Review of the game Call of Cthulhu (2018). Review of the game Call of Cthulhu Clippings from the diary of Jack Walters
Print versionActual for platform: PS4
Games by Lovecraft come out quite often, but the last really big thing that even claimed to be a hit appeared 13 years ago - we’re talking about Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth . Tandem Focus Home And Cyanide- of course, not the best couple in the world to correct this situation: we all know that the French most often make mediocre games. But from Call of Cthulhu many were waiting for a really good, powerful game...
Model for Pickman... and Sarah Hawkins
As in Dark Corners of the Earth, in the new Call of Cthulhu we play as a private detective. This time it's former cop and World War I veteran Edward Pierce. Of course, he can hardly be called healthy - the heavy burden of the past, depression, alcoholism make themselves felt, but still he is a professional, determined to investigate the mysterious death of the famous artist Sarah Hawkins and her entire family.
However, a trip to the remote Darkwater Island, near Boston, quickly puts everything in its place, and instead of a noir detective story, we get a real morbidly delusional horror story. Lovecraft. Walking along the coast, strewn with the corpses of whales and pale green fog, visiting the gloomy Hawkins mansion, under which the lair of an ominous sect is discovered, procedures in a local psychiatric hospital headed by a sadistic doctor, viewing creepy paintings by the artist Sarah, from which monsters literally jump out (these are direct references to the story “A Model for Pickman”) - all this has a detrimental effect on the mind of our brave detective.
And now he already sees alive those who died before his eyes five minutes ago, moves into other people’s bodies, hears strange voices and doesn’t really understand where it is reality and where it is a dream. Reality and visions are intertwined into a tight ball, and it is in this state that Edward Pierce must make a decision on which the fate of the world and his life depend.
You have to shoot in exactly one episode.
Ridges of Madness
At the same time, we seem to have the opportunity to keep the hero’s mind in a more or less sane state. From time to time, the game presents a choice whether to take sleeping pills or not, to read forbidden occult books or to close them rather out of harm’s way - this seems to affect the fate of the main character, his mind and the ending of the whole story.
But in fact, no matter what you decide, after certain plot events, Edward Pierce will still be in a state of psychosis, which will open up new lines in the dialogue. But at the end of this whole sad story, such decisions are still reflected. It’s just a pity that we feel their consequences, by and large, only at the end, where everything comes down to a purely mathematical calculation of one of the outcome options.
He got the role
In any case, the authors Call of Cthulhu They bet (or pretend to bet) on non-linearity and role-playing. The whole game is a horror adventure interspersed with action (very small, I must say), stealth, solving puzzles, dialogues and periodic choice of what and how to do next.
You can get into the Hawkins family's warehouse in different ways - try to immediately deceive the guards, or first find a lonely house nearby, pick the lock, look for incriminating evidence and use good old blackmail. There are also two ways to escape from a bad place - by short-circuiting a strange device, after activating several levers in different rooms, or by breaking gas pipes in order to divert the attention of the guards.
The levels in the hospital are the most difficult and uncomfortable.
Nonlinearity is only developing due to the fact that the game is largely based on the tabletop system, which debuted back in 1981, and offers to improve several parameters of the main character. With the help of “Eloquence” you can convince your interlocutors in dialogues, “Strength” allows you to put pressure on them, break or move some mechanism, and also knock down a door if you cannot pick the lock.
Cthulhu fhtagn
By becoming an expert or master in “Search” (all parameters are upgraded from “Amateur” to “Master”), you will find hidden objects more often. And this is important, considering that indicators such as “Medicine” and “Occult Sciences” are upgraded only through found books: they allow you to make a correct diagnosis and realize things hidden from others, and in the case of the occult, also understand that means "Cthulhu fhtagn".
There are also Psychology and Investigation. The latter is especially important - it not only improves the skills of picking locks, but also allows you to more effectively reconstruct events when, according to the plot, we, for example, need to understand what caused the fire in the Hawkins mansion or how another murder occurred.
Here, too, of course, the thought periodically creeps in that pumping is done “for show” and has little effect. Well, it won’t be possible to use “Speech”, “Psychology” or “Strength” in the dialogue, but there will still be a public replica that will help advance the plot further. But it’s still better with a half-hearted role-playing system than without it - this way the gameplay becomes richer, there is a desire to explore locations, think about character development and roleplay.
