Another great video. Thank you for awesome content. If you're looking to cover a frenchise that went from ok to great to complete mess I'd like to suggest Silent Hunter 1-5 + Silent Hunter Online. I couldn't believe they made a game in a web browser in 2013. I didn't really understand why Silent Hunter franchise which looked like it was on the rise, died and withered away. I've been looking for more mil-sim-tac naval especially submarine games but the whole naval market of games is extremely niche yet again very fascinating and it's fans, while few, very vocal.
Some game engines (hopefully not anymore) are tied to the framerate. Example, if you did DSFix for the original Dark Souls on PC and apply 60FPS, when jumping the timing will be off and you will always struggle with jumps. Its rather dumb that an engine does this. But somehow it ties into the physics in the engine. Hence the dev mentioned that most pcs and xbox will struggle to run it @ 60FPS Hope this helps
Indeed, if any studio can give Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth a deserving second chance, it would be Nightdive, with their immaculate ability to remaster numerous games. A remake/remaster of Cthulhu in Nightdive's capable hands would be amazing!
That I agree with, that legendary Call of Cthulhu game deserves better and having Nightdive at the helm of a remaster would be a great fit for them considering their excellent track record, it's either that or Aspyr but I would rather have Nightdive.
Big agree on Nightdive, especially after playing their remaster of Blood. I just recently finished Dark Corners a month or so ago, and it really just needs a solid coat of polish.
@@Wuggyboobeaufuf138 I believe that Nightdive subsequently bundled the original game with the remake, due to the backlash. I suggest playing that version instead. The remaster is terrible and objectively worse than the original.
It really is one of the greatest lovecraftian games which is kind of sad when you think about. Maybe there's a chance the upcoming Alone in the Dark reboot is great but I have my doubts.
The words "a few" are doing some heavy lifting there; in my experience some scenes took over a dozen attempts to play through without them breaking somehow.
That hotel stage is one of the most amazing moments in video game history for me and it gives me goosebumps each time I revisit it. I wish there was a remaster of this game
@@thegamingprozone1941 That would be nice. It's already on PC, but the GoG version is flawed in that your run speed is slightly slower, making the end sequence nearly impossible to beat without a patch. I had to bunny hop the entire way.
Hi Matt. I'm not sure if anyone answered your question about framerates at 9:32, but DCoTE notoriously had issues where framerate dictated how fast your player or objects moved. In this case things like the final escape sequence would be impossible without running a patch on PC, and also is part of why the ai was so garbage at shooting you even at close range. Love the video! So much attention to detail.
I remember this game's chase sequence glitched out on me so much & so hard it once even loaded it in without closing the door to the hotel room, so the fishmen came straight in and beat me to death during the cutscene while yelling "OPEN THE DOOR, OUTSIDER!" Also in the PC version, all the game's dialogue and sound effects, right down to individual footprints, are separate .ogg files in the game folder you can play with any media player. Do with that what you will.
Nancy Drew, Midnight in Salem is RIGHT up your alley, especially for Halloween. Where else are you going to get stuff like "the voice of Nancy was fired because they leaked stuff in retaliation for their long term contract expiring" "HER interactive is being held up by a pharma bro" and "Why does it need such high tech specs if it looks like THAT." I know it's not your typical genre, but you have the contacts to really figure out... just what the heck happened with this game.
Wait they fired the original voice of Nancy for leaking stuff? I thought that was a rumor? I thought the official reason for replacing her was a weird new ceo being obsessed with getting a “newer younger crowd” to play the game.
The guy who did the concept art for this game was a visiting teacher in my art department when I was in high school. Nice dude: showed us some sketchbook concepts of Cthulhu for the sequel that never happened.
The comment about framerate being a problem might be related to how many early game engines updated based on frame rate, so lots of things might break or not function as intended like collisions and movement speed.
@@MegapiemanPHD Even more recent ones, there are technical reasons regardless of engine for doing that instead of just blaming Gamebryo because clearly its whats holding back Bethesda if we ignore all the problems that are caused by shoddy coding.
I owe my love of this game to Noah "The Spoony One" Antwiler. He spotlighted it one year on a list of great spooky games for Halloween, and he totally had me sold on the iconic chase scene by describing it as "barricading the door Blues Brothers style". The game is right up there with Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines when it comes to that mid-2000s jank, but it's also right up there with it for that spooky atmosphere and charm. And I absolutely would love to see this game get the NightDive remaster treatment. If anyone can save it, they can. Then we'll finally be free of that horrible tidal wave glitch at the end of the game without needing to download a bypass.
CoC: Dark Corners of the Earth is a masterpiece, one of the best games I've ever played, and I've played it quite a few times already. What I wouldn't give for a remake or even better, a VR version.
I played this one. It really started strong, but sorta lost it's way as the story progressed. Still, one of the better Lovecraft inspired games out there....
I think the original Dev team kind of nailed it when they said that Lovecraft's writings don't really lend themselves to video games. Sure, you can use the his worlds as a back drop along with the themes he explored, but trying build a game directly off of one of his stories will never amount to a lot of commercial pay off.
Doesn't help that most of his villains are near invincible and that's the whole point. In Lovecraftland by the time the monsters get out it's usually too late. Being able to defeat them in a typical video game fashion destroys the adaptation. He didn't have a great view of the world lol
Strong disagree. Lovecraft's writings don't lend themselves to ACTION based video games. However, Lovecraft's writings are the perfect fit for the point & click adventure game genre (there's even been a couple in the past, but they've dated quite a lot nowadays).
