy mood. It always seems to be night, or at least very cloudy. You sneak through shabby alleys and backyards and search dusty rooms. Later in the game there are sections on a ship and on a reef in the center of a storm.
Call of Cthulhu has integrated some things into the gameplay that other games had not or only rarely offered in this way before. For example, human fears play a major role. The protagonist “feels” fear. If he is under stress, his heart starts pounding. If his life is in danger or if he sees bad things, after a while he will also start talking confusedly. The view is blurred and if the player does not find a way out quickly in such extreme situations, it can happen that one loses control of the character and one has to watch as she executes himself.
development
Developer Headfirst Productions originally entered into a contract with Ravensburger Interactive Media GmbH for the development of Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth . In return for the exclusive marketing of the game by Ravensburger Interactive, payments have already been made to Headfirst. After Ravensburger discontinued its business activities in the field of computer games in 2002, the completion of the game was financed by Bethesda Softworks. Ravensburger agreed in a settlement agreement with Headfirst to give up the rights to the game for future payments of 800,000 euros . Since these payments to Ravensburger were not made despite financing from Bethesda, Ravensburger tried to reach a court settlement with Bethesda during the insolvency proceedings of Headfirst Productions.
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth was released on October 24, 2005 for Xbox and March 27 for PC.
Since the game with bugs is subject, which were never officially adjusted, the game community developed unofficial patches which try to eliminate it.
The game was released for Windows and Xbox . It should be mentioned that the Xbox version is censored with the German country setting. If you change this to English, the game runs uncensored. The PC version is not affected by this censorship measure.
The game should also appear for the Playstation 2 , but the port was never released. Developer Headfirst Productions had to close in spring 2006.
The Xbox version is compatible with the Xbox 360 for specific regions.
On June 16, 2009, Bethesda Softworks released Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth on Steam .
reception
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth was received mostly benevolently by the trade press, but also received moderate ratings. The GameStar awarded 69% for the PC version, the PC Games 73%. The Computer Bild Spiele evaluated the Xbox version of the final mark well (2.13). The video game portal 4Players awarded 64% for the console version. Based on 17 reviews, Dark Corners of the Earth has a metascore of 76.
Web links
- Official website ( Memento of August 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth at MobyGames (English)
- Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth at TheLegacy
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cutting report on Schnittberichte.de
- ^ Ravensburger AG (Ed.): Annual Report 2003 of the Ravensburger AG Group . Ravensburg April 29, 2004 ( ravensburger-gruppe.de [PDF; 1.8 MB ; accessed on August 16, 2019]).
- ^ Civil Action No. AW-06-0950. (PDF) Document 12. In: ia600805.us.archive.org. Retrieved on August 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth - Xbox , GameSpy, accessed October 25, 2012.
- ↑ Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth - PC , GameSpy, October 25, 2012.
- ↑ Known bugs and game cheat . Tahionic.com. May 11, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
- ^ Unofficial patch . Forums.steampowered.com. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
- ↑ dcotepatch
- ↑ Original Xbox Games on Xbox 360 . Microsoft. November 27, 2007. Retrieved March 12, 2009.
- ↑ Call of Cthulhu in Gamestar test of Gamestar retrieved on February 13, 2013
- ↑ Call of Cthulhu in the PCGames Test by PC Games , accessed on February 13, 2013
- ↑ Call of Cthulhu in the ComputerBildSpiele test by ComputerBildSpiele , accessed on February 13, 2013
- ↑ Call of Cthulhu in the 4Players test by 4Players , accessed on February 13, 2013
- ^ Metascore from Call of Cthulhu on Metacritic , accessed February 13, 2013