The story begins with an ending - to be more specific the ending of the main character’s life. Sectioned in Arkham mental asylum in 1920s America, a deeply disturbed Jack Walters, former private investigator, hangs himself in his cell. Thus begins the recounting of the tale as to how and why Jack came to be sectioned and what drove him to suicide. Without spoiling anything by divulging too much of the storyline, Jack’s tale sees him visiting the backwater coastal town of Innsmouth, hired to solve a simplistic case of missing persons. Although what he uncovers is anything but a simple investigation. It quickly becomes evident that the town’s odd and sullen inhabitants are covering something up and those who aren’t seem fearful for their lives. Through his investigations he slowly uncovers a plot by the mysterious Order of Dagon to unleash the ancient lurking horror of The Deep Ones, (ancient and powerful creatures that inhabit the depths of the ocean) upon the Earth.

With such a large repository of Cthulhu mythos to draw on it’s unsurprising that the story feels like something directly written by Lovecraft, wonderfully produced in both style and pacing. Starting with the main character's suicide (a staple approach for Lovecraft’s literature but quite unconventional for gaming) this sets the tone for what is to follow as the whole tale gets much darker, pulling very few punches in an attempt to chill, scare and entertain the player (hitting each of those goals numerous times in its duration). As with a good book the game takes its time in letting events unfold before the real action begins. In essence the substantial opening sequences are befitting of Jack’s investigative profession, requiring him to scour the town for clues and information. As he does, glimpses of sinister figures and events, implications of unspeakable acts and out-and-out shocks are all used to hook the player and reel them in, meaning the pace of opening may be slower but is certainly not dull.

The visuals work to complement the title's strong narrative, accurately conveying the unspeakable horrors lurking in and around Innsmouth. Here Dark Corners of the Earth also does an excellent job of bringing everything to life. The game applies a grain effect which (unlike its throwaway use in games like Stubbs the Zombie) fits the mood perfectly. People and places all look suitably detailed, grubby and menacing giving that mixed feeling of apprehension and intrigue as to what lies around the next darkened corner. Insects scuttle across floors and walls that lay thick with grime and blood. Maggots crawl across sodden mattresses and decaying bodies. Uncouth townsfolk scuttle to and fro, issuing guttural warnings to leave them alone and randomly disappearing into the shadows to relieve themselves against walls. All these aspects help capture the feeling that the player is stuck at the ends of the earth, a place that time has all but forgotten and where heathen ways are rife.

Unsurprisingly darkness plays a pivotal part in the game’s atmosphere, much in the way that it does in Condemned: Criminal Origins. However this time there is no flashlight to help illuminate the multitude of darkened corridors and rooms. Aside from the grain filter, other impressive effects include large bodies of water rippling and reflecting as the player moves through them, while being stuck out in the open in heavy rain causes dribbles of water to spread down the screen and obscure vision. Moreover the game takes a leaf from the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, incorporating insanity effects to unnerve and keep players on their toes. These range from mindbending vertigo which causes the screen and audio to draw in and out realistically when at extreme heights, blurred vision and shallow breathing when panicked or even the extremes of hearing whispered voices or seeing hallucinations. Used to great effect these make creeping around in rafters or jumping from building to building to escape captors a far more entertaining and unique experience.

Jack doesn’t obtain any melee weapons or firearms until around the game's halfway mark. What could have been a disastrous design decision is actually a gamble that pays off extremely well simply by ensuring that players are so caught up in the initial investigation that they have little time to notice their lack of combat ability. When the action does begin the emphasis is quite clearly on flight rather than fight, so evasion and basic stealth (akin to the loose simplistic type employed in Chronicles of Riddick) are required for a substantial portion. This creates a tense, memorable sequence of events on a par with the opening village scene of Resident Evil 4. However unlike Capcom’s title these are heavily scripted and extremely linear but frantically searching for cover, bolting and blocking doors to slow down pursuers and hiding in darkened shadows makes for an undeniably thrilling experience that is not soon forgotten.

While engrossing, the main problem with these sections is that they can feel like the equivalent of the old-style point and click sudden death scenarios (where being too slow inevitably leads to death in one grisly form or another). Certainly there are parts of the game which make it feel like an up to date first-person interpretation of earlier point and click Cthulhu titles, right down to multiple audio descriptions for a large portion of the scenery and items, something that will thrill those who miss the golden age of adventure gaming.

When players are finally given weapons to defend themselves, the combat system is passable, if a little clunky. Enemies can be killed with headshots or floored by shooting them in the legs, but the hit boxes tend to be quite generous (thankfully there is no aiming reticule to attempt to give a false impression of accuracy). It could be argued that this was the intention of the developer to make the combat system very loose and representative of Jack being a normal person, not a Gordon Freeman-styled superhuman killing machine (something further emphasised by it only taking two or three gunshots to kill him). Love it or loathe it, the game does put more of a heavy emphasis on combat towards the second half of its duration, by which time the game's earlier atmospherics have paid off, cajoling the player on until they have adjusted to its nuances.

Some of the death animations are also a little odd, spoiling the mood when an enemy suddenly goes from standing to prone in a rather wooden fashion, before their body quickly fades away (no doubt due to some ancient evil curse and certainly nothing to do with hardware limitations).

Similar to the system employed in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (though a simplified model) the game's health system requires the player to patch Jack up with sutures and bandages in order to keep him healthy. Aside from the status screen there is also a nice touch in that clear audio and visual clues persist if the player attempts to leave their injuries unattended to i.e. the painful sound of grinding bones when they walk, laboured breathing or fading of colour and vision as they slowly bleed to death.

While certainly not flawless, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is the perfect game for followers of Lovecraft’s work, but the title also offers an intriguing and involving adventure for those who aren’t and just want something a little different from a normal first-person game.

Sadly the game has been largely overlooked upon release possibly as an affront to the Great Old Ones themselves, but more likely because of the excitement over the Xbox 360. Thankfully the game is compatible with Microsoft’s flagship console and is already available at budget price meaning there is no excuse not to summon up a copy. A human sacrifice is not required.