@@Right_Said_Brett Well, given that the quote from the video I was referencing was made by a team who was developing a console based game, it seems unlikely that they would have ever considered the point and click genre. I also stated that I didn't think designing a game based entirely on one of Lovecraft's stories would amount to a lot of commercial pay off. Which, I still stand by. That is unless you can show me evidence of a point and click adventure that was released in the last 20 years that sold over a million copies, and was a massive financial success for the company who published it. Sure, Lovecraft's writings can work if adapted into point and click, walking sims, text based, and visual novels. However, in the 21st century those genres are niche at best, and no mainstream publisher is going to fork over a licensing fee just so they can make a game that sells under a 100k copies.
An RPG would work just fine. And although Bloodborne is not Lovecraft it is very close. That’s more of an action RPG, but some Larian style story based turn-based game would be great. Of course, if you’re going to take the literal interpretation of “one of his stories” then the issue is they’re all too short, so a lot of additions would be needed to pad it out, at which point you might was well mash several stories together.
One of my strongest memories of the game actually has to do with the framerate on the PC version: you couldn't complete the final escape sequence if your framerate was too low. There's no enemies or anything else to slow you down, it's just a run through a slightly curving tunnel that's about to collapse, but each and every attempt I'd get squished at the exact same moment. After I tried dropping the resolution a notch to squeeze out an extra frame or several I then did it no problem. Cthulhu-bless Gareth Clarke for making it possible for me to even play it at all though.
Not even joking, this timing is unfathomable. I last played Dark Corners back in 2013 but recently decided to play it again, like just some days ago - ten whole years later. And suddenly this new episode about exactly said game drops? Absolutely amazing, and thank you for the coverage. Bought Dark Corners back in 2005 because it looked kind of neat in a German magazine at the time - my actual first exposure to the Cthulhu Mythos and Lovecraft as a whole. Would not have gotten into all that without this game. Sure am glad that it, just like the stories themselves, eventually gained a cult following. The game is flawed for sure, especially the second half, but I stand by the opinion that no other game has ever managed to come close to its presentation and atmosphere.
9:10 Physics calculations were based on frame rate. This can cause massive issues if the frame rate dipped below the intended rate. For example, for a 60 fps calculation everything would be multiplied by 0.0166. But for 30 fps the calculations would be multiplied by 0.0333 instead. While the numbers dont seem to be by much, this can be the difference between keeping the player within bounds and having them clip out of bounds. Or having an object interact with you correctly and having them fly off into space randomly
This is true. I even remember that I had a bug, because of which I could not complete the very last segment of the game, at the very end everything starts to collapse and you need to escape before you will be killed by the collapsing level, but no matter how hard I tried, I always died faster than I could get out. It seemed impossible (and most likely it was), so since there was like 3-5 minutes of gameplay left until the final cutscene, I just watched the ending on RUclips. Only now I understand that most likely I had problems with FPS.
@@BloodringBangerthere is a mod that allows you to extend the ending timer. Also deletes the three mages or whatever after the third wave hitting the boat if anyone has that issue like I did too.
You forgot to mention that most of the story and setpieces used in Dark Corners of the Earth are directly adapted to an adventure supplement of the TTRPG, Escape from Innsmouth. The Shoggoth factory setpiece is from one specific edition of that book released in 1997 btw which I believe is very rare nowadays.
Excellent video, bud. Much appreciated. I remember being frustrated several times by the delayed release date of this game. I do remember, after years of hype in magazines, it just sort of appeared at the store one day. When I finally got it, on the PC, the performance was awful. Buggy, glitchy, and there was a game breaking bug during the escape sequence at the VERY END that would cause you to be insta-killed by nonexistent rubble, effectively preventing me from being able to cross the finish line and beat the game. I only got around to completing it several years later, when I read on a forum that a potential way to circumvent the bug was to tweak some settings and jump at a VERY SPECIFIC spot, thereby bypassing the bug trigger.
I bought a copy on XBox back in the day, and I still have it. I never knew that it had such a complex history behind it, thanks for the informative video! The hotel chase scene and nail biting infiltration sections were impressive back in the day, and still have an edge of your seat quality even now despite the aged graphics and jank. There does seem to be a "curse" surrounding Lovecraft-based games, always appearing unannounced and not being pushed forward in stores at all. A cosmic, eldritch conspiracy no doubt!🤣
Delta Green was a modern day spin off of the Call of Cthulhu TTRPG, and I remember hearing someone was developing a game for it around the same time as Dark Corner and it got quietly cancelled. I’d hoped you’d have shined some light on it.
I remember the preview photo of the early build of this game, there was supposed to have several character to play. Among them a Reporter, A Woman and a Detective. These character then end up as being NPC as Burnham and Ruth, also there was way more action and weapons to choose from.
Between this game and Rule of Rose, no other extremely obscure horror games (or horror games generally) impacted me more. The atmosphere and the story and the characters were so memorable and intense, my teen self and my best friend watched them both as no commentary playthroughs on early youtube and even THEN it was still memorable. To this day, i think only maybe PT has been as terrifying (to me) as the chase seen through the apartments in CoC. Rule of rose just did my baby gay heart a lot of good
We need a what happened on Maximo, was even supposed to be third game that never happened, not to mention your video on the first one has me curious what you thought of the second one?
Damn, this game is genuinely one of my favourite survival horror titles ever made, I remember playing it for the first time on Xbox during my first year in college and just being blown away by how intense the whole thing felt, the sanity system for Jack among various other things, another dope video from you Matt, and honestly a remaster of this game from Nightdive Studios would be sick, it deserves a second chance that's for sure.
