When we last left our hero, he had\u2026jeez. Oh, wow. With the running into a building full of\u2026and then the\u2026and the portal to\u2026Christ.<\/p>\n
Oh, wow. Did I really\u2026and then\u2026and\u2026<\/p>\n
Wow.<\/p>\n
Okay, short version is, our hero has shown an amazing aptitude for putting himself in danger, getting people killed, and screwing with things he has no business screwing with. If you asked this guy to crack down on drug trafficking, he\u2019d find an illicit warehouse, run in, talk to every drug dealer he saw, then start grabbing random substances and injecting them into himself. It\u2019s like a LucasArts adventure game, only in first person and played deadly straight. For the next six years, he assumed a different personality, becoming obsessed with the occult and seeming to understand languages previously unfamiliar to him.<\/p>\n And then, five months before the game begins proper, he woke up. He didn\u2019t remember anything since the library where he found the secret passage, and can\u2019t read any of the texts he\u2019d previously devoured. At night, he\u2019s had\u2026dreams. Strange ones of impossible landscapes. He\u2019s become fearful of his own reflection.<\/p>\n A paranoid wreck of a mental patient who\u2019s paid for a moment\u2019s indiscretion with years of trauma and anguish? Ah. That\u2019s-a some good Lovecraft. Although I do wonder if his mental state might be better improved if he sprung for some decent lights, or maybe a potted plant or something. Oh, hey, how about a kitten? Or, you know, you could sit there soothing your mental scars with bourbon and cigars. Either one works, I guess.<\/p>\n At least crack a window.<\/p>\n Anyway, the game progresses forward when he reluctantly accepts a missing persons case. Story is, there\u2019s this xenophobic port known as Innsmouth. Innsmouth is a small, insular town of hicks who keep to themselves and disdain all \u201coutsiders\u201d. They\u2019re also rumored to be genetically a little out of whack, with blood that\u2019s somehow tainted, but this is usually put up to superstition. Creepy, foreshadowing superstition. Anyway, there\u2019s this out-of-town fellow named Burnham, a delinquent youth whose relatives hoped to teach him responsibility by giving him control of a store in Innsmouth. As everyone knows, nothing teaches virtue and restraint like putting someone in charge of a building full of unsecured goods, and then giving him the keys to the cash register, and then leaving town and not checking back very often. To everyone\u2019s surprise, including (most probably) Burnham\u2019s, the store did pretty well\u2026until he vanished one night, along with the money in the till. At first, this seems like the logical conclusion to this little vignette. Strange thing, though\u2014the door was broken down, even though Burnham had a key to get in. Additionally, witnesses report claw marks on the door. So unless Burnham\u2019s a werewolf, this story smells a little\u2026 fishy<\/em>.<\/p>\n Innsmouth is my favorite part so far. That\u2019s a little bit of a copout, since it\u2019s also the longest part, but the atmosphere in this place is terrific. It\u2019s dark, dingy, and oppressively hostile. Even before the violence goes down, there\u2019s the palpable edge of dread to the place that produces some of the best atmosphere I\u2019ve ever seen in a game. Of course, the same air of horror that causes me <\/em>to enjoy myself should cause any sensible character to GTFO, but we\u2019ll come to that.<\/p>\n Jack takes the bus to Innsmouth\u2014it clearly doesn\u2019t see much traffic, as he\u2019s the only passenger. Jack asks the driver how far it is to the stop.<\/p>\n \u201cAhlmosht there. I\u2019ll drrop you at the touwn shquare of Innshmouth.\u201d<\/p>\n This guy\u2019s voice is hilarious. Maybe it\u2019s just because I already know the lore of Innsmouth, but I\u2019d like to think that even if I knew nothing about Lovecraft I\u2019d ask, \u201cSo, what, this guy\u2019s a fishman? Is that what\u2019s happening, here? Not very subtle.\u201d<\/p>\n Or, more probably: \u201cYou need some nasal spray there, champ? I can hook you up with some Vicks rub or something, as long as, you know, you put it on by yourself. I don\u2019t actually want to touch you. In fact, you know what, you can keep it afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n Anyway, we rattle on to the public square, and the driver drops a few subtle hints that outsiders aren\u2019t exactly welcome in Innsmouth. They lock their gates, for one thing. They \u201clook after their own,\u201d and don\u2019t encourage people to come in, even for trade. The bus comes to a stop; the driver gets out and says, \u201cThis is it, stranger. End of the line.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know if you\u2019re picking up on all of this subtle foreshadowing, so let\u2019s do a helpful review of the facts. Innsmouth hates:<\/p>\n 1.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Strangers 3.) People out of town who come to the town to work<\/p>\n Recently, an outsider working at a store in Innsmouth vanished under mysterious circumstances. Jack was sent in to poke around and ask what happened to him.<\/p>\n Jack\u2019s talent, according to the story, lies in picking up on things other people don\u2019t. Perhaps this trait also blinds him to things that are extremely<\/em>, painfully obvious. Like the fact that his arse is as dead as fish and chips unless he starts running now <\/em>and doesn\u2019t stop until he\u2019s crossed the state line.<\/p>\n Okay, I know, that\u2019s not fair. It\u2019s much easier for me, the player, to be distrustful of NPCs than some random guy who\u2019s approaching this town like any other port. The hints so far were subtle, and could be misread. It\u2019s not like they outright declared their intent to kill him.<\/p>\n That line will be funny in a little while.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When we last left our hero, he had\u2026jeez. Oh, wow. With the running into a building full of\u2026and then the\u2026and the portal to\u2026Christ. Oh, wow. Did I really\u2026and then\u2026and\u2026 Wow. Okay, short version is,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[220,224,300],"class_list":["post-1602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lets-play","tag-clod-of-cthulhu","tag-cthulhu","tag-lets-play"],"yoast_head":"\n
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\nAnyway, unsurprisingly, our hero\u2019s little stint with opening a gate to some nth dimension of hellspace did not do wonders for his mental health. Directly afterwards, he did a brief stay in an asylum until, \u201cit became clear that I presented no danger to either myself or others.\u201d Uh, the evidence suggests that you present a massive <\/em>danger to yourself, Jacko. And between you and me, I\u2019m not about to go near you, either.<\/p>\n
\n2.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 People meddling in their affairs<\/p>\n