Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (PC) (2006)

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (PC) (2006)*
*Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (Xbox) (2005)

Former detective Jack Walters pours over his desk as he writes in his journal..

Relevant Links:
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (Wikipedia.org)
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
The Old Ones 1.0 (SweetFX Settings DB)
DCoTE Unofficial Patch v1.5

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20151026:
Yesterday my friend gifted me this game - in part because he's been trying to convince me to play it for a couple of years - and so I decided to make an effort and give the game a try.

As the game is known to be buggy, I did some research and followed some basic set-up procedure.

A drunk NPC that asks for liquor.

Set-up:
I followed two guides on Steam:

FOV and bug fix for Steam version (DCoTEPatch 1.5)
The Old Ones (SweetFX+ENB+FOV+EXE Patch)

Specifically I did the following:

1 - Downloaded [A] SweetFX 1.5.1, [B] SweetFX Preset File, [C] ENB Bloom Add-On, and [D] DCoTE Unofficial Patch v1.5
2 - Go to [E] ..\steamapps\common\Call of Cthulhu\Engine
3 - Renamed CoCMainWin32.exe to _.original0.exe and d3d9.dll to _.original.dll
4 - Extracted [A] to [E]. Renamed d3d9.dll to d3d9_sweetfx.dll

Finally got some ammo. Now I just need a gun.

5 - Renamed [B] to SweetFX_settings.txt. Placed in [E].
6 - Extracted [C] to [E]. Extracted [D] to [E]. Ran the EXE.
7 - Checked "Skip the blue light bug!" and "Allow skip of legal video". Set FOV to 95 and Sneak FOV to 99.9.
8 - Pressed 'Play' on Steam. Set Display Mode: 2560 x 1440 - 60 hertz, Antialiasing Mode: None.
9 - (Optional) Pressed record on OBS.*
10 - Pressed 'Launch Game.'
11 - After closing the game I backed up my save files with GameSave Manager

When I opened this door, the camera zoomed in on the ghastly sight in the corner, zoomed out, and all the character could do was peek left and peek right - that and hear the rope creaking.

*I tried twice to do 10 before 9, but only managed to confirm that the game dislikes Alt-tabbing. In particular, when tabbing back to the game, I can hear the audio, but fail to see any video.

Plot & Gameplay:
The game takes place in the early 1900's and the initial portion of the game sets up the story and mood. After an opening scene, I was put in control of detective Jack Walters where I stumble upon some crazy shit and go insane.

After staying in Arkham Asylum for six years, Walters is released and the next part of the story continues in Innsmouth. Here the game continues with the exploratory gameplay and adds a little stealth into the mix.

Horror movie wisdom suggests never go into the basement.
Horror movie rules dictate one must always go into the basement.

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Thoughts:
Pros:
+Great atmosphere
+Good story
+Decent amount of tension

Neutral:
~Not overly frightening; thus far the game has only given me light jumpscares (though there have been a decent number of them)
~HUD-less

Video game wisdom suggests one must push random buttons.
Especially if the buttons are written in a foreign language.

Cons:
-Buggy and requires setup/patching to eliminate/avoid major bugs
: After one hour of playing my character got stuck when I entered a room, all I could do was peek left and peek right. I couldn't crouch and I couldn't walk anywhere. I attempted to go into the menu to see if it would reset, but it didn't. Thankfully I had recently saved the game.*
: I'm not sure if this is a bug or not, but I had the hardest time trying to enter the trap door after I opened it

*Because I heard the rope creaking, I initially expected the game had triggered a cut scene where the body would drop.

Well... this can't be good.

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Josh's Advice:
My friend Josh had the following advice:
F1) Read the Steam FAQs before starting
F2) I needed to do three things to complete the game:

a) Switch to a 24-hour clock or saves mess up.
b) Download a patch.
c) Download a save point because a level could not be completed.

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Additional Advice:
One Steam user provides the following steps for troubleshooting:

1 - Install the DCoTE Unofficial Patch

2 - Set the game in "Windows XP SP3" mode
3 - Turn off anti-aliasing
4 - Set the core affinity to one*
5 - Before entering the gong zone, use the save in the tunnel ONCE to avoid the bug with the levers
6 - When the boss in the bubble is dead (in the gong zone), change to another patch before the last run

*I assume this can only be done at the launcher before pressing 'Launch Game.'