I remember playing this game when I was in high school. Still one of my favorite horror games and one of the very few games period that I replay almost yearly
This was my first experience with Lovecraft's works proper and as clunky as this game was, I still enjoy it a lot for what it tries but I ESPECIALLY enjoy it for actually representing the Yith, who are one of the coolest "technically not evil" Lovecraftian aliens who just like to share lore with folks!
I remember playing this game about 5 years ago in college. The only bug I encountered was the ship cannon part with Dagon. One of the best survival horror games I ever played despite the bugs.
What about Evil Dead the game ? the one made by saber interactive, since its halloween season that could be a good choice. Excellent wha happun i enjoy watch them :3
9:30 About the NetImmerse engine having issues running at 30 frames: I remember watching a Panic Button interview (by Digital Foundry, I think?) about the difficulties they went through when porting Doom to the Nintendo Switch, and the main one they mentioned was that, since they had to lock the framerate at 30 frames for the Switch port, it caused all sorts of problems with collisions, with the player/enemies/objects falling through floors and going through walls constantly, and shots failing to register even at point blank. The explanation was a bit too technical for my smooth brain so I didn't understand it to its full extent, but the gist of it was that collision calculations are interlocked with the game's framerate, so lower framerate = worse collision detection, and in order to fix the problem they had to resort to making collision boxes bigger than in the original. My (not very) educated guess would be Gareth Clark faced a similar problem with the NetImmerse engine.
Despite its shortcomings, this (next to Silicon Knights' Lovecraft-inspired Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem) is hands down one of the few early games that manages to capture the ominous, unsettling mood synonymous with Lovecraft's works. That's because Andrew Brazier wanted that authenticity and it shines through during the first investigative half of the game. I recall sending an email to Headfirst after reading an early development dive article on IGN, and it was Andrew himself who'd responded. It was very clear from his response he was as enamoured with the subject of the Mythos as much as the many fans who were eagerly awaiting the release of DCOTE. Truly a shame he didn't get to follow it through to its final release. This game honestly needs a remake. Would be absolutely incredible in UE5.
My knowledge on Cthuhlu is a bit limited but I'll be honest, a game in which your actions depict whether you slip into madness or end the game safely by avoiding it and being too sane sounds interesting. Think "We Happy Few" in how that ends basically immediately if you take the pill, but this is if you effectively avoid the madness long enough, but some around you are going mad. On the other end, you can either straddle that line or descend into madness, not sure how I'd write it all but damn the possibilities seem there.
While not as good I put this game in the same category as Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines. It's a flawed but loveable gem that is brought down mostly by the second half's overdependence on shooting segments. I wish we could have gotten that Beyond The Mountains Of Madness game though.
There's a beautiful irony in this game with a development cycle so marred by mystery, vagueness, and consistent threats to its existence, now existing as an enigmatic and obscure entity only present in the minds of those who have dared to find it. A truly lovecraftian game
I remember playing the game and having the chills back in 2008. Fun fact in spite of its name it isnt based on the Lovecraft 's short novel with the same name but of the one named "The Shadow over Insmounth" instead.
I remember playing this when it came out! I'm not sure I finished it as I recall I got stuck in the sewers but I do remember some hooded cultist (if i'm not mistaking it to another game) so may have been close or perhaps even finished it. But what I know for sure is that I enjoyed every bit of it and much of the gameplay is still fresh to me as I can't say I've really played anything similar since. Games got close but the overall experience was and still is to some extent quite unique and captivating. Compared to other titles of that era that I played (Kingpin, Thief, Tomorrow Never Dies to name a few) this got a sweet mix of everything and then some! very nostalgic to see this game again! thank you for covering it! I'll def sub to your channel
OH HELL YES. I loved this game, even through its development flaws, but there is something uniquely special and worthwhile about it. I can't wait to enjoy this one.
I actually got a copy of this game recently on the Original Xbox. Haven’t played it yet, but I’ve been curious about this game since I found out about it, since it’s existence seemed very mysterious to me. Kinda ironic.
I purchased it day one. I was on the first course with the government that let me bring a game console because I was actually going to have some down time. I had it and morrowind. About half way through there is a chase in a hotel I think- I tried it several hundred times and was completely stuck. 🤷♀️
TQ for making this video. DCoTE is truly a masterpiece despite its flaws. Bethesda should remaster or continue the Cthulhu series since they own this particular IP.
I like to think of Dark Corner's of the Earth, the way someone described S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow Of Chernobyl...it's not just one or two good ideas that were never fully realised, it's a symphony of good ideas played with a bunch of out of tune instruments, yes I managed to get my copy new, and it was at about half the price of a traditional new release. There were a lot of good ideas in this one, but it's a shame that it's gone so under the radar.
OMG, I HAD THIS GAME FOR THE OG XBOX. If you can overlook some of its rough edges, its slow start, and some of the frustrating trial-and-error crap, this game’s actually an underrated gem, in my opinion.
I didn't realize this was one that was basically created to be forgotten since, as mentioned, it wasn't reviewing terribly and there was some per-release buzz at the time. I got it during a Gamefly trial (I think right near when it came out) so don't think I got super far into it but it's had some free rent in my head all these years. Certainly wasn't the best game of its time but it nailed the vibe and that hotel sequence is legendary. It's one that I kind of want to give a go again one day but is also probably best left to what it's grown to in my memory.
