AWKWARD ZOMBIE

So, I'm doing an LP of Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.
For those of you who may not know what it is, this game is a horror action-adventure game published by Bethesda in 2005. It's mainly based on H.P. Lovecraft's stories Call of Cthulhu and Shadow Over Innsmouth, so if you've read these stories, then you'll know what to expect.
I've only played through about 1/8th of the game prior to this, so it's a mostly blind run.
Alright, here we go.



We begin with this wonderful disclaimer. There is creepy music and some weird noises in the background.
What's that? A horror game may manipulate the graphics? SHOCKING.



The screen fades to black and this quote fades in. It took me a minute to discern what it said.



FADE TO TITLE WITH INTENSE CREEPY MUSIC




And I find myself at the title screen. I have a saved game already, but we're starting a NEW ONE.



This level will do just fine, considering it's the only one I can do above 'pretty easy'.



IT BEGINS




No, not THAT Arkham Asylum.



We then cut to Jack Walters, who is our main character.
But that really isn't a spoiler and you could probably guess from the title.




We then cut to a gramophone. Before long, a scary bald guy walks in and puts it on.
I am suddenly reminded of Bioshock.



SUDDENLY FACE. I am reminded that Jack has gone quite insane.



It appears Jack has been scribbling on the floor of his cell. That's probably blood, unless the asylum gives everyone red crayons to play with.




The bald guy enters the cell area, and Jack has suddenly climbed up on top of a chair.
I WONDER WHAT HE'S DOING UP THERE




The inmates start screaming, and the gramophone music is still playing.
Obviously, the journal has some sort of importance.




There is a short sequence where we see Jack kick over the chair.
In true Lovecraftian fashion, the protagonist has just killed himself.







Baldy arrives just in time to see the diary drop, hit the floor, and fall open to where Jack was writing.
The words match the previous narration, which becomes a recurring thing.

NEXT TIME: Actual gameplay!

This actual gameplay sounds interesting.

There is a title screen with a quote. This is another thing that happens quite often.



I also get a game tip about 'actioning' (Which is pressing x to interact), and a gruesome image of a person.





The camera fades to a close-up of a journal, the same one, I'm assuming, that Jack had shortly before killing himself.
There is also a view of a man (who is probably Jack) through what appears to be a ship's porthole. The man is smoking, which indicates he is a no-nonsense, hard-boiled private investigator.



It becomes apparent that the view was not through a porthole, but rather through what I think was the rear window of the automobile.



I am now JACK WALTERS, and I have stepped out of the automobile, and ended up behind a fence.



Look at that ominous house. I wonder what's going on up there. Since this is based on Lovecraft, there's no way there's a cult up there. No way.



There's a little dialogue I missed with that police officer because I forgot to turn on subtitles, but basically he just wants me to follow him up to the house.
I do so, and meet up with another police officer.






OH MY
A CULT
I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS AT ALL






My perspective suddenly changes to that of somebody watching us from the window.
This person will now be referred to as Window Watcher, or WW.
==>WW: Stop being WW and return to being JACK WALTERS




I am Jack Walters again, and not pop flyin' at all with the current situation.




He takes off, and I go to follow him.



Apparently I'm taking too long, and the other officers are forced to assume that I have fallen and broken every bone in my body.
Or something.





So this Victor Holt is waiting for me in a dark alley.
Alone.
I'm sure this perfectly safe, letting me go in there unarmed and everything.




Okay, sounds easy enough.
I start heading over to the alley-




Oh god gunshots everywhere



WW is shooting at us and the cops are exchanging fire.
This can't possibly end well.



What did I tell you.
The cop that I came in with has been shot dead.



The other one is still going at it, despite the fact that the cultists and WW have stopped shooting.



Anyway, I head over the alley that the Victor guy is waiting for me in.
(I don't know if that white square is part of the game, or just something that popped up on my computer.)



Well. He's not here.
However, that door is open, so I might as well go inside.
Certainly there's nothing wrong with this plan.



I hear a voice from somewhere asking about Victor. Of course, he is nowhere in sight.
There are also three doors in the hallway.