Leveling up points are awarded automatically after important story events.
Whisperer in the Dark
As a result, the game, in spite of everything, keeps you in suspense, maintains intrigue and generally leaves a pleasant aftertaste - even if the graphics here are not the most sophisticated, and everything will most likely end not in the most pleasant way. IN Call of Cthulhu meet interesting riddles, and simple stealth (you can even hide in closets!) cleverly alternates with exploration and intense scenes that force us, for example, to quickly destroy the runes that keep the otherworldly monster in this world - in the process we have to use a flashlight, the light of which slows down the enemy. The numerous dialogues are well written and always leave room for choice.
Finally, it’s scary in places - especially when we wander through the corridors of the mental hospital with a lamp. The light in it gradually goes out, at this moment an eerie whisper begins to be heard from the approaching darkness, and when the lamp completely goes out... Brr. I actually jumped a couple of times. By the way, when Edward Pierce hides in a closet, finds himself in the dark or sees something unpleasant, the picture begins to blur, his breathing quickens, and we literally feel with our skin how uncomfortable, scared the detective is and wants to go home to a good old bottle of whiskey...
What would a Lovecraft game be without an octopus?
Given the controversial reputation of the authors, Call of Cthulhu could very well turn out to be a disappointment. But, thank the Elder Gods, this did not happen - we got a really excellent, best for last years game by Lovecraft, an adventure game at the intersection of horror, quest, stealth and RPG, which accurately conveys the atmosphere of the works of the cult writer and at the same time offers rich, varied and sometimes non-linear gameplay.
Pros: interesting story; accurately conveyed the atmosphere of the books Lovecraft; nonlinearity occurs; interesting puzzles come across; great job with sound.
Minuses: not the most modern graphics and animation; the nonlinearity seems fake in places, and pumping has little effect.
), Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Introduction
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The gaming brand faced a difficult fate: the second part by Headfirst Productions was canceled, and “Call of Cthulhu” was in limbo for many years.Nine years later, in 2014, Focus Home Interactive, to the delight of all fans, announced that a completely a new game(but with a familiar name!), but the happiness did not last long. Over time, “Call...” changed its developer (the Ukrainian one was replaced by a French one), and it seemed that the misadventures were over - three years later the game reached release, but...
You know, it would be better not to get there.
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Horror, but not cosmic
Oddly enough, the problems of the new and old Call of Cthulhu are strikingly similar. An encouraging, cool start and a gradual descent into the abyss of game design hell. Edward Pierce - main character novelty and part-time detective, World War I veteran and alcoholic.
Things at work are going from bad to worse: the last investigation was a long time ago, and Pierce risks losing his license. Therefore, the main salvation of the hero becomes a certain Stephen Webster, a gray-haired man who instructs Edward to find his daughter Sarah. She disappeared on Darkwater Island, and our hero immediately boards the nearest ship and sails towards his fate.
The protagonist’s visions and dreams are the few things that connect the original work and the game.
And now, it seems, a great adventure is about to begin. After all, the beginning cannot lie! RPG elements, an election system, good-looking graphics - all this sets you up for a big and complex (in the good sense of the word) adventure.
However, already at the twentieth minute you begin to suspect something is wrong. The city of Darkwater is amazingly small (even smaller than Innsmouth in Dark Corners of the Earth!), and somehow you don’t feel that same atmosphere.
There are seven characteristics available for leveling up (only five can be directly improved; occultism and medicine are leveled up only by finding treatises and books scattered throughout the levels), each of which has a slight effect on dialogues and investigations.
For example, in the Hawkins mansion, the puzzle with the globe can be solved in two ways: honestly rack your brain or find a crowbar and hack the activating mechanism (it can be hacked without a tool, just invest in upgrading your strength in advance). Perhaps this moment can be called the highest point of the entire game, because you will not see anything like it further.
And the more you move through the plot, the more flaws begin to become apparent. The gameplay before us is a typical walking simulator, in which you need to periodically interact with certain items, in order to move further along the plot.