I remember my store had received only 2 or 3 copies with only 1 pre-order on xbox. There was no advertising on it, and I distinctly remembered calling them to pick up their pre-order and them being surprised it had arrived at all.
I think it's important to note that the insanity in encountering monsters is very much more a quality of Lovecraft's protagonists than the monsters (and the ways in which said protagonists' reflect their author). We can look at another pulp character who had occasional overlap. When Conan the Barbarian had an encounter with a Mythos type critter in The Slithering Shadow he was immediately ready to throw down (and probably killed it), or when he encountered a similar critter in the Tower of the Elephant he had a nice chat with it.
It's insane how making an all-around competent Lovecraft video game seems to be impossible, regardless of the platform or talent involved. I bought this day one on Xbox and then again on PC, because I'd had so much fun with it the first go around and hoped it had been improved, but it was always janky. It seemed to get the best response from those who were very familiar with Lovecraft's works. Any friend I showed it to who didn't read Lovecraft couldn't get past the awkward controls and bugs and didn't care about the references, but most admitted that the escape from the hotel was the best part of the game. I waited in vain for a sequel or remake to emerge. Even after all these years, I'd argue it's still the best video game direct adaptation of the Mythos, although there are many great games out there simply taking inspiration from it.
Always loved this game. It’s not perfect but it captures the atmosphere of the books. Especially the Innsmouth portion. Simon The Sorcerer was also a classic lol
And also Eternal Darkness. It also does have lovecraftian inspired lore AND had it's own shares of development and post develoment problems, the worst part being the fact that freaking Nintendo copyrighted the insanity mechanics and now no one can recreate it.
I remember when you played this years ago on the channel. In spite of the games numerous gameplay bugs and shortcomings I can't help but hold a deep sweet-spot for it's atmosphere and little details. Like "Undying", It's one of those game's i'd like to see take a little ~dive in the night~. ~ As far as adaptations go, it's an astonishingly faithful re-imagining. Heck, most Innsmouth adaptations don't even mention the town raid and torpedoing of the reef, much less actually featuring it.
I foud this game in a HMV store, I was just walking past the games section which was tiny and I saw the title, and being a huge Lovecraft fan, I had to pick it up. It was on sale, I think it was ten quid. I freaking love this game.
Loved that chase sequence at the hotel. But yeah... the bugs. Oof. The bugs. I was never able to finish it and to this day I don't know if it was from a bug or just me being too slow at the end. Be interested to see what's been fixed on that unofficial patch though.
This game is SO good. I lost count on how many times i have played it. Even with its Glitched Dagon fight and the sea sorcerers... Just like Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, this old engine has some charm that is difficult to mimic.
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Another great video. Thank you for awesome content.
If you're looking to cover a frenchise that went from ok to great to complete mess I'd like to suggest Silent Hunter 1-5 + Silent Hunter Online.
I couldn't believe they made a game in a web browser in 2013.
I didn't really understand why Silent Hunter franchise which looked like it was on the rise, died and withered away.
I've been looking for more mil-sim-tac naval especially submarine games but the whole naval market of games is extremely niche yet again very fascinating and it's fans, while few, very vocal.
*german@@michaelwautraets7126
Any chance we get a Sopranos game What happened?
Some game engines (hopefully not anymore) are tied to the framerate. Example, if you did DSFix for the original Dark Souls on PC and apply 60FPS, when jumping the timing will be off and you will always struggle with jumps.
Its rather dumb that an engine does this. But somehow it ties into the physics in the engine. Hence the dev mentioned that most pcs and xbox will struggle to run it @ 60FPS
Hope this helps
Indeed, if any studio can give Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth a deserving second chance, it would be Nightdive, with their immaculate ability to remaster numerous games. A remake/remaster of Cthulhu in Nightdive's capable hands would be amazing!
That I agree with, that legendary Call of Cthulhu game deserves better and having Nightdive at the helm of a remaster would be a great fit for them considering their excellent track record, it's either that or Aspyr but I would rather have Nightdive.
Big agree on Nightdive, especially after playing their remaster of Blood. I just recently finished Dark Corners a month or so ago, and it really just needs a solid coat of polish.
@@bobafett4265wouldn’t hold my breath with Aspyr, they’re currently getting in trouble over the KOTOR games
"immaculate"
*cough* Blade Runner *cough*
@@Wuggyboobeaufuf138 I believe that Nightdive subsequently bundled the original game with the remake, due to the backlash. I suggest playing that version instead. The remaster is terrible and objectively worse than the original.
Despite it's numerous problems and flaws, I genuinely enjoyed this game.
Agreed if you want to play another decent lovercraft game try The Sinking City.
same but it seems that this game has problems on new system, i remember playing this on Windows XP and didn't experienced any game breaking bug
Same, really adore this one
@@Gutek524The GOG version has some adjustments that help with that and there is also a fan patch that helps with the issues you get on modern OS.
Same. Had this game came out during the Unity/Unreal engine era, DCoTE would've been a much polished game.
To be fair, it's actually quite an enjoyable game, marred by a few bugs, one of the best Lovecraftian horror games. desperately needs a remaster.
agreed!👍👍
It really is one of the greatest lovecraftian games which is kind of sad when you think about. Maybe there's a chance the upcoming Alone in the Dark reboot is great but I have my doubts.
Definitely
The words "a few" are doing some heavy lifting there; in my experience some scenes took over a dozen attempts to play through without them breaking somehow.
@JasonC573So on the ship, when it's being attacked, i had the game crash a few times, but after that it was fine.
