Shadow of the Comet

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Shadow of the Comet
Developer(s)	Chaosium
Publisher(s)	Infogrames
Release date(s)	1993 (PC)
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	MS-DOS
Media	CD
Input	Mouse, Keyboard

Shadow of the Comet (later repackaged as Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet) is a computer game in the adventure game genre. The game is based around H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. A follow-up game, Prisoner of Ice, was also published, though Prisoner of Ice is not a direct sequel.

The game takes place in 1910, and concerns the visit of a young British Photographer, John Parker, to the isolated New England town of Illsmouth to witness and photograph the passage of Halley's comet. In 1834, on the last passing, Lord Boleskine visited the town after learning that certain conditions near the town would allow astronomical objects to be seen clearer and closer than on any other spot on earth. He decides to test this theory by observing the comet from Illsmouth, but something unexpected happens and he goes insane, spending the rest of his life in a London lunatic aslyum. Robert Parker, learning of the 1834 incident and reading over Boleskine's papers, wants to succeed where his predecessor has failed.

When he arrives, he stumbles onto a sinister conspiracy, and must survive the three days between his arrival and the comet's passage while finding out what happened in 1834.

The game uses many elements from Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror and The Shadow over Innsmouth. The Necronomicon, as well as Lovecraft himself (under a different name), make cameo appearances in the game, along with well-known actors such as Jack Nicholson and Vincent Price.