Compositionally, the gameplay consists of the following parts: investigation, hiding from monsters (or people) and solving puzzles. Moreover, each of the three elements does not claim any originality - the main driving force of the new product is pixel hunting in its deepest manifestation.
The riddles are simple (except for one) and solving them will not be difficult.
For better understanding of what we are talking about, I will say that the quintessence of this nightmare is the level in the hospital, when the game designers literally force the player to collect notes and signs, just like in that very free game about Slender.
And one day the hero (more precisely, the heroine, because in the new product you will get to try on the roles of as many as three characters!) will be forced to run from a boring, slow monster in a small location, collecting so-called “glyphs” along the way. Need I say that this does not stand up to criticism?
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The investigation system seems to transport the hero in time and allows him to see the events that happened. Not only does it look very secondary, but not only Edward, but also other heroes can reconstruct the entire chain of events in his head. A logical question arises: why are detectives needed in this world if an ordinary nurse can conduct an investigation? Now it’s clear why things weren’t going well for Pierce!
Even the dialogues are incredibly boring to read here. The characters talk as if they live in the twenty-first century: no archaisms, fancy words, or anything else. The dialogues themselves are the most glitchy part of the game, so one day you run the risk of getting stuck in one of these conversations simply because none of the answer options will be clicked. Everything can be cured by rebooting, but starting from the nearest checkpoint (the save system is standard, based on checkpoints) is not very pleasant.
But one could turn a blind eye to the boring gameplay if it were supported by a successful story in the spirit of the works of Lovecraft. Unfortunately, everything here is just as bad as with gameplay. If not worse.
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The writers created Frankenstein's monster by mixing stories from both the American writer and his followers. It’s scary to say, but in the end we got a story about sinister experiments and terrible mutations. What? What are these cosmic horrors? Sorry, but you are in the wrong game - follow this in Darkness Within (or in), but definitely not here.
In Lovecraft's stories, much attention was paid to loneliness and situations when a person is alone with something unknown and ancient. Everything is different in the new Call of Cthulhu. As the story progresses, the main character will find understanding friends who will not let him go to waste. And also (perhaps this will shock some) there is some semblance of a romantic line between the characters, while in the original stories the theme of love was NEVER touched upon. Sometimes thoughts arise that the developers from Cyanide Studio in this way show their true attitude towards the personality of the (very ambiguous) writer.
The second complaint that breaks the atmosphere (although it is completely broken from the very start) is the art design. Here everything with him is also “not very good,” and that’s putting it mildly. The only monster in the game (localizers called him “Vagabond”, for which, of course, they have no forgiveness, because the most correct option would be “Wanderer”) looks like a hybrid of a necromorph from Dead Space and Alien.
In addition, there are few successful locations and all of them can be counted on the fingers of one hand; all the rest look like a secondary copy from other horror projects. The hospital levels look especially terrible - at this point the game begins to look like (the game has the same publisher, coincidence?), which does not add points to it.
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Call of Cthulhu is unable to scare even a child. Just look at these characters! No, really, look at these cheerful bright green ulcers - is this marmalade? And the tentacles - did he steal them from a nearby seafood store? What kind of cosplay nightmare is this?
And this despite the fact that the visual performance itself, for which it is responsible, is not bad. Of course, there is something to complain about (after the disgusting green filter, after an hour or two of playing, your eyes begin to water and your head hurts), but the graphics, compared to everything else, are kept at an acceptable level and cause a minimum of complaints.
However, someone system requirements may seem too high: an Intel Core i7-3820, 8 GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970-level video card will be enough to plunge you into madness.
They'll also let you shoot, but the action is reminiscent of a shooting gallery The House of the Dead(unless you control the hero yourself): no tactics, not even reloading. It is enough to simply shoot the zombified inhabitants of Darkwater from afar (following the principle of “one cartridge - one corpse”) and not get close to them. The only difficulty is that there is not enough ammunition for everyone, so after a short time the boring action will be replaced by equally boring stealth.
