Even though it's one of the better Lovecraftian Horror video games out there, CoC:DCotE is kind of a tragedy. It has an unusually well-thought-out plot, borrowing heavily from a number of Lovecraft's better stories, in particular The Shadow Over Innsmouth, and this allows for an excellent sense of immersion which is only enhanced by some very solid (if somewhat dated) production values in terms of art, music, voice acting, and general world design. The FPS-style gameplay involves long stretches of exploration punctuated with extreme violence, and there are all sorts of little touches to bring you into the game; your vision blurs when your character is heavily stressed, your pulse and breathing get louder when in danger, and they even added a fairly elaborate medical treatment system to make injuries feel a bit more visceral than they do in the average shooter. Few games have gone to such lengths to create an engrossing environment for the player.

Unfortunately, all this is marred heavily by the raw bugginess of the game. Save often, as the game will crash regularly. Expect to suddenly find the inbred lunatic pursuing you to race the wrong way when the AI spazzes out. Quests fail to trigger, graphical glitches aren't uncommon, and stealth sections wind up being more a matter of luck than skill. I never even managed to see the ending since the end movie seemed to make my XBox freeze up every time I finished. If you have the patience for it, there is a lot of wonderful game design here, including some of the best boss battles I've ever seen, but be prepared to take some abuse in the process.