Shadow of the Comet

Shadow of the Comet (later repackaged as Call ofCthulhu: Shadow of the Comet) is an adventure gamedeveloped and released by Infogrames in 1993. The gameis based on H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. A follow-up game, Prisoner of Ice, is not a direct sequel.The game uses many elements from Lovecraft’s The Dun-wich Horror and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

1 Plot

The game takes place in 1910, and concerns the visit of ayoung British photographer, John Parker, to the isolatedNew England town of Illsmouth (an alteration on Love-craft’s Innsmouth) to witness and photograph the passageof Halley’s Comet.In 1834, on the last passing, Lord Boleskine visited thetown after learning that certain conditions near the townwould allow astronomical objects to be seen clearer andcloser than on any other spot on earth. He decides totest this theory by observing the comet from Illsmouth,but something unexpected happens and he goes insane,spending the rest of his life in a London lunatic asylum.John Parker, learning of the 1834 incident and readingover Boleskine’s papers, wishes to succeed where his pre-decessor failed.When he arrives, Parker stumbles upon a sinister conspir-acy and must survive the three days between his arrivaland the comet’s passage while finding out what happenedin 1834.

2 Gameplay

The player can control Parker via the arrow keys. WhenParker comes across something he can interact with, abutton press will allow the player to do so. Items thatParker can take will project a white line from Parker’s eyeto the item, indicating that when the player interacts withthe item, it will be added to Parker’s inventory. Apartfrom this the game plays like a standard third-person ad-venture game.

3 Reception

Computer Gaming World praised Shadow of the Comet ' s plot, puzzles, writing, and “rather naughty, dark Gallicsense of humor” but criticized the lack of mouse support,calling object manipulation and puzzle solving withoutone “painful”. The magazine concluded that the game “isa high quality graphic adventure that offers nothing par-ticularly new as far as technological advances and is, insome ways, a touch old-fashioned. This may, however,not be a bad thing” given the plot’s quality.[1]

4 Release

On July 22nd, 2015, Shadow of The Comet and Prisonerof Ice were re-released as DRM-free on GOG.com formodern computers.[2]

5 References[1] Matthews, Robin (August 1993). “Robin Matthews

Launches a Detailed Investigation of France’s Latest Ex-port”. Computer Gaming World. p. 82. Retrieved 12 July2014.

[2] GOG.com. “RELEASE: CALL OF CTHULHU:SHADOW OF THE COMET + PRISONER OF ICE”.GOG.com. Retrieved 22 July 2015.

6 External links• Shadow of the Comet at MobyGames

• Shadow of The Comet at GOG.com

1

2 7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text• Shadow of the Comet Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Comet?oldid=672541941 Contributors: SD6-Agent, Gtrmp,

Jdavidb, Tagishsimon, Tordek ar, Ylee, Dmanning, Ceyockey, Jeff3000, Koavf, J. Eley, Bluebot, GVnayR, Nareek, Syrcatbot, Danial79,Mika1h, Cydebot, Alaibot, BetacommandBot, HanzoHattori, Tubeyes, MrSerif, TXiKiBoT, Goustien, Maelgwnbot, Martarius, Solar-Wind, CasinoGhost, DumZiBoT, Addbot, Captain Obvious and his crime-fighting dog, Lightbot, Postwar, Solaris3001, Helpful Pixie Bot,Flax5, The1337gamer, Laodah, SNAAAAKE!!, CaptainCital, Chrisgerbo, Krisfrosz133, SonOfPlisskin and Anonymous: 20

7.2 Images• File:Gamepad.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/be/Gamepad.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original artist: ?• File:Shadow_of_the_Comet_cover.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/Shadow_of_the_Comet_cover.jpg Li-cense: Fair use Contributors:May be found at the following website: GameSpot Original artist: ?

7.3 Content license• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0