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Will someone explain why this man straight out of the twenties of the last century has such a fashionable hairstyle? Is he a time traveler? Or is there something we don’t know, and it was he who set the fashion for shaved temples? Unclear. But one thing is clear - the developers were unable to convey the atmosphere of that time: the game has too many minor flaws for it to be taken seriously.
Conclusion
Call of Cthulhu is a surprising game in its mediocrity. In short, we got an ordinary five-hour walking simulator, released under a high-profile brand. And it’s not clear what rating you can give, because at times the new product is so bad that you begin to experience that same indescribable cosmic horror that Lovecraft wrote about in his works.
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Yes, we live on a quiet island of bad games based on Lovecraft stories, but that doesn't mean we don't need to go beyond it. Seriously, go through the masterpieces Darkness Within or , but never touch the 2018 Call of Cthulhu.
Verdict: defiant bad game based on the stories of G.F. Lovecraft.
Rating: none (“Cosmic Horror”).
Ruslan Gubaidullin
A wild private detective named Edward Pierce never thought that investigating the death of a woman from a wealthy family would lead him straight into the dark universe of HP Lovecraft’s myths, as frightening as it is alluring.
A mysterious island awaits!
In The Call, stealth looks extremely controversial due to the fact that this game is more like a walk through a nightmare than a chaotic run through a horror attraction. Of course, variety in a video game is always great, but sometimes developers try to add more of everything to the game. This approach does not benefit all projects.
Also, the efforts of the Cyanide team to add everything and more to Call of Cthulhu could not but affect the level of execution of individual parts of the project. Most of the locations look great and just beg for a screenshot, while sometimes the environment noticeably loses in detail, starting to resemble some kind of budget indie horror film.
Fortunately, the game's system requirements are quite low, so it's not necessary.
This budget is felt most of all in the middle of the game, although the beginning and end do not cause any complaints. Some video screensavers also seem cheap. Especially those that show the main character in close-up:
For some reason, Edward Pierce is poorly animated, which is especially noticeable in his face. However, there are few such moments in the game, so they have almost no effect on the overall impression of the game, and the excellent atmosphere, coupled with good staging, also plays into the hands of the developers, thanks to which Call of Cthulhu is literally a breeze.
Interestingly, the old one had similar problems. It also had mechanics that were clearly added to the heap, as well as budget graphics. However, the project from Cyanide turned out to be more successful due to a better fit into the atmosphere of the original.
From Cyanide Studio it is not a remake of the Dark Corners of the Earth part of the same name, which entered the market back in 2006. This is more of a digital version of a tabletop role-playing game. The storyline here is not based on one of Lovecraft's works. The action will take place in areas that are absent from the stories of the famous writer. In addition, in this new product you will see many creatures about which the creator of Cthulhu knows nothing. They were already created by his followers.
However, this did not stand in the way of developers from France. They managed to bring to reality the main and most difficult feature - to convey the spirit of Lovecraft as strongly as possible. Interested? Then let's get to the full Call games of Cthulhu 2018.
Mass madness
In the small settlement of Darkwater, located on an island off the Boston coast, fog constantly creeps in. Fishermen and whale hunters have settled here for a long time, but the city has already experienced its better times. There are practically no fish here anymore, and the last whale was caught back in the 19th century, which was called “A Wonderful Find.” However, there were rumors that they had caught not a whale, but an unknown creature, more like a kraken. But does it make sense to believe in the superstitions of villagers?Today it's already the Roaring Twenties, but Darkwater is gradually dying out. Its prototype, which appeared in Lovecraft's story, Innsmouth, was able to survive through an agreement with the Deep Ones. For the sacrifices they made, they shared sea food and gold with the inhabitants of Innsmouth. Only here the deal is concluded with slightly different conditions. Therefore, only bootleggers live well on the island, who conduct their business without any particular difficulties and do not encounter police on the mainland. And, of course, cult ministers whose goal in life is to awaken the Lord of the Worlds.
Around this moment, the story of the protagonist, investigator Edward Pierce, begins. He sails to this cursed settlement to investigate the death of Sarah Hawkins, who was engaged in painting and was married to a local aristocrat. But along the small streets of the village, where nothing is visible through the fog, and in the dark waters (with tentacles hidden in them) there are more terrible secrets, what the detective was going to reveal. 
