The legendary horror series creeps its way unto your Xbox.

While most people are familiar with famous horror authors like Steven King and R.L. Stein, but no less respected was H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft is best remembered for his Call of Cthulu (pronounced: k-thew-loo) series, which evoked ancient terrors, secret cults, and fear of the unknown to create some of the greatest horror stories ever. Considering the popularity of the series, it’s surprising it took so long for a company to embrace the mythos of Cthulu. Now Bethesda (best known for the excellent Elder Scrolls series) and 2k Games have brought us the first of their new Cthulu games: Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth.

The game starts in 1929, when private investigator Jack Walters is called to a police situation at the edge of town. A cult has been hiding out in this place, and their leader has specifically asked for Jack to come and talk to them. Jack doesn’t know what to expect, but when he regains his senses, it's six years later and everything has changed. Just as he starts to piece his life together, he gets a case involving a missing person in the town of Innsmouth.

If there is one thing this game got right, it’s how it embraces the Cthulu mythos and Innsmouth in particular. Often the focal point of many Cthulu stories, Innsmouth is well represented in the game. Dark, run down, and filled with people suspicious of strangers, you get the feel the town is not a place anyone would want to spend any time in. This is a town barely on the edge of the living world, and its oppressive streets are filled with mysteries best left unexplored.

But explore them you will. The game is played entirely from a first person perspective, and there is nary a HUD to speak of. You see right out of Jack’s eyes, allowing you to see the world as he sees it. This adds to a great sense of immersion, but also causes some problems as well. You see, as Jack begins exploring things man was not meant to know, his sanity (which isn’t in the best of shape anyway) beings to suffer. This takes the form of blurring vision and odd graphical effects. Since he doesn’t have the best field of vision anyway, this creates some really tense moments.

The game starts out as an exploration/survival horror game. Unlike most of the games of this ilk (I’m looking at you, Resident Evil), it doesn’t treat you like an idiot and expect you not to realize that yes, you really DO want to use that hex shaped key in that hex shaped keyhole. In fact, some of the better puzzles in the game require you to piece together clues found in the game intelligently. This is a good/bad proposition, as there is very little hand-holding. But the tougher puzzles could take some trial and error, or at least looking up info. online.