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Shadow of the Comet
“The Milky Way shone like the fires of the Apocalypse from the inky celestial vault. Certain distant stars, normally invisible to the naked eye, were clearly visible, glittering with a strange intensity. The heavy clouds that had settled above the village had no hold over that place. It would be pointless to offer here the names of the constellations one perceived in utter clarity; apart from the interminable length of such a list, one might conceivably risk being charged with exaggeration!”
This passage was taken from the memoires of Lord Allistair Boleskine, an astronomer of noble background. It concerns a visit that he made, during the summer of 1824, to a tiny fishing village in New England, and to a very special clearing in the surrounding woods--a clearing “outside the common laws of time and space”, in which celestial objects appeared strangely magnified.
Shadow of the Comet is the story of John Carter, a young British astronomer. Armed with Lord Boleskine’s account of his voyage to New England, and the newly improved art of photography, Carter’s mission in this game is to retrace Boleskine’s steps from the village of “Illsmouth”, Massachusetts (yes, a hearty groan from one and all) to a strange clearing in the woods…the clearing from which Boleskine stumbled, raving mad, after attempting to observe the passage of Halley’s comet.
Carter has, quite literally, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on his hands, a wild long-shot; he hopes to make photographic plates of the comet during the summer of its passage, taking advantage of the glade’s unique atmospheric conditions to produce images of extraordinary clarity. If he succeeds, he’ll be able to publish his findings and make his career. If he fails, he may become a laughing stock. What he doesn’t realize, at first, is that there is more than his career - perhaps even more than his own life - at stake...
Shadow of the Comet is, in some small way, a sequel to Alone in the Dark. The quotation above was taken from the fragment of Boleskine’s diary found in Derceto, for example. Although the two titles have little in common when it comes to gameplay, graphics and sensibility, they are related in inspiration; they both owe their finest moments to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Shadow of the Comet is perhaps more recognizably related to Lovecraft’s stories than Alone was; the game is the first I-Motion title to be endorsed by Chaosium, the publishers of the Call of Cthulhu RPG.
The narrative, which involves the return of the Ancients from their plane of exile, is a familiar one to most horror fans. The themes - the danger lurking along the paths to knowledge and the horrifying secrets which lurk behind the seeming tranquillity of New England towns - are as well-worn and comfortable as an old boot. The gameplay is fairly traditional adventure game fare, employing the usual “3 I’s” of any rpg: interview, investigate, and intervene.
Some aspects of this game are weak. The graphics were a bit dated even at the time of the game’s release, and technical problems crop up if you try to run it on more powerful modern machines. The voice acting is very good, however, and the gameplay, which consists of exploration, interviewing, riddles and detection, is an extremely effective model for a horror game. Also, the game package included a variety of very cool simulated documents. There were death certificates, a sworn statement from a British sea captain, a note from the British Museum, etc….all highly entertaining.
Shadow of the Comet never gained the popularity it deserved, which very much surprised me. This was a smart, serious horror game, with a strong plot and a highly evolved sense of horror. I would still recommend it to anyone capable of appreciating its sophistication…or who has a machine old enough to run the sucker.
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