Call of Cthulhu®

The main goal of this game is STORY TELLING. This is not a Survival Horror game. Yes, there are some random elements of that genre thrown in for suspense, and even a little bit of First Person Shooter (very brief). Everything you do changes what you are able to do in the future. Your choice of leveling your abilities with skill points changes how you can interact with characters throughout the game. It also determines whether or not you are strong enough to turn a rusty wheel or if you need to go find a tool to help you do it. Are you good at spotting hidden objects? Or will these things elude your grasp. Some objects won't appear unless your ability to spot hidden objects is at a certain level. The graphics are top notch, and the game is linear enough that I was able to run it with all the graphics settings on high without it glitching out all the time. (And I don't have the strongest computer out there) The story, of course, is strongly influenced by H.P. Lovecraft's writings. If you haven't read them you might not fully appreciate some of the elements within the game. The game assumes to a certain level that you will enjoy the story because of familiarity with the works of Lovecraft. However, if you go into the game with the understanding of what you are actually getting yourself into then you should still have a great experience. The mechanics work great. When your character is in tight places he gets panicky and the screen starts to blur. When you come across a crime scene you get to "recreate" it using your investigator skills. I actually felt the weight of some of the choices I was forced to make, and that's rare for me also. This game was hugely misunderstood when it came out. I don't think people really grasped that they were investing in a story, not a thrilling shooter with jump scares all over the place. If you want a good story then play this game. It does everything it says in the descriptions, so I gave it what it deserves: 5 stars.

This game is really a bad case of wasted potential. A good setting, the atmosphere in the game is brilliant and the game does transport the Call of Cthulhu feel. The detective story works as well. But then everything is ruined by some very, very idiotic gameplay decisions. Worst of all are the hidden story-triggers all over the game. Detective stories thrive on investigation and interrogation. But when exploring a location there is always one clue that triggers the next cut-scene and after that, all other clues are inaccessible. There is no going back. The same is true for dialogues. There is no telling which of the many dialogue options will end the dialogue. It just happens and all other information is lost. You can't go back to the conversation. Even if the character is still there. If you pick dialogue options in the wrong order, you will miss half of the clues that you could gather from interrogations. All this is made all the worse by the broken save-game system. There is only one slot and it autosaves every time the game makes a decision for you. Want to know the answer to that one question the game didn't let you ask? Start over from the beginning. Want to explore the last room a bit more? Start over from the beginning. Are you stuck due to some bug? Start over from the beginning! Want to explore another story branch in the last chapter? Play through everything before that again! This is just THE worst possible way of handling a detective/exploration game. The other problems pale in comparison to this one big problem. The combat is clunky, the protagonists makes some completely inane decisions without giving you any choice, the voice acting is off and the NPCs lack depth. All that would be excusable. But a game castrating itself by intentionally breaking it's core mechanic (investigation) is not. So in the end we are left with a very bad and annoying game. Which is all the more infuriating because it could have been great.

I didn't expect to enjoy the game so much(Steam reviews are average-to-good), and I didn't expect to find it on GoG. For whoever wonders if the game is worth it - it absolutely is! - Story: The story is intriguing. It has that Lovecraftian atmosphere perfectly made, from the locations to the people you will meet. The search for a missing person quickly leads to a small, old and isolated island, where the shadows, caves and history fragments are filled with hints at something much more sinister than what the people are willing to speak of.. There are many branching paths, and different endings, ensuring multiple playthroughs. There are some points in the story where the thread can be lost, but it is only briefly and reading the journal entries will clear all questions a player might have. - Gameplay: The gameplay is a mix of stealth, dialogue and investigation segments. Some of the mechanics aren't communicated properly until it is too late(the lantern for example can slow down pursuing enemies, but unless the player has the good luck of finding that function on his own, he will die multiple times until a loading screen tip tells him about it.) The dialogue menu can't be trusted - main and secondary dialogue options are meshed together, and while sometimes it is possible to learn all lore from a person before proceeding with the story, too often you will skip pieces of information accidentally. Investigation prompts sometimes do not trigger until you step on them. - Graphics: The game runs on Unreal Engine 4, and it looks fantastic(most of the time). There are some points in the game with low-res textures, which are well hidden by the lighting, and the animations overall could be better. Still, it looks and runs great. - Sound: The soundtrack is haunting and probably the perfect element of the whole game. Voice-acting is average-to-good, but in personal experience, it adds to the whole atmosphere. Aside from a few quirks, the game is a solid Lovecraftian adventure.

[Note i do own this game on Steam and Have beaten it twice]. While it did stay true to Lovecraftian Lore. The story was rather good but it seems they simplified the one thing they were really proud about when the game was announced, and that was the Sanity Meter. The first 3/4 of the game is great as you are exploring, uncover and understanding the lore of the town you are in and what is going on but one the end game starts it all falls apart and it just feels rushed and poorly planed out. The Dialog options vary from very immersive to just Wut? .

First off if you want to play a detective Cthulu game, immediately play The Sinking City. It is this same idea only executed ten times better. Okay, you played that. Should you also play this? Call of Cthulu is two games in one. There's a rather good (4 stars) adventure detective game where you talk to people, look for clues and uncover a subtle but frightening cult. Then there's the second game, a crappy and rushed linear stealth action experience that throws out all subtlety and has you running and hiding from monsters or clicking on people to kill them (2 stars). I don't know why they chose this route, but it's just going to annoy adventure gamers and no one else is interested in the first place. That said the story and presentation is good enough I struggled through the crappy parts to get to the good parts. Will you think the same? Depends on how much you like Cthulu stuff I'd guess, and how tolerant you are of flawed games.