Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game

As much of a horror buff as I am, it's a bit of a surprise that I typically don't venture down the horror game path. I think it might have to do with the fact that a lot of them end up being campy and lame, and the truly good ones like Alien: Isolation are so few and far between. The trick must lie in the source material, and for me I guess it looks like Lovecraft speaks my language.

Earlier this year I reviewed Call of the Sea, a Lovecraft-inspired puzzle adventure that I actually thought did a good job fleshing out its story. Call of Cthulhu is another trip down Lovecraft Lane, but this one is definitely more solidified into the horror genre than anything else.

We take on the role of a private investigator named Edward Pierce, and through his WWI shell-shocked perspective we get assigned a delicate task off the bat. That mission is to find the truth behind the death of a wealthy Bostonian businessman's daughter. This woman, a debutante-turned-tortured-artist, left the family dynasty to marry the supposed love of her life in a backwater island that is literally named Darkwater. When Pierce arrives, he finds Darkwater with a disagreeable disposition towards any outsiders. The townsfolk don't like the people who don't know much about fishing. The criminal element doesn't like anyone poking their nose anywhere. The police don't like disruptions of their day to day routines. It's a bad day to be a private detective just trying to find some answers, and when those answers lead to an underground cult trying to rearrange the fabric of society... things go from bad to worse.

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Never could understand why this was poorly received by Metacritic, so I felt obligated to at least write an honest review and highlight all the great staff about it.

With regards to graphics, being released in 2018 I guess you could say the visuals are slightly dated, however, there are games such as the Dishonored that have taken the same character design approach and never were deprecated for doing so.

The creatures design is fresh and simply phenomenal, no other way to put it.

The setting, the sound design and the storytelling are highly immersive and absolutely outstanding. A great detective story blended with cosmic horror elements. By far one of the best among Lovecraft's adaptation if not the very best.

I'm actually a SoulsBorne genre huge fan and also enjoy thriller/horror titles if properly executed, and I can say that this Call of Cthulhu game is among those I occasionally revisit even after having popped the platinum trophy.

Highly enjoyable and imaginative.

An absolute Must for Lovecraft fans.

As an avid fan of horror literature, it was mandatory for me to try out Call of Cthulhu, based upon the stories by Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Even though the game was released on all important platforms with Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One and even more recently Nintendo Switch, it had been underrated, overlooked and forgotten. If you like supernatural stories with gloomy settings and mysterious vibes, you are going to appreciate this game.

The intriguing story revolves around a private detective and war veteran who investigates the mysterious case of the Hawkins family. The father who was a fisherman, the mother who was an artist and their young son perished in a terrible fire on their secluded mansion on an East Coast island. The investigator soon realizes that the fire wasn't an accident but numerous residents on the strange island seem to want to prevent him from uncovering the truth. It turns out that many influential islanders are members of a sinister cult that plans on awakening its deity. Unbeknownst to him, the private investigator is getting baited, manipulated and used for the abominable motivations of this sect and must soon fight for sanity and survival.

The graphics find the right balance between sinister elements and colourful parts. The main settings are often rainy, grey and abandoned but anything related to the mysterious cult is portrayed in mysterious neon green colours. The sounds blend in perfectly as well. As the main character attempts to not lose his sanity, the players can hear mysterious whispers, echoes and distorted voices that enhance the atmosphere. The game has excellent flow and a perfect length around more or less ten hours with fourteen concise chapters that never overstay their welcome.

Call of Cthulhu's atmosphere is supernatural, spooky and gloomy from start to finish and there are a few minor jump scares. However, one could have expected a role-playing survival horror game to be a little bit scarier. This game here is rather weird than frightening which makes for a fresh change but a few more terrifying scenes would have been welcome.