That hotel stage is one of the most amazing moments in video game history for me and it gives me goosebumps each time I revisit it. I wish there was a remaster of this game
Gareth Clarke is a straight up hero.
Maybe Nightdive being the awesome chads they are could port it over on consoles and pc?
@@thegamingprozone1941 That would be nice. It's already on PC, but the GoG version is flawed in that your run speed is slightly slower, making the end sequence nearly impossible to beat without a patch. I had to bunny hop the entire way.
SAME
Hi Matt. I'm not sure if anyone answered your question about framerates at 9:32, but DCoTE notoriously had issues where framerate dictated how fast your player or objects moved. In this case things like the final escape sequence would be impossible without running a patch on PC, and also is part of why the ai was so garbage at shooting you even at close range.
Love the video! So much attention to detail.
I knew I remembered that being a detail of havok, since physics being tied to fps was a thing even as recently as skyrim.
oh so THAT'S why i had to download a trainer and put my movement speed at a million to be able to finish it.. good game though
I remember this game's chase sequence glitched out on me so much & so hard it once even loaded it in without closing the door to the hotel room, so the fishmen came straight in and beat me to death during the cutscene while yelling "OPEN THE DOOR, OUTSIDER!"
Also in the PC version, all the game's dialogue and sound effects, right down to individual footprints, are separate .ogg files in the game folder you can play with any media player. Do with that what you will.
Nancy Drew, Midnight in Salem is RIGHT up your alley, especially for Halloween. Where else are you going to get stuff like "the voice of Nancy was fired because they leaked stuff in retaliation for their long term contract expiring" "HER interactive is being held up by a pharma bro" and "Why does it need such high tech specs if it looks like THAT."
I know it's not your typical genre, but you have the contacts to really figure out... just what the heck happened with this game.
Wait they fired the original voice of Nancy for leaking stuff? I thought that was a rumor? I thought the official reason for replacing her was a weird new ceo being obsessed with getting a “newer younger crowd” to play the game.
The guy who did the concept art for this game was a visiting teacher in my art department when I was in high school. Nice dude: showed us some sketchbook concepts of Cthulhu for the sequel that never happened.
The comment about framerate being a problem might be related to how many early game engines updated based on frame rate, so lots of things might break or not function as intended like collisions and movement speed.
A problem that plagues many old games when run on modern hardware with framerates they where not designed for.
@@MegapiemanPHD Even more recent ones, there are technical reasons regardless of engine for doing that instead of just blaming Gamebryo because clearly its whats holding back Bethesda if we ignore all the problems that are caused by shoddy coding.
I owe my love of this game to Noah "The Spoony One" Antwiler. He spotlighted it one year on a list of great spooky games for Halloween, and he totally had me sold on the iconic chase scene by describing it as "barricading the door Blues Brothers style".
The game is right up there with Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines when it comes to that mid-2000s jank, but it's also right up there with it for that spooky atmosphere and charm. And I absolutely would love to see this game get the NightDive remaster treatment. If anyone can save it, they can. Then we'll finally be free of that horrible tidal wave glitch at the end of the game without needing to download a bypass.
I hope he's alright now
His Ultima series was amazing
@@SpecShadow He's been doing a few streams over at Conversations With Curtis. He seems much better now that he's moved back with his family.
oh man.. the buggy cannon aiming section that had you download a patch so you could see wtf was going on
Given the Lovecraftian nightmare to get this game out, it deserves a second chance
I never finished this game, but I remember being really impressed with how it adapted The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
CoC: Dark Corners of the Earth is a masterpiece, one of the best games I've ever played, and I've played it quite a few times already. What I wouldn't give for a remake or even better, a VR version.
I played this one. It really started strong, but sorta lost it's way as the story progressed. Still, one of the better Lovecraft inspired games out there....
This game is such a favorite of mine thank you for covering this
As a member of the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, I can tell this is a game we could only hope to make within the dreams of Cthulhu.
Developing a Cthulhu mythos game tends to be the real Eldritch horror.
This is one of the best Lovecraftian games along with ‘Sinking City’ & ‘Eternal Darkness’.
I think the original Dev team kind of nailed it when they said that Lovecraft's writings don't really lend themselves to video games. Sure, you can use the his worlds as a back drop along with the themes he explored, but trying build a game directly off of one of his stories will never amount to a lot of commercial pay off.
Doesn't help that most of his villains are near invincible and that's the whole point. In Lovecraftland by the time the monsters get out it's usually too late. Being able to defeat them in a typical video game fashion destroys the adaptation. He didn't have a great view of the world lol
TBH the best Lovecraft games are literally just Silent Hill
Strong disagree. Lovecraft's writings don't lend themselves to ACTION based video games. However, Lovecraft's writings are the perfect fit for the point & click adventure game genre (there's even been a couple in the past, but they've dated quite a lot nowadays).
@@Right_Said_Brett Well, given that the quote from the video I was referencing was made by a team who was developing a console based game, it seems unlikely that they would have ever considered the point and click genre. I also stated that I didn't think designing a game based entirely on one of Lovecraft's stories would amount to a lot of commercial pay off. Which, I still stand by. That is unless you can show me evidence of a point and click adventure that was released in the last 20 years that sold over a million copies, and was a massive financial success for the company who published it. Sure, Lovecraft's writings can work if adapted into point and click, walking sims, text based, and visual novels. However, in the 21st century those genres are niche at best, and no mainstream publisher is going to fork over a licensing fee just so they can make a game that sells under a 100k copies.
