Begins at night in the city, the player is awakened in his hotel room by loud noises at the door and must flee his hotel. His race will bring him into the narrow alleys of the city to end in the city sewers, but also in secret rooms that suggest dark ceremonies dedicated to the mythical god Cthulhu. Finally, he finds himself in an old port where it needs to reach a lighthouse in a final attempt to survive.
I loved this for its potential. The actual gameplay is lacking unfortunately. The mod is Lovecraft as rendered via Half-Life 2. It is deeply familiar experience to Half-Life 2 fans yet set within the setting of Innsmouth. It is about what you would expect from a fan mod including the limitations that sometimes arise with such projects.
The short story this mod is based upon is a favorite of mine. Having the game set in the fishing town of Innsmouth is enough to garner a few points for the score immediately. This mod features new textures, new models, and three new maps. The maps tend to be shorter which is okay given the somewhat bittersweet quality of this release. I did not notice any new sounds which is a problem as immersion is hampered. Lovecraftian fiends should not be uttering combine and HL2 zombie noises. Another problem is the maps themselves. There are clipping/boundary issues as well as design issues. The pacing is unsatisfactory in that it feels as though enemies were just dropped into places after the fact.
If you can accept this project as a Lovecraft fan-produced mod for Half-Life 2 and not a professional commercial game, there is a lot to admire and applaud here. I recommend it.. Just do not expect a modern Dark Corners of the Earth game or a "pure" Lovecraft journey.
I´m giving it 7 and not less because it seems you have made all content for it. Otherwise it´d be worth a 5. The theme is cool and there are some blinks of good design. But overall feels very very rushed. Lighting is awful and layout is linear-noobish-like. HL2 stock sounds really break the inmersion and there´s barely any fun to have here.
Still, kudos for designing all models and textures. Some of them are great (like the fish and octopus statues).
To me, this a perfect example of a mod that could be really good, but fell short of it. To start off, None of the sounds are original nor are the icons for the weapons.
I'm also disappointed by how easily mess-ups and glitches are found (like the boat in Harbor, you can easily jump on it and walk to the chimney.).
However it does have nice textures, and the monster models are interesting. I'll be glad to re-rate and re-review when you've had an overhall of the sounds, maps and borders.
Ha it was good all the way through.. its hard to come by a mod that has no sign of the original content while here. well you got rid of 'Most of it' there are still things that can be fixed like uhh the NPCs models. they flip out after i kill them. and also the diversity of the Innmouth folk i killed the same man so many times. and the voices should also be fixed too. but besides that this mod gets my support in going on. i hope you can make a more polished one by the time its done.
While I had fun playing through this, and a lot of work went into making it, it felt unfinished and unoptimized.
Several times I couldn't help but cheat to continue in some areas and there are some rather obtrusive issues with level design and modeling.
However, for what it is, even if it doesn't have a cohesive story, the atmosphere is excellent in some areas and much of the level design is top-billin.
I can't help but praise this due to the amount of custom, modeling, skinning and mapping put into this short mod, so don't take my word for it, give this mod a gander.
It's not bad, as it is still playable, just remember to play on easy :)
highly overlooked !!
Very strong aesthetic combined with really finicky gameplay. Good effort from all involved but needs a lot more polish
So the mod is in rough shape, who cares? If unfinished work wasn't playable no one would release the so called "demos". Yeah, i know that the students released the project as a final product and don't have any intention of improving the current state of the mod but you guys have to keep in mind that this was made for a school project not to please the gaming community in all aspects.
You are being too harsh on the evaluations, it's a decent mod with good storyline, interesting characters, creative events and cutscenes, curious puzzles, fair distribution of supplies and unique environments. Custom props weren't finished but they were worth it, i don't care if the enemies still have the sound of the original combines and zombies, and i don't mind if they shake a little too much when they die, as long as they provide some entertainment and fit the scenario; also i like the weapons animation, i kinda have a crush on that mlee swing even if it dones't make sense to spin such heavy object that fast.
i reccomend this mod to anyone who's attracted by something different from that "fight the military oppression" or "beware the scary monsters" screenplay that most of today mods tend to use.
USE THE STEAMPIPE FIX TO GET IT GOING, explore the areas carefully before running to the first walkthrough you see on youtube and try to think about this as a incomplete game before criticizing it.
OBS: Final bugged, instead of getting tossed to the beach i remained inside the lighthouse and didn't get to watch it explode, only bug i found so far.
FINAL SCORE: 8,7 but if you guys can give it a '1' before even play'n it i can manipulate my score as well
Contrary to what others may think, I see that this mod had a lot of research, time and effort put into it. The addition of so many custom objects and props, textures and re-skins etc. create a very chilling environment worthy of Lovecraft's praise.
In case others do not know, and are wondering upon the origin of this mod. It is based upon "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by renowned horror-writer HP Lovecraft. The story is all in there, and it is definitely worth a read for those that love a creepy story.
Being me, I took note of every detail (and found a few humorous easter eggs), and while granted there were a lot of things that could have been refined and fixed up I understand that it was a student project, and thus has it's limitations to how much effort can be put in before a certain deadline. Regardless of this minor constraint it has achieved greatly and does justice to Lovecraft's Mythos and legacy. A welcome addition in my eyes.
Good effort, I am impressed. Lovecraftian mods are few but this one like so little others succeeds where many have failed.
Cthulhu Fhtagn my friends, Cthulhu Fhtagn.
~Chris