The game doesn't really have any disadvantages but some average elements could have been improved. The soundtrack is certainly atmospheric but could have been more vivid at times and a proper title song as in ''The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan'' would have been an interesting addition. There aren't too many difficult challenges in the game except for the scenes in the asylum and the fight with the creature from the painting. Especially the game's second half could have been more difficult to increase tension. The story is interesting but it would have been even better to see how different decisions impact the ending of the game. Even though the game sometimes indicates that certain decisions are going to have impacts on the story, it often remains unclear what those impacts are precisely.

Still, Call of Cthulhu is a game that is highly recommended to anyone who likes supernatural horror stories, role-play survival games and gothic culture. This game has been overlooked and if you can find it for a fair price one year after its initial release, then Call of Cthulhu certainly unfolds its dark atmosphere splendidly throughout the upcoming black winter days.

I'm not intimately familiar with Lovecraft's work as a writer but having played both Sinking City and CoC, . I'm starting to get the gist. It's very different from most of what we see in modern horror and while it's slower paced and more about the whole of humanity instead of our hero/heroes, I appreciate the unsettling vibe the story creates here. The slow burn is handled deftly and other than a couple of isolated incidents, the threat in Cthulu is more the deterministic conclusion that Pierce is fated to instead of the typical jump scare. But the game did have a twist or two that managed to evade me and I was impressed by that as well. The end for Pierce isn't surprising but it's more about the reveal and the sinister nature of what's really going on with the citizens of Darkwater/the Hawkins family. Call of Cthulu will be more familiar to readers of previous versions of the story but as someone who represents the uninitiated, I thought they did a good job. The only demerit I would mention is that the game features multiple endings. While I like the choose-your-own-adventure aspect, the choices you have to make to get whatever ending are so inconsequential and unimportant, you might feel cheated and it limits Cthulu's replay value. So overall the plot is suitable but the varied endings could have been constructed better.

The arc of the plot has a satisfying punch but how are the characters? Edward Pierce is your typical alcoholic and emotionally wounded private eye who just can't let go of the case when innocents could be harmed. It's a trope and while they do it well, I was disappointed that they couldn't do anything new or exciting with the characer. I know it's an established story but some added dimension for Pierce might have helped me be more interested in his survival. I was more intrigued by the Hawkins family and the local populace but once the twist is revealed, there's just not much else there. Characters like Cat Baker and Office Bradley seem like they're going to play a large part later but they just fade into the background. Why put all the work in when they're just going to be abandoned? The overall plot arc is the focus but the creative team could have done a little more to help keep the audience invested.

The last thing I want to touch upon is the gameplay and while CoC is a linear detective game, there's very little fresh or innovative. You get about what you expect for most of the game with Pierce roaming around the environment looking for evidence and you making connections between object A and object B. That side of the game functions properly but there are separate stealth sections that require Pierce to skulk around some monster or possessed person that feel so half-baked and uninteresting. The upgrade tree also has very little effect on the character and I wondered why they even bothered with it. If they wanted to make this a more expansive experience instead of just Pierce sleuthing from area to area, that could have been a solid choice. But to include those options and to only put so much effort into it feels like the worst of both worlds.

The biggest reason I picked up Call of Cthulu was to compare it to my experience playing the Sinking City. Having now played both, they grade out at about the same level but for completely different reasons. Call of Cthulu's strength is it's story and how it captures the feel of Lovecraft's work. But the characters and gameplay are a mixed bag at best and I didn't even really touch upon the graphics and atmosphere (the atmosphere is sufficiently foreboding but lacklustre graphics on the PS4, the background character designs are particularly bad). Even with the potential for different endings, I would never revisit this game. If you could transplant Call of Cthulu's story into the Sinking City's open world and give the developers a larger budget to fully flesh out their ideas, you'd be cooking with gas. But unless you're a die-hard fan of H. P.'s stories, you can let this game pass you by. I'd give it between a 6-7 and I'd round up to 7/10 overall.

Fantastic story and extremely addictive whilst basic gameplay and the graphics felt a little dated the story completed you to keep going one of the better free games with gold. Would probably have been disappointed in the length if had paid £40 as did manage to complete in one 8 hour session but that session was extremely enjoyable. Best game of this style I have played for sure.