Call of the Sea

Judging by the glowing reviews I was expecting something a bit different than what I got. The story is nice, but there's always something clunky about telling it via documents and photos that logically wouldn't be written or taken in the moment. As I explored and found the expedition's remains, it bothered me more and more how untouched and pristine everything was. It's also easy to find one piece of info about something that happened, then go elsewhere and hear "oh no, this happened?!" from Norah as if she didn't already know. That's kind of the issue in terms of immersion - logic that works only temporarily. Discovering more about the world of the island starts to lead to breakdowns, especially in the realism of the puzzles. When they feel like they were dropped in just for the player, I struggle to believe in the world I'm in. There's also a severe disconnect in the atmosphere between the island's history and the way the main character views it: this could just be a reflection of her mental state, though. I didn't have the graphics issues that others did. There was a lot of screen tear and some minor lag, but I find that easy to ignore. I had settings on High and was able to see things quite well, besides a few documents with very small text. There was honestly something very...bland about the music, well done as it is, that helped with the atmosphere issues I mentioned above. With the unique blend of Lovecraftian horror and joy(?) this game displays, I feel like it needed something besides strings and the occasional choir. When the diagetic music emerged through puzzles, it worked much better. (Think Return To Mysterious Island and the haunting in-universe theme song that game had.) Voice acting was enjoyable, but they really, REALLY could have done without the intense autotune on the end credits theme song. In the end I'm a bit conflicted about this game. I liked it, but not as much as I could have. I'm glad I got it on sale, at least.

This game is a great experience. The story, voice acting and location design are all very evocative. However, some the puzzles are a bit obtuse in their design. Making it unclear if you are progressing at all or completely failing. Looking up a guide when you get stuck is totally valid IMHo coss the story is that good.

A very average, very inconsequential adventure game. It starts off promising, with a woman Norah in search for her husband and a cure for her illness on a mysterious, cursed island, but quickly devolves into a monotonous trek. Almost all of it has to do with its execution and delivery. For all its supposed stakes, Norah is too blasé about everything. It feels like I'm not the one playing an adventure game, but her. Nothing is serious. There is no gravitas to the story. There's also no real story to the story. Or at least no good one. It's very predictable and bland. Around the first two hours in I was driven only by the slight mechanical delight which came from solving the game's puzzles. Nothing about the story compelled me to see its end. And the puzzles are okay. Most of them can be broken down into 'how do these clues in my journal represent the big puzzle in front of me right now'. Once you realise that, it's just a matter of looking for similarities between the big puzzle and the clues. They were nothing to write home about, but they were okay. The quadrant puzzle, however, was badly explained and took my a long time to figure out. The rest seemed to be a decent challenge. The voice acting by Norah vacillates between serviceable and below-average. She never sells the story or any real emotion. The other voice acting is pretty bad. Her husband, Harry, sounds less like a 1930's adventurer and more like a millennial using therapy-speak at a coffee shop. The writing is also pretty subpar. It evokes nothing but the bare minimum exposition required for coherence. The music is alright but anemic, hardly playing and quick to disappear. The graphics look nice and the art style is fetching; but the art direction, so intertwined with the story, falls flat too often. Overall, I didn't really care for Call of the Sea. There's nothing mortally wrong with it, but in a life with too little time and an abundance of games, I don't think I'd ever recommend it.

it would be a nice game if not for bugs in almost every chapter. i played it with a friend, we encountered various bugs, worked our way around them somehow until the massive one in chapter 6, where something did not happen that should have happened so we could not continue the game any more. sadly, we requested a refund. The graphics are nice, the story decent, and in all fairness i would probably give it 4 starts if i could finish it, or at least get a proper support by a real agent so that i can finish it. to my opinion the game was not worth dealing with the support robot that usually leads nowhere and solves nothing, and only wastes my time. all in all i would not recommend this game. it needs a lot ironing and fixing all those bugs to become a decent game.

Call of the Sea is a lovely puzzle game with beautiful graphics and environments, great voice acting and ambient music, cool story and good puzzles. It is a chill game, and some parts are a bit slow to traverse, but the amazing visuals and atmosphere make it worth it. There are not tons of puzzles in it, just a few per chapter, but I found most of them challenging (but not frustrating) and fun. Exploration is also key to solve the puzzles and unravel the story. The game is not very long, but I think it has the needed duration to not feel short, and a longer duration may have been too much. Overall I feel this is a very good puzzle game, really worth the price.