In the demo review, we expected to be transported into a terrible and crazy atmosphere. Then our expectations were met. However, the demo was somewhat different. In the first three hours, I got the impression that the pace would be unhurried and measured, just like the writer’s prose. It also seemed like it would take more investigating than hiding and running around. However, this ended precisely when events began to unfold with extraordinary speed.
This is not a bad solution, even an excellent one. Moreover, the author also talked about persecution and hide and seek in his works. Over the course of four episodes, the man meticulously examines the investigation site. He is trying to understand whether Sarah really tried to destroy other members of her family. However, already in the next chapter there is a sharp turn in the plot and then the next question is asked - what is going on here and how to find out the truth. As the action progressed, it moved away from predictability and this allowed the final part to go beyond the line of reality. And this happens in the literal sense. 
Labyrinth of Terror in Call of Cthulhu
You can complete everything here in a maximum of 10 hours, taking into account a meticulous examination of all locations. Edward will not be hindered on his way by various obstacles and puzzles that require solving others. However, if everything were much longer, then it would not be able to get boring just due to one moment - there are no repetitions at all. In an instant, you even feel a little nostalgia when you went through the starting chapters where the investigation took place. By the end, the hero will not be interested in it.All episodes have something unique to offer. At the Hawkins estate, the task is to examine the scene of death and find evidence. Below it are catacombs in which you need to run as fast as you can to avoid falling under the rubble. In the art gallery you need to use stealth to the maximum, but in the bookstore there is an interesting task. Already at the end you will need to use your weapon and see what is hiding in someone else’s head. Lovecraft liked the theme of creature transference, so Pierce also has the ability to briefly become another person. 
However, there are some differences compared to the original. The policeman can only watch what others are doing and not use a completely new body. This skill was characteristic of Ephraim Waite from The Thing on the Threshold. However, this is a good decision in terms of storytelling - it is possible to see something important that might not have been included in the frame.
If you return to an already explored location, you will not be tormented by boredom. It's not just about great scenery, deep atmosphere and random events, characteristic of the desktop. After the hero returns, new tasks always await, which are special each time. So, you will have to find yourself in the basement of the Institute in Riverside a couple of times and always as other characters. And there will always be something surprising there.
It is enough to give the following example. In one episode you will walk through a dark wing of the hospital, almost beyond reality. To help him, two lanterns were offered - green and red. The first shows the direction and opens closed enchanted passages, and the second allows you to pass through invisible doors with a green light. If you go in the wrong direction, the space changes and the hero ends up at the beginning. 
The problem is that lamps can only be changed at designated points. However, when the green lantern is lit, a toothy beast will be visible from the darkness, which is also watching Edward. It will be necessary not only to combine the lighting of the lamps well, but also to run to the required point for the exchange as soon as possible. Finally, self-control is necessary, since raucous sounds in the dark can be quite frightening.
Along with tasks in all locations, the latter are suitably alternated. After the terrible catacombs comes the turn of the mental hospital, so you have to hide from the doctors for another half hour and feel as if you are in Outlast. However, after the old hospital, a calm mansion opens before your eyes, where even in a cozy living room with a burning fireplace, horrors are hidden. And like Alien: Isolation, you just have to hide in the closet and wait for the creature with fangs to leave.
The most important thing is that Call of Cthulhu changes fears one by one. The fear of the unknown is what the writer called the most ancient and powerful. Then you have to fear that Pierce will be seen and caught. This feeling is also caused by darkness and creeping madness - at some points the passage takes on the appearance of surrealism, like Layers of Fear. And so it will play with the protagonist - everything will change even after turning away. Well, every nightmare ends with a transition to the next chapter, where you can rest a little and look at the sun. True, only so that you don’t get tired of being afraid. After all, every fear has its own stage of freshness. 
No choice
The demo version initially promised less than what was ultimately delivered. However, there were some disappointments.We played through the game several times, constantly choosing other paths. The catch is that almost nothing affects the player's choices other than the ending. Of course, if Pierce says other phrases in dialogue, you can get Additional information. And with another branch of pumping, other conclusions will appear at the crime scene and things will be visible that were not noticed before. The plot is completely linear and you have to watch the same cutscenes with minor differences. 
