Exclusive: Call of Cthulhu

Added 12/08/2004 by Derby

What made you decide to make a game based on the works of Lovecraft?

Well, since Lovecraft is generally considered the father of the modern horror genre in literature, it’s obvious that his work has greatly influenced the game industry. With that in mind, to be able to create a horror game based on his original work was something too good to pass up.

How difficult was it to keep Dark Corners of the Earth entertaining while remaining true to the Lovecraft mythos?

There is a difficult balance between keeping true to the original Lovecraft source materials and building an entertaining, well-paced game that has both action elements as well as adventure elements. One of the more difficult hurdles was balancing the sanity of the player. In Lovecraft’s work, human basically pretty much goes insane as soon as they lay eyes on a mythos creature. This obviously doesn’t create a fun game experience for the players, so we had to carefully balance that, as well as the combat with mythos creatures.

Other than Dagon and Deep Ones, what other beings can we expect to stumble upon?

Well, I don’t want to give too much away and spoil the surprises for the players, but I will say that people familiar with the Cthulhu mythos will instantly recognize some of the more popular and well-known creatures. The one thing I can say is that the game centers around the town of Innsmouth. So besides the Deep Ones, the player will also have to contend with some very unfriendly locals…some of which may or may not be entirely human.

I understand that you’ve removed the heads up display and crosshair in order to increase the immersion factor for the players, have you taken any other steps to increase immersion?

Definitely. Beyond the lack of a HUD and crosshairs, we also have a realistic combat system. All our weapons are authentic to the 1920’s era, and all weapons needs to be manually reloaded if you run out of ammo. For example, if a player empties a revolver, they can’t just press the “fire” button again and expect the game to automatically reload for them. Another aspect is the arm fatigue system. If the player has their weapon drawn into an “aim” position for an extended period of time, the arm will start to get fatigued and will start waivering…leading to difficulties in properly targeting an enemy.

There’s been a few games in the past that have borrowed ideas and themes from the works of Lovecraft, some blatant other subtle, what sets Dark Corners of the Earth above the others?

Well, one of the best parts of Dark Corners of the Earth is the fact that we are able to freely use anything from the original source material. Instead of having to make up Elder Gods names or a pale imitation of the mythos creatures, we can actually use the proper names and the real creatures themselves. Another aspect that sets Dark Corners of the Earth apart is that we are really trying to capture the Lovecraft feel in our game. We did not want to create a game where the player will just shoot waves and waves of creatures thrown onto the screen. We created a game that is much heavier on the dark and foreboding atmosphere that is usually found in Lovecraft’s literary works.

Because you will be dealing with an established cult phenomenon, do you think there will be a great deal of scrutiny of the finished product?

Lovecraft fans are some of the most hardcore fans out there. We definitely feel the pressure to not only produce a game that gamers would love, but one that would also live up to all the Cthulhu fans’ expectations. But with that said, I think we’ve struck a very good balance between having many references to things only hardcore mythos fans will know and still be accessible to gamers who may not be as familiar with Call of Cthulhu universe.

I saw the videos you’ve released of the game, are you putting a warning on the box like the ones on rollercoasters?

Heh heh. Given that this game covers some very dark and sinister topics, it may be prudent for us to offer a fair warning to potential gamers.

Is there any pressure for Dark Corners of the Earth to compete with well-known horror titles like Silent Hill, Eternal Darkness, or Alone in the Dark, especially considering the fact that horror games don’t generally do as well as some other genres?

The only real similarity that Dark Corners of the Earth share with the other horror franchises is the fact that our game can also be defined with the horror genre. Everything else about Dark Corners is unique to itself. We’re the only survival-horror game set in a first-person perspective to really immerse the player. We offer the players a more balanced type of gaming with puzzle solving, stealth evasions, sanity-loss, and frenzied melee and ranged combats (instead of just mindless blowing up of zombies).

I read that Dark Corners of the Earth is also based on the pen and paper Call of Cthulhu, how many of you are players, and is there room for one more?

Many of the team members working on Dark Corners of the Earth are big into the pen and paper games…and there’s always room for one more player at our table.