Lonely Planet: Innsmouth

Running my little horror diary on videogame that’s not only obscure but also legendary for it’s bull-headed refusal to function properly may sound like eldritch-driven madness, and it probably is, but there are two relatively sane reasons behind my decision to pick Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.

Firstly, its notorious instability was something , to a degree, appealed to me. Sometimes a piece of art or media that is a disjointed mess ends up that way through trying to implement unique ideas in new ways. Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk movie, the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica and IO Interactive’s 2007 shooting game Kane And Lynch: Dead Men leap to mind as being recent examples of half-mad and poorly executed but conceptually interesting and intriguing works of fiction that were far more interesting for me to experience than the functional-yet-dull bog standard that makes up the majority of consumer entertainment.

Pictured: the functional-yet-dull bog standard

Secondly, in spite of it having Call of Cthulhu in the title, Dark Corners of the Earth is based on one of my favourite Lovecraft stories The Shadow over Innsmouth. The Shadow over Innsmouth tells the tale of a young man becoming stranded in a dishevelled backwater harbour town (pun not intended, unless it’s funny, in which case it is was absolutely intended) named Innsmouth, which held a tragic past and an otherworldly secret involving hidden cults and fish-people. If Dark Corners can immerse the player in Innsmouth’s horrifying secrets, then I’m 100% on board (harbour-related pun not intended, unless it’s funny, in which case it was completely intentional.) 

Phil Mitchell is once again employed to boost the sales of Lovecraft-related fiction

Although a game taking place in a otherworldly town with dark secrets could make me feel a little homesick for my hometown of Stockport.