Written by Matt

As cliche as my next line’s premise is, I still find it very apt in this context. “There are two types of people in this world: those who know about Cthulhu and those who don’t.” There’s no in-between; you either know about and have strong feelings toward Lovecraft’s most famous creation (good or bad), or you give blank stares to the person discussing the cosmic horrors. Luckily, Call of Cthulhu does a good job of catering to both groups.

I am a fan of Lovecraft’s writing and try to consume anything that’s related. And let’s be honest, Cthulhu is everywhere and very accessible now to the general masses. Unfortunately, a lot of derivative stuff exists which can muddy the waters for fans and newcomers alike. However, after playing Call of Cthulhu for a few hours, I was taken aback slightly. Sure, the game presents the typical Lovecraftian tropes (detective that loses his sanity, watery locations, cultists), but I almost forgot I was playing in his world. This is a credit to the game developers as it doesn’t bore the Cthulhu connoisseurs, yet offers a well-written descent into the mythos for those uninitiated.

The game has us playing a potentially alcoholic Edward Pierce, a detective tasked with investigating a house fire that killed a wealthy family. As you move through the well-crafted environments, your goal is to search for clues to your current case. To aid you in your journeys, you gain attribute points that you can use to level up skills such as Eloquence, Strength, and Psychology. Each of these skills will open up different dialogue options and alternative paths to explore. While still scripted to a point, these little role-playing elements help shape this game from a standard point-and-click adventure to a more robust game where your choices have an affect on gameplay. Some skills can only be leveled up by finding medical journals and occult items, a system that encourages exploration and may entice min/maxers.

In addition to finding hidden clues or paths based off your Find Hidden skill, you will also encounter some areas that allow you to recreate the past. This is done in a Sherlock-like sequence where you investigate clues to visually piece together a crime scene. While this pushes the narrative forward by allowing us to gather info from something we didn’t witness, the game holds your hand a little too much by making sure you find every pertinent focal point. Of course, this extra help could be a result of my high Investigation skill. This could potentially lead to a second playthrough if you want to distribute your skills differently, causing you to look harder at your surroundings.

I would be remiss to not mention some areas that could be improved. First off, the facial animations and lip-synching are a mess. I believe this is supposed to be addressed in a patch, but it kind of takes you out of the immersion when listening to an NPC tell a whale of a tale. There’s also some breaks in the gameplay mechanics when you’re suddenly introduced to a stealth level. I don’t mind a non-stealth based game throwing some sneaky bits my way, but this handles them in a clunky fashion. When you hit the asylum (not a spoiler since ‘there’s always an asylum’) you’ll get your first real taste of stealth. As usual, there’s a visual and audio cue to let you know if you’re being spotted, but it seems inconsistent. I was able to crouch in front of a dude in the kitchen and play ring-around-the-table with him and he didn’t even change his course or tempo. I was caught by him eventually, but I should have been sent back to my room without dinner a tad sooner. Strangely enough, hiding in one of the Outlast-like cabinets caused my detective to panic even when there was no danger around. I would have rather seen more patrolling guards and the panic inducement start if they got close to my hiding spot.

The few issues this game has are nothing compared to the mystery and atmosphere presented. If you are a Lovecraft fan, this offers a refreshing take on the established mythos. If this world is new to you, you will enjoy your gradual descent into madness as your sanity disappears along with everything you thought you knew about this world. You will begin seeing colors that come from outer-space but can’t be described as they don’t exist in our reality. You will hear and heed the call from The Ancients hidden in the depths of our world and in the recesses of your mind. You will slowly become one wittttttthsdpofdp…Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!

9 out of 10

Pros

• Engrossing, Original Story
• Dread Inducing Environments
• Skill Customization
• Cthulhu!

Cons

• Awkward Stealth Sections
• Poor Lip-Synch

Call of Cthulhu was developed by Cyanide Studio and was published by Focus Home Interactive. It launched on PC, PS4, and X1 October 30th, 2018. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Call of Cthulhu, check out the game’s official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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