As the title implies, I am about to purchase C.O.C. on steam.

The game looks fantastic, to say the least.


I am a huge H.P. Lovecraft fan and I guess I was just wondering just how much you guys think I'm gonna freak out with joy at playing,

because I'm a HUGE fan.

Straight up: Did they do this right?

Please tell me this is as awesome as it looks!

Come on...No one plays this?

buy it!
dont think its going for much on steam anyways, so you dont have much to lose

Last I saw, it was 10 bucks. That's chump change for an incredible experience.

I haven't read the books, but it's pretty damn good. The HUD-less interface and the whole sanity system with the visual effects works really well. Jack isn't some super powered killing machine used to slaughtering monsters, so he's a good character for a horror game. Just a private detective, who can't believe the things he's seeing. And is afraid of heights.

The PC version is somewhat buggy especially on modern systems, but it ran flawlessly on my 5 years old PC.

One of my favourite horror games along with the Penumbra series. You should definitely get it!

Sanity system?!?! This sounds freaking fabulous.

Yes, Jack is a pretty average guy (besides all the visions he gets) so when facing horrific things such as mutilated corpses, or seeing monsters that "Can't possibly be real" or other crazy stuff he will lose 'sanity'. If your sanity is low the screen can go all blurry and wobbly (Jack's fear of heights can do similar things to your vision when you look down from somewhere high up), you'll hear your heart beat faster, you can hear all sorts of weird sounds, and Jack starts muttering to himself. Why did I come here? ... Someone's following me... There's something in my head... He's calling to me..

Sanity slowly recovers, but if you face too many horrific things at once and your sanity level goes extremely low you'll go insane and strangle yourself or something like that. If you happen to have a gun in your hand at that point there's a chance you'll shoot yourself in the head.

It doesn't happen often because usually your sanity recovers before you see any new horrible things, but there are a few situations where you have to get away quick because something's making you gradually insane.

I actually started a new playthrough a couple of weeks ago. I should get back to that...

This is an amazing game, I'd still pay full whack for it even now. It's unique in the gaming industry, just as Lovecraft was in his field. It's done right.

Yes, my mind is made up. I'm getting this tonight!

You won't regret it. If you have any problems, post them here or email me at slik_power@hotmail.com. I want you to enjoy the experience of this great game to the maximum. It's very immersive.

And what are you going to do for example if he gets the blue lights (cannon scope) issue, and cannot finish the game ?? Give him a save file ??
Lycia - if you got Vista, then the game has a bug that blocks your progress in the game. So without someones saves you won't finish the game.

Has the blue lights issue been confirmed as a Vista issue? It might just as well be a video card thing. I know the glitchy raindrops isn't a Vista/7 issue...

Yes, it's a Vista issues. Tested on 5 PC's. 3 modern high-medium end, and 2 old ones meting the recommender requirements.
All of them have this issue on Vista. If you install XP the bug is gone, and on the same saves.
The rain drops issue i partly a Vista issue. Its caused by DirectX 10, and how it renders the graphics. Its confirmed to. One of the high end PC had that issue on Vista and DX10, but on XP and DX9c the raindrops ware normal. Many grafics issues can by fixed by using a D3D Windower to lunch the game.
90% of the game issues that you can find are caused by Vista. The only good solution as of now is to install XP, and it solves all the problems.

So if you got Vista its no sense to buy the game, becomes the bugs block you. Not to mention, that you won't find saves that will allow you to get a A rank (best, and fullest) ending.

have you done any tests on 7 with the blue light issue?

I didn't do them yet, because i don't have a copy of 7. But i will have it in a couple of weeks so i will try. It's weary probable that it will have the same issues as Vista or even more.

Not using Vista my friends. I'm sure it will work just fine.


It's DL'ing from Steam right now. Cannot wait to play this!


UPDATE: This game totally rules. Get it.

I have windows XP Professional 64-bit and a DirectX 10 capable graphics card and I also get the raindrops issue. Even though DX10 isn't even supported on my OS, it could still cause glitches?

If I can find a savegame somewhere I'd be willing to see if I happen to get the blue lights issue as well.


I never could get D3D Windower to work, I suppose I should give that another try to fix the rain drops at least.

povuholo - what graphics card do you have ??
For me the strange graphics was a diractX issue. In Vista the game looks like this (directX 10).
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/3483/bad2t.jpg
But when i install XP or use D3D Windower it looks normal (better).
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/8510/badm.jpg

So this is a 100% directX 10 issue.

http://www1.sapphiretech.com/uk/products/products_overview.php?gpid=247

If you could upload your savegame from the Dangerous Voyage level I could have a look at what it looks like for me. I haven't gotten that far on this PC yet.

You mean Dark Corners of the Earth? Okay, here are some problems with it-

1. Immersion is occasionally broken by various things. Immersion is generally great, but some things, like an enemies' guns dissapearing into thin air rather than you being able to pick them up, are blatantly immersion destroying attempts to increase difficulty. The devs wanted to restrict your ammo and weapon availability, so they simply make the guns of enemies dissappear when they die, and force you to look in safes and closets for guns. Another example would be some areas where enemies infinitely respawn. There are also immersion reducing things that result in less difficulty- for example, you can heal from a broken leg really fast with the right supplies, and you can carry several metric butt-tons of guns and ammo. There is no canonical explanation for these events. The removal of a hud and the multiple stage healing system and such all add to the immersion, but these are overshadowed by the various things that reduce immersion. So in some ways the game is more immersive, in others, it is actually less immersive than other games.

2. All your weapons get taken away too damn often. It is really, really annoying.

3. Your character is Lawful Stupid. He *will* regularly march into problems you can see coming a mile away. And there is *nothing* you can do about it.

povuholo - http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1089040-solution-for-the-canon-scope-issue/
http://www.speedyshare.com/files/22131323/Bethesda.rar

I never could get that D3DWindower to work. Even though in the settings I selected the DLL, and ticked the 'use windowed mode' box, and pressed the emulation button before the run program button, it would completely ignore all my settings and just play the game in fullscreen anyway with no differencee.

I really want to get that thing to work because it would help me with a problem with Planescape: Torment too. Any ideas?

I'll have a look at the level anyway.

edit: The sky is fine, couldn't check for the blue lights because I have no save from that point and I don't want to play through half the level first. I assume it's fine too. So it's just that raindrop thing...

dont think its going for much on steam anyways, so you dont have much to lose

Here is some stuff from anandtech forums about the bugs.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2143819