Oct 2018
Picture this: It’s 1924, you’re a war veteran and private investigator Edward Pierce, and you think your biggest problem is the occasional hangover. Little did you know, you'd soon be grappling with nightmares and ancient sea monsters! 'Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game' sails into your living room with its blend of detective gameplay and tentacle horror and leaves you wondering if your sanity might be next on the menu.
Diving into the dark and moody atmosphere of Darkwater Island offers players a semi-open world riddled with mystery and discomfort. Players channel their inner Poirot while navigating a multitude of dialogue trees that could either lead to critical clues or leave you talking to a wall (which, believe me, doesn’t help your investigation). You'll need solid observation skills to spot essential items hidden in a room or scars worth noting on a killer whale. An arsenal of skills is at your disposal – literally! You can pump points into your knowledge of the arcane, spend some time quietly learning the ropes of investigation, or even flex your muscles in a chase scene (though, let's be honest, muscles are useless against creatures of unspeakable madness). That said, leveling up is about as straightforward as reading an eldritch tome, which is to say, it might just make your head hurt. The chase itself can feel more like running in slow motion while trying to dodge the occasional cultist with, you guessed it, tentacles. Don’t even get me started on the sneaky segments; stealth feels about as intuitive as trying to juggle chainsaws. You’ll need a blend of patience and slightly sweaty hands to navigate encounters that can often end in premature deaths—much like my last relationship. The highlight here comes from the insane choices you have to make. Each decision can push Pierce’s sanity meter in one direction or another, occasionally leading you to discover things you’d rather not know (like the secret ingredient in your favorite pizza). Knowing when to run and when to just curl up in a ball is paramount, as bending the fabric of reality might just end you up splitting yourself in two over that cultist's ritual ceremony.
The graphics? Well, you're not playing 'Fortnite,' that's for sure. While some environments are beautifully atmospheric, several character models look like they’ve been borrowed from a low-budget indie horror flick. It’s as if Cyanide was torn between focusing their efforts on intricately detailed backgrounds and making sure characters look like they didn’t wash up on shore after too many nights out. Lighting is used to create tension, which is effective unless you accidentally forget to turn on the flashlight and end up with a faceful of gloom that would frighten even the bravest of souls. Shadows play games of their own, lurking and leaping in ways that’ll make your toes curl, and each suspicious creak of the floor adds to a great paranoia as your mind verbally accuses everyone nearby of being a creature of the dark (seriously, it’s just a cat).
So, is 'Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game' worth your time? If you enjoy a suspenseful narrative driven by choice and consequence, heads up! But if you’re looking for an action-packed romp through decaying worlds of terror, you might just end up scratching your head. Balancing between horror and sanity management provides a fun dose of evil, even if the gameplay gets a tad wonky at times. Rating it a generous 6.5 out of 10 brings us to a final verdict: grab your tentacle-protection gear, and wade through this narrative gem carefully. Just remember: your sanity? It’s not guaranteed to survive!
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