An RPG would work just fine. And although Bloodborne is not Lovecraft it is very close. That’s more of an action RPG, but some Larian style story based turn-based game would be great. Of course, if you’re going to take the literal interpretation of “one of his stories” then the issue is they’re all too short, so a lot of additions would be needed to pad it out, at which point you might was well mash several stories together.
This is genuinely one of my favourite gaming experience despite all its flaws. Crazy to see how they actually managed to release the game as is 😂
One of my strongest memories of the game actually has to do with the framerate on the PC version: you couldn't complete the final escape sequence if your framerate was too low. There's no enemies or anything else to slow you down, it's just a run through a slightly curving tunnel that's about to collapse, but each and every attempt I'd get squished at the exact same moment. After I tried dropping the resolution a notch to squeeze out an extra frame or several I then did it no problem.
Cthulhu-bless Gareth Clarke for making it possible for me to even play it at all though.
Not even joking, this timing is unfathomable. I last played Dark Corners back in 2013 but recently decided to play it again, like just some days ago - ten whole years later. And suddenly this new episode about exactly said game drops? Absolutely amazing, and thank you for the coverage. Bought Dark Corners back in 2005 because it looked kind of neat in a German magazine at the time - my actual first exposure to the Cthulhu Mythos and Lovecraft as a whole. Would not have gotten into all that without this game. Sure am glad that it, just like the stories themselves, eventually gained a cult following. The game is flawed for sure, especially the second half, but I stand by the opinion that no other game has ever managed to come close to its presentation and atmosphere.
Of all the great things in this game, there's something about seeing a US sub launching torpedoes at Devil's Reef that is so awesome.
9:10 Physics calculations were based on frame rate. This can cause massive issues if the frame rate dipped below the intended rate.
For example, for a 60 fps calculation everything would be multiplied by 0.0166. But for 30 fps the calculations would be multiplied by 0.0333 instead. While the numbers dont seem to be by much, this can be the difference between keeping the player within bounds and having them clip out of bounds. Or having an object interact with you correctly and having them fly off into space randomly
This is true. I even remember that I had a bug, because of which I could not complete the very last segment of the game, at the very end everything starts to collapse and you need to escape before you will be killed by the collapsing level, but no matter how hard I tried, I always died faster than I could get out. It seemed impossible (and most likely it was), so since there was like 3-5 minutes of gameplay left until the final cutscene, I just watched the ending on RUclips. Only now I understand that most likely I had problems with FPS.
@@BloodringBangerthere is a mod that allows you to extend the ending timer. Also deletes the three mages or whatever after the third wave hitting the boat if anyone has that issue like I did too.
You forgot to mention that most of the story and setpieces used in Dark Corners of the Earth are directly adapted to an adventure supplement of the TTRPG, Escape from Innsmouth. The Shoggoth factory setpiece is from one specific edition of that book released in 1997 btw which I believe is very rare nowadays.
Heck Beyond the Mountains of Madness is also base on a TTRPG campaign.
Excellent video, bud.
Much appreciated.
I remember being frustrated several times by the delayed release date of this game.
I do remember, after years of hype in magazines, it just sort of appeared at the store one day.
When I finally got it, on the PC, the performance was awful. Buggy, glitchy, and there was a game breaking bug during the escape sequence at the VERY END that would cause you to be insta-killed by nonexistent rubble, effectively preventing me from being able to cross the finish line and beat the game.
I only got around to completing it several years later, when I read on a forum that a potential way to circumvent the bug was to tweak some settings and jump at a VERY SPECIFIC spot, thereby bypassing the bug trigger.
I bought a copy on XBox back in the day, and I still have it. I never knew that it had such a complex history behind it, thanks for the informative video!
The hotel chase scene and nail biting infiltration sections were impressive back in the day, and still have an edge of your seat quality even now despite the aged graphics and jank.
There does seem to be a "curse" surrounding Lovecraft-based games, always appearing unannounced and not being pushed forward in stores at all. A cosmic, eldritch conspiracy no doubt!🤣
Due to the poor sales, that Xbox copy of yours has a decent resale value with very limited availability
Delta Green was a modern day spin off of the Call of Cthulhu TTRPG, and I remember hearing someone was developing a game for it around the same time as Dark Corner and it got quietly cancelled. I’d hoped you’d have shined some light on it.
I remember the preview photo of the early build of this game, there was supposed to have several character to play. Among them a Reporter, A Woman and a Detective. These character then end up as being NPC as Burnham and Ruth, also there was way more action and weapons to choose from.
That chase is exquisite. Literally the best I've ever played.
Between this game and Rule of Rose, no other extremely obscure horror games (or horror games generally) impacted me more. The atmosphere and the story and the characters were so memorable and intense, my teen self and my best friend watched them both as no commentary playthroughs on early youtube and even THEN it was still memorable.
To this day, i think only maybe PT has been as terrifying (to me) as the chase seen through the apartments in CoC. Rule of rose just did my baby gay heart a lot of good
We need a what happened on Maximo, was even supposed to be third game that never happened, not to mention your video on the first one has me curious what you thought of the second one?
Damn, this game is genuinely one of my favourite survival horror titles ever made, I remember playing it for the first time on Xbox during my first year in college and just being blown away by how intense the whole thing felt, the sanity system for Jack among various other things, another dope video from you Matt, and honestly a remaster of this game from Nightdive Studios would be sick, it deserves a second chance that's for sure.
When this game decides to work it's awesome. That said the hard crash in the warehouse and the cannon section are hard to get past
Flaws and glitches aside, this game is to this day still one of the most chillingly atmospheric and horrifying gaming experiences I’ve ever had.