During communication with city residents, significant hints appear that the answer may change fate radically. But as a result, everything goes along the beaten path and expectations are not met. The plot events of many less significant characters always end clumsily, and often simply end for some unknown reason. You can make friends, insult someone, but all this affects a few phrases in subsequent conversations. Even if there is a choice between two people to save, this does not really change the picture.
Pay attention to the icon in the left corner on the left. And at the same time what is happening on the screen. Leviathan appeared not thanks to the writer, but to his fan Ross Bagby from “Artifacts from Quivira”. 
I also wanted more from the skill leveling system than I could get. Some skills are more useful, but by the end of the second playthrough it becomes unclear why the development branch was made this way. The ability to search for something needed will definitely be more in demand compared to oratory or strength. In general, before the finale, the last two become meaningless. To cope with last opponents, words are not needed, and regardless of the strength of the policeman, the zombie fisherman will calmly overwhelm the blow.
This leads to persistent problems with the mechanics of phobias, which could be heard about many times from the creators. Some fears are acquired by storyline and it is impossible to change this. In the end, you can remain somewhat sane, but not completely sane (which corresponds to the rules of the Lovecraft mythos). The rest can be obtained depending on your decisions. You can end up in an unnecessary room where there are many remains of bodies - psychological trauma is guaranteed. If there are too many of the latter, madness will soon come.
Although it is beautifully said, the influence of the mechanic only has on the ending and lines of dialogue. There are no gameplay consequences foreseen. After the 5th chapter, the hero begins to fight panic in indoors. And here nothing depends on the number of injuries. We can finish this.
But the main thing is that you can ignore the panic. Yes, shortness of breath, frantic heart rate, blurry fog around the screen - that’s all. After hiding in the closet, we expected death, or at least the fact that the protagonist would fall out of hiding straight towards his hunter. As a result, only interesting visual effects appeared in front of us, and no punishment followed. You can sit in the closet as long as you like, but why was it introduced then? For the sake of an incomprehensible threat? 
So, in the conditions of a closed playing space, small locations and a not too long plot, placed in one of the short stories about Cthulhu, I would like to get much greater replayability.
The advantages of the new product significantly outweigh the disadvantages. Even after the second playthrough, you will want to play again to open all four endings. The story is the best addition to the original tales of the mythical creature, but it also adds great art.
All that remains is to express our respect to the specialists from Cyanide for the difficult path they have chosen. They could use external elements, add famous names and stuff the world with standard monsters, while forgetting about the main thing. Here, the same fish-men are present (although not canonical), many interesting small details with references to Howard’s myths, but the story itself turned out not so much according to his opuses, but in his spirit. 
Among such a huge Lovecraftian “zoo”, the inhabitants of which had to hunt for Edward all the way, the creators abandoned the already boring Shoggoths, Mi-Go, Elders, and chose the Wanderer between the worlds. The first time this creature appeared in the short story "Horror in the Museum" and here it is very similar.
Of course, there is disappointment that there are simply no important developments in the plot. However, a logical explanation can be found here too. People will never be able to wage an equal fight against the Ancients. Whatever attempts are made, they will turn out to be much stronger. So after floundering, you still need to tune in to rock.
The detective will try not to face the truth, but to arm himself with materialism, common sense and reality. However, as he learns about what is happening in everyday life, he has no choice but to gradually go crazy. Although he will receive new opportunities, because there are answers that the mind cannot give. To get a complete picture of what is happening, you need to crawl through all the suspicious nooks and crannies, read the treatises of occultists and disrupt your own psyche. It won't work any other way. Obviously, everything has its price - this will help you feel your helplessness in front of powerful evil forces.
Pros and cons of Call of Cthulhu 2018 |
|
| pros | Minuses |
| Lovecraftian atmosphere | The creators did not fully realize the potential |
| A twisted story | Minor characters do not play an important role |
| Original gameplay | Sometimes the animations of heroes are crooked when talking. |
| Amazing atmosphere and appearance | |
All that remains is to say thank you to the developers for this fascinating story, after which you can also think a little while watching the credits at the end. The project deserves the highest rating.
