If you’re an avid reader or a horror fan, you probably have heard of H.P. Lovecraft and his extensive library of horror stories that created a sub-genre that is often referred to as “Lovecraftian”. While there are many books covering this particular sub-genre, there aren’t that many other types of media that have tried to adapt these stories. After hearing that Cyanide Studio’s were creating an adaptation of one of Lovecraft’s most famous books, Call of Cthulhu, I was excited to see their take on this universe and how they would implement the themes into the gameplay. 

You assume the role of private investigator Edward Pierce, who has been asked to investigate the tragic death of the Hawkins family on Darkwater Island. As you start your investigation, it soon becomes apparent there is more than meets the eye in the case you have taken on. This is down to the very unwelcoming locals and police reports that just don’t make sense. Soon you find yourself in a world full of conspiracies, cultists and evil. You must do whatever it takes to solve the mystery of Darkwater Island and escape it as soon as possible.

The best way to describe the gameplay is as a survival horror game with some RPG elements. You spend most of the game investigating the places you visit around Darkwater looking for clues to help with your case. Now, not all of these clues are going to be in the open and will involve some snooping around and exploration. There are also several skills you can level up that help you discover more items or translate texts that hide secrets. All these extra ways of exploring come into play during investigations, in which you might have multiple options on how you tackle it. For example: solving a puzzle to open a contraption, or simply attempt to force the mechanism without breaking it. Finding clues can also be important in other situations, as these can expand dialogue options while talking to key characters. You can finish the game without using the expanded options, but it will take more time and you will miss out on some pretty interesting lore and background stories. There’s also a mechanic that affects your destiny at the end of the game. The more unhealthy things you do or immoral actions you undertake, the more vulnerable you’ll become to lose your sanity and ultimately reach the bad ending of the story. The game encourages you to investigate as much as you can but leaves the option open to skip all that if you don’t want to do all the extra work that comes with it.

While you spend most of the time investigating the island, sometimes the gameplay shifts into stealth sections, each with their own objectives such as banishing a creature or escaping from a mental asylum. Despite the often-tedious nature of this type of horror gameplay trope, these sequences in Call of Cthulhu do offer a nice change of pace from the detective grind and get the adrenaline pumping with some true heart-pounding tension-fuelled moments. The one downside is that it these moments can feel like a bit of a lottery, with enemies spotting you with ease one time but oblivious to you the next, and when you’re punished with instant death upon capture, it can kill the momentum pretty quickly. Luckily, there are not that many stealth sections to get through, so it doesn’t hurt the experience that much.

As with any Lovecraftian-inspired title, the atmosphere in Call of Cthulhu is paramount, and from the outset, you can tell that Cyanide, the developing team, has dedicated a lot of love to make it feel like a Lovecraft game. From the moment Pierce sets foot on Darkwater you can sense that something is awry. Shrouded in a thick green mist, Darkwater is a decrepit and decaying settlement, whose inhabitants, made up mostly of sailors and bootleggers, spend most of their time getting drunk, despite prohibition being enforced in the United States at the time.

Some of the environments feel like they’ve been designed by Lovecraft himself, such as the Hawkins mansion, which sits atop the hill watching over Darkwater. Dust particles float around in the light and exploring the abandoned property and the tunnels beneath it with nothing more than a lantern or lighter (if your lantern oil burns out) can be an unsettling affair. Further proof of the eldritch horrors that plague Darkwater Island can be found beneath the surface, where cultists preach and perform rituals in areas littered with rotting animal flesh, or in the town’s mental asylum where the majority of the township is suffering from some form of nightmare-induced sickness. The sound design also gets a big tick of approval, helping emphasize the brooding notion of something sinister lurking in the shadows or simply in Pierce’s own mind. Cyanide knew that atmosphere is an important part of Lovecraft settings and successfully translated that to the gameplay.

While Cyanide certainly nails the Lovecraftian atmosphere, visually it has some shortcomings, with various environments, textures and character models often lacking visual fidelity for a game released in 2018 and looking more like a game from the PS3 era. This is especially prevalent during the game’s cutscenes, which seem to have been short-changed in the resource department. Furthermore, lip-syncing is constantly out of time and the facial animations are often way too stiff to portray any emotion. Plus, NPCs will often repeat the same lines of dialogue whenever you pass them and sometimes a character’s vocal response won’t really reflect the severity of the situation.

Conclusion

While it does suffer from some technical and visual issues, Call of Cthulhu is still a great adaptation of the Lovecraft universe. The puzzles and investigations are well-made and the atmosphere is spot-on. Whether you’re a fan of Lovecraft’s work or simply looking for a new horror game, I recommend playing Call of Cthulhu.

8/10

Tested on Xbox One