I remember playing this game when I was in high school. Still one of my favorite horror games and one of the very few games period that I replay almost yearly
Music in this game is amazing. It helped me write 2 horror shorts in my filmschool days. Never played the game thou sounds like I need to.
This was my first experience with Lovecraft's works proper and as clunky as this game was, I still enjoy it a lot for what it tries but I ESPECIALLY enjoy it for actually representing the Yith, who are one of the coolest "technically not evil" Lovecraftian aliens who just like to share lore with folks!
I remember playing this game about 5 years ago in college. The only bug I encountered was the ship cannon part with Dagon. One of the best survival horror games I ever played despite the bugs.
The absolutely need to do a remaster of this game, one of the few games that actually scared me next to Undying
I love Dark Corners of the Earth. I wonder what it could have been if things went better.
What about Evil Dead the game ? the one made by saber interactive, since its halloween season that could be a good choice. Excellent wha happun i enjoy watch them :3
I remember this along with Eternal Darkness having some of my favorite freaky creature designs in my early days of gaming.
9:30 About the NetImmerse engine having issues running at 30 frames: I remember watching a Panic Button interview (by Digital Foundry, I think?) about the difficulties they went through when porting Doom to the Nintendo Switch, and the main one they mentioned was that, since they had to lock the framerate at 30 frames for the Switch port, it caused all sorts of problems with collisions, with the player/enemies/objects falling through floors and going through walls constantly, and shots failing to register even at point blank.
The explanation was a bit too technical for my smooth brain so I didn't understand it to its full extent, but the gist of it was that collision calculations are interlocked with the game's framerate, so lower framerate = worse collision detection, and in order to fix the problem they had to resort to making collision boxes bigger than in the original. My (not very) educated guess would be Gareth Clark faced a similar problem with the NetImmerse engine.
Despite its shortcomings, this (next to Silicon Knights' Lovecraft-inspired Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem) is hands down one of the few early games that manages to capture the ominous, unsettling mood synonymous with Lovecraft's works. That's because Andrew Brazier wanted that authenticity and it shines through during the first investigative half of the game.
I recall sending an email to Headfirst after reading an early development dive article on IGN, and it was Andrew himself who'd responded. It was very clear from his response he was as enamoured with the subject of the Mythos as much as the many fans who were eagerly awaiting the release of DCOTE. Truly a shame he didn't get to follow it through to its final release.
This game honestly needs a remake. Would be absolutely incredible in UE5.
I hope the creators know that their game got the wife and I into Lovecraft and we will always be thankful for this game. It was awesome, and still is.
One of my Favorite Games all time and the only one who have me Goosebumbs when i was a Teen.
As a german. I cant but lol about the way you say "Ravensburger"... ❤
So many times this game was so frustrating yet kept going cause it was so intriguing.
My knowledge on Cthuhlu is a bit limited but I'll be honest, a game in which your actions depict whether you slip into madness or end the game safely by avoiding it and being too sane sounds interesting. Think "We Happy Few" in how that ends basically immediately if you take the pill, but this is if you effectively avoid the madness long enough, but some around you are going mad.
On the other end, you can either straddle that line or descend into madness, not sure how I'd write it all but damn the possibilities seem there.
I bought this game on release for PC. It was a bit rough around the edges, but still a great game and experience.
You know what would make a good "Wha Happun?" Video: Fantasia (Genesis).
While not as good I put this game in the same category as Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines. It's a flawed but loveable gem that is brought down mostly by the second half's overdependence on shooting segments.
I wish we could have gotten that Beyond The Mountains Of Madness game though.
I’ve been getting super into HP Lovecraft this week and have been researching him like crazy and out of nowhere you drop this? Come on now
Had a rough day at work. So glad to come home and see this. Thank you for being you.
There's a beautiful irony in this game with a development cycle so marred by mystery, vagueness, and consistent threats to its existence, now existing as an enigmatic and obscure entity only present in the minds of those who have dared to find it.
A truly lovecraftian game
I love this game. Still the best horror game based on Lovecraft's work.
This is a great game. I just finished The Sinking City too, and while it was seriously janky, I love the setting. Hopefully we get more Cthulhu games.
I'd be cool if he showed up in Quake, but for some reason we keep getting games either on the Strogg or multiplayer only entries
This is my favorite FPS horror game. I love how the character evolves through the game.
4:53 Ironically he basically just described the wildly successful Amnesia: The Dark Descent right there.
I remember playing the game and having the chills back in 2008. Fun fact in spite of its name it isnt based on the Lovecraft 's short novel with the same name but of the one named "The Shadow over Insmounth" instead.
I remember playing this when it came out! I'm not sure I finished it as I recall I got stuck in the sewers but I do remember some hooded cultist (if i'm not mistaking it to another game) so may have been close or perhaps even finished it. But what I know for sure is that I enjoyed every bit of it and much of the gameplay is still fresh to me as I can't say I've really played anything similar since. Games got close but the overall experience was and still is to some extent quite unique and captivating. Compared to other titles of that era that I played (Kingpin, Thief, Tomorrow Never Dies to name a few) this got a sweet mix of everything and then some! very nostalgic to see this game again! thank you for covering it! I'll def sub to your channel
the first PC game my mom bought for me was Simon the sorcerer. i enjoyed it quite a bit
OH HELL YES. I loved this game, even through its development flaws, but there is something uniquely special and worthwhile about it. I can't wait to enjoy this one.
I actually got a copy of this game recently on the Original Xbox. Haven’t played it yet, but I’ve been curious about this game since I found out about it, since it’s existence seemed very mysterious to me. Kinda ironic.
