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Call of Cthulhu®: Dark Corners of the Earth
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a first-person horror game that combines intense action and adventure elements.
In short, Steam reviewers most often praise “Oppressive Lovecraftian storytelling” (20 of 81 reviews) and “Oppressive Innsmouth atmosphere” (19); the most common complaint is “Steam port crashes and bugs” (40). What reviewers agree on ↓
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-26 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
20 of the 81 reviews raise this.
19 of the 81 reviews raise this.
“Man, this game’s got insane potential. Atmosphere is pure nightmare fuel, every shadow feels wrong. That ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ chase scene. Story’s creepy as hell and actually pulls you in. NPCs? They stare like they know you’re…”
10 of the 81 reviews raise this.
“What's with all the bad reviews? I'm sure it's because it's a little buggy and difficult to play, but I never had any serious problems with bugs and I think the difficulty makes it that much more scary. And that's…”
“Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, developed by Headfirst Productions and published by Bethesda Softworks, stands as one of the most ambitious attempts to translate H.P. Lovecraft’s cosmic horror into…”
4 of the 81 reviews raise this.
3 of the 81 reviews raise this.
“What's with all the bad reviews? I'm sure it's because it's a little buggy and difficult to play, but I never had any serious problems with bugs and I think the difficulty makes it that much more scary. And that's…”
40 of the 81 reviews raise this · 20 of them still recommend the game.
12 of the 81 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“Man, this game’s got insane potential. Atmosphere is pure nightmare fuel, every shadow feels wrong. That ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ chase scene. Story’s creepy as hell and actually pulls you in. NPCs? They stare like they know you’re…”
“I really wanted to like Call of Cthulhu, before I get into the problems, let's look at the good. The atmosphere got me from the beginning of the game, even now this game has some damn good eerie vibes. Like the dark…”
7 of the 81 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“This is the greatest (truly) Lovecraftian game we will ever get. But oh man I can not recommend it. It is broken beyond any recognitions and the Steam version especially is literally unplayable. This is not an…”
6 of the 81 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is a long-awaited horror action adventure that blends stealth, exploration, and first-person combat into a deeply unsettling experience. Despite technical flaws and dated…”
“Call of Cthulhu®: Dark Corners of the Earth It starts very well with the mystery and the small horror and gore here and there since the beginner until the Town Insmouth . An bad Chapter of the game is the "Refinery"…”
5 of the 81 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“the game has a ♥♥♥♥ ton of unfair puzzles and need like 2 patches and 3 tutorials for correct instalation. with all that said, its one of the most impressive horror games if not the most impressive ive played ever,”
“i really wanted to like this game, but the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ checkpoints, nonsensical confusing puzzles and poor gameplay bring down what otherwise could have been a really cool game. i tried my hardest to beat it, but towards the…”
Counted across 81 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 67.6% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“I have much more time than 11 minutes, the game doesn't track my play time for some reason. It only tracks the brief launcher time, if that is any indication. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (2006) – Still Amazing in 2026 I finally played this 20-year-old game in 2026…”
— a player, Steam review · 5 hrs played“Reviewing games I played a long time ago: One of the best examples of games with a strong start but weak endings. The first part in Innsmouth is great, filled with dread and paranoia, I'm having a blast replaying it, but the final acts are not as strong. Seems like theres a lot…”
— a player, Steam review · 1 hrs played“In 2026, I can't recommend it. It's a game from my childhood, and I remember it was much better than it actually is. The first 25% of the game is a masterpiece, but once you're given a weapon, the game loses all immersion, all horror - it turns into a boring shooter with no…”
— a player, Steam review · 17 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-10-20). Relative comparison only.
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From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Player tags | Lovecraftian · Horror · First-Person · Survival Horror · Atmospheric · FPS · Based On A Novel · Stealth · Singleplayer · Adventure · Story Rich · Classic (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English |
| Official site | http://www.callofcthulhu.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
OS *: Windows XP/2000 Processor: Pentium 3 800Mhz Memory: 128MB RAM Graphics: DirectX 9.0 3D compliant Video Card Hard Drive: 2.0 GB Sound: DirectX 8.1 Compatible