I go in the one on the left and find absolutely nothing.



I go in the one on the right and find this interesting setup.



There are a lot of tentaclely paintings on the walls.
And candles. There are a lot of those too.



I decide to check out the preaching stand, or whatever it is you call it.



I find a note.
I automatically read it out loud, for some reason.






Delicious esoteric/alien terms.
For anyone unfamiliar with the Lovecraft mythos, I could explain what this really means, but it's almost better to play through this without any knowledge of Lovecraft, because then you don't know what to expect.



Anyway, I take the page because why not.



I also examine this board, which appears to have blueprints of some sort.
Can't imagine that would ever be relevant.
Nope, not at all.



I leave and go through the last door, and I am greeted with some weird noises from the floor above.



I notice an odd symbol painted on the opposite wall, which looks somewhat like the DeviantArt logo.
It's actually a flaming eye though, that lets you save the game.



There is another wonderful painting, but there's also that clock, what ticks rather loudly and incessantly.
I also hear more odd sounds from upstairs.



There are two doors in the room as well, but both are locked.
Before I can head up the stairs, there is a sound like someone being almost-fatally shot.





I ascend the stairs without incident.
Hm. Real nice place they've got here.



I go down the dark hallway and come to a door.



Inside the room is this guy, who appears to have been almost-fatally shot.



Make that completely-fatally shot, because he falls dead to the ground.



I leave and go to the next door in the dark hallway.



Oh look, it's WW.
Hooray.




Our meeting is short as WW is suddenly shot in the head before his subtitles can even leave the screen.
Also, I apparently got blood in my eyes.



Next to where WW was standing is a key and a body.
I take the key.



This guy died of lead poisoning rather than being shot through the goddamn chest.
He may be the toughest guy here.



I head back out the the second story and go down the other hall.
In the unlocked room, there are beds.
And bodies.
I'd like to make either a Bed Bath and Beyond or a Bath and Bodyworks pun here, but I just can't think of one.




Looks like all of these bald, shirtless men poisoned themselves in bed.
Huh.



As I turn to leave, my vision starts going a little weird, and I can hear my heart rate increasing, which is a thing in this game.



Anyway, I go back downstairs and unlock one of the two locked doors I forgot to take pictures of before.





There...there are pictures.
Of me.
And a schedule.
Either these guys are crazier than I thought, or I have a secret fan club.




I was about to make a Vriska ALL OF THEM joke here anyway, but I guess the game has it covered for me.



WOULD YOU KINDLY WOULD YOU KINDLY




Gotta think HARD



There are suddenly more horrible noises outside of the room.



I walk over to the desk and pick up the key for the other room.



Thank you, Captain Obvious.



I find myself in a library of sorts.
I also come across this desk.



I take their Greek paper in the bottom drawer of the desk because screw these guys, screw their privacy, and screw their Greek.




I head over to the far side of the room, and find a trap door.
I open it, of course.

NEXT TIME: The descent!

Fuck yes Call of Cthulhu you are great

Gotta follow this LP

Is this game a first person shooter or a point-and-click with pre-rendered backrounds?

First person shooter/action-adventure thing.
The first bit is sort of a cinematic level more than anything else. It's not until after this first level you really get into anything involving sneaking and shooting and puzzles and such.

Double-posting because I still have one to two updates worth of content for today, but I'd rather not post them on this page. So FILLER.

Also, if anyone has a good idea for a name for this LP, post it. The only reason I named it what it is was because I couldn't think of something better.

Filler

FILLER

A funderful journey through insanity's lower intestine, never played this but it looks great. Good luck battling cthulu n' all his buddies!

I hope that you can keep a good schedule with updates.

This is only semi-related, but I was actually surprised at how good the game was when I first started playing it.
I was expecting it to be okay, but then I turned out really liking it.

Well, what I'm doing is playing through portions of the game and taking screenshots, then splitting those into updates.
If everything goes right, I should be doing update strings at least once a week, minimum.

Name it 'Something smells fishy'

I put it in spoiler for reasons those who know what happens might understand.