I purchased it day one. I was on the first course with the government that let me bring a game console because I was actually going to have some down time.
I had it and morrowind.
About half way through there is a chase in a hotel I think- I tried it several hundred times and was completely stuck.
🤷♀️
TQ for making this video. DCoTE is truly a masterpiece despite its flaws. Bethesda should remaster or continue the Cthulhu series since they own this particular IP.
I like to think of Dark Corner's of the Earth, the way someone described S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow Of Chernobyl...it's not just one or two good ideas that were never fully realised, it's a symphony of good ideas played with a bunch of out of tune instruments, yes I managed to get my copy new, and it was at about half the price of a traditional new release.
There were a lot of good ideas in this one, but it's a shame that it's gone so under the radar.
OMG, I HAD THIS GAME FOR THE OG XBOX.
If you can overlook some of its rough edges, its slow start, and some of the frustrating trial-and-error crap, this game’s actually an underrated gem, in my opinion.
We will always have Eternal Darkness on GC my kings.
I think I saw a Let's play of this game years ago. It definitely captured the spirit of Lovecraft's work
I wish there was a ps2 version, if only someone could port it
A remake would make this one of the best adventures out there.
I didn't realize this was one that was basically created to be forgotten since, as mentioned, it wasn't reviewing terribly and there was some per-release buzz at the time. I got it during a Gamefly trial (I think right near when it came out) so don't think I got super far into it but it's had some free rent in my head all these years. Certainly wasn't the best game of its time but it nailed the vibe and that hotel sequence is legendary. It's one that I kind of want to give a go again one day but is also probably best left to what it's grown to in my memory.
finally someone talking today about this game. It seems that everyone forget it. It needs absolutly a remake
Sinking City is an amazing game with a great spooky atmosphere. It took me 50 hours to finish at a leisurely pace doing everything.
I remember my store had received only 2 or 3 copies with only 1 pre-order on xbox. There was no advertising on it, and I distinctly remembered calling them to pick up their pre-order and them being surprised it had arrived at all.
Gareth Clarke - thank you so insanely much, without you I would never play this incredible game.
I remember my little brother renting and playing this game but I never really had a chance to get into it. That would be cool to see a remaster! 🐙
I think it's important to note that the insanity in encountering monsters is very much more a quality of Lovecraft's protagonists than the monsters (and the ways in which said protagonists' reflect their author). We can look at another pulp character who had occasional overlap. When Conan the Barbarian had an encounter with a Mythos type critter in The Slithering Shadow he was immediately ready to throw down (and probably killed it), or when he encountered a similar critter in the Tower of the Elephant he had a nice chat with it.
4:52 Very funny how this is basically a description of Amnesia
"Hopelessly Compromised" sounds like a descriptor for a Lovecraft protagonist's mind.
FINALLY HES BACK!! missed you Matt
It's insane how making an all-around competent Lovecraft video game seems to be impossible, regardless of the platform or talent involved. I bought this day one on Xbox and then again on PC, because I'd had so much fun with it the first go around and hoped it had been improved, but it was always janky. It seemed to get the best response from those who were very familiar with Lovecraft's works. Any friend I showed it to who didn't read Lovecraft couldn't get past the awkward controls and bugs and didn't care about the references, but most admitted that the escape from the hotel was the best part of the game. I waited in vain for a sequel or remake to emerge. Even after all these years, I'd argue it's still the best video game direct adaptation of the Mythos, although there are many great games out there simply taking inspiration from it.
I love this game, I still play it every year around halloween on my og xbox..
Always loved this game. It’s not perfect but it captures the atmosphere of the books. Especially the Innsmouth portion. Simon The Sorcerer was also a classic lol
And also Eternal Darkness. It also does have lovecraftian inspired lore AND had it's own shares of development and post develoment problems, the worst part being the fact that freaking Nintendo copyrighted the insanity mechanics and now no one can recreate it.
I remember when you played this years ago on the channel. In spite of the games numerous gameplay bugs and shortcomings I can't help but hold a deep sweet-spot for it's atmosphere and little details.
Like "Undying", It's one of those game's i'd like to see take a little ~dive in the night~.
~ As far as adaptations go, it's an astonishingly faithful re-imagining.
Heck, most Innsmouth adaptations don't even mention the town raid and torpedoing of the reef, much less actually featuring it.
I foud this game in a HMV store, I was just walking past the games section which was tiny and I saw the title, and being a huge Lovecraft fan, I had to pick it up. It was on sale, I think it was ten quid.
I freaking love this game.
Series Idea: Hidden Gems. A series where you take underrated games and play them to see uf they're any good
Love that game! Even with all its jankness.
Loved that chase sequence at the hotel. But yeah... the bugs. Oof. The bugs. I was never able to finish it and to this day I don't know if it was from a bug or just me being too slow at the end. Be interested to see what's been fixed on that unofficial patch though.
From my experience and beside of the frustrating bugs it got, I really liked this Game a lot🙂🙂
This game is SO good. I lost count on how many times i have played it. Even with its Glitched Dagon fight and the sea sorcerers...
Just like Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, this old engine has some charm that is difficult to mimic.
I love this game even with bugs, it felt very original.
Awesome as always!
Don't think I didn't notice that tasty King's Field jam at 9:42. 🙏
Also, wife and I still quote this game and the townsfolk’s of Innsmouth to this day. OUTSIDER!
I think an outlast style game set in the call of Cthulhu mythos would be interesting