Call of Cthulhu

In regards to the story and atmosphere, Call of Cthulhu stands tall against any other game in the genre. It’s the rest of the features that’s bringing it down to a level of a quite typical mid-budget game. [13/2018, p.52]

Overall, I liked Call of Cthulhu a fair amount. I enjoyed the story, the atmosphere, and the environments. It’s a walking simulator for the most part, sure, but it’s a solid one. Although I can’t recommend it at launch due to price, fans of story-based gaming experiences will likely find a lot to like about Call of Cthulhu. Just don’t go in thinking it’s a stealth RPG and keep your expectations in check. If you can do that, you’ll likely have a good time.

Call of Cthulhu has a very engaging atmosphere and story telling, adopting successfully the Lovecraftian Mythos, but messes things up when trying to insert gameplay mechanics like stealth and shooting. It should have focused more on puzzles, investigation and light RPG elements. Technically the game looks aged -something we could have overlooked- but the 45 euro price has no place for lenience.

When all's said and done, there's a clunkiness to the pacing, plot and gameplay that relegates Call of Cthulhu to the second division.

Call of Cthulhu has great ideas that regretfully hasn’t been implemented with great impact in its narrative.

After very good first hours of play, Call of Cthulhu dries itself with few interactions and poor stealth sequences. The Lovecraftian atmosphere is here though, which may appeal to whomever can indulge the game’s many flaws.

A good detective adventure based on the work of Lovecraft that hits with its setting but fails with the depth of its playable mechanics and technical problems.

Call of Cthulhu sadly doesn't live up to either its literary or pen-and-paper heritage. The setting, atmosphere and some of the voice acting are impressive, but the detective gameplay is shallow and fairly linear, and any other gameplay aspects feel buggy and tacked on.

Most Lovecraft fans, or those who are just on the lookout for a good occult mystery thriller, will enjoy Call of Cthulhu, but that doesn't mean that they won't be disappointed as well. Cyanide Studio has wrapped an interesting, and engrossing storyline, with a fittingly oppressive feel, but the actual gameplay part tastes like a half-fried, unsalted octopus *wink-wink-nudge-nudge*

Call of Cthulhu is an interesting game in which many things cause confusion. It has a nice story, but its mechanics are either poorly balanced or unnecessary at all.

Call of Cthulhu is an ode to Lovecraft and fantastic literature, a success in terms of atmosphere with a pleasant artistic part. Sadly, the game is too weak technically speaking. The main quest is interesting but players in search of an RPG with a bit of freedom will probably realize too soon that the game is actually a very linear experience.

Although there are a few environments in the game that feel fully realized, and sections of story and dialogue that hint at a much more satisfying gameplay experience, Call of Cthulhu only sporadically engages with the imagination of Lovecraft and too often seems like a sketch that needs to be more completely filled in, shaped and polished. Once again, the particular genius of Lovecraft has eluded us in the video game form.

Strong in atmosphere, weak in gameplay, Call of Cthulhu is a missed opportunity to build a great lovecraftian experience.

The game tends to dole out the narratively driven elements of Edward’s sleuthing in frustrating half measures, before suddenly blooming into a straight-up survival-horror experience in its second half.

Call of Cthulhu is an undeniably fun adventure game with some great ideas, cool stealth moments, and it never devolves into a shooter like Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth did. However, it also wastes its sanity mechanic, and the second half of the game consists of smaller and smaller locations that seem in a rush to get to an abrupt ending. The first few hours of the game are fantastic, but the rest feels like the team were forced to cram around 20 hours of exciting adventure-RPG gameplay and story into just 4 hours. The story skips to the end, the characters change instantly, and then the credits roll without the name “Cthulhu” even being mentioned. A huge disappointment.

A mediocre detective game with predictable stealth and a surreal story that runs out of steam near the end.

What started out as a promising, unnerving recreation of a tabletop RPG became a rushed, unfocused mess racing to the finish line that leaves players’ input almost meaningless. Call of Cthulhu is a dressed-up horror walking simulator that pitched itself on misleading terms, bungling its story while being light on gameplay or its RPG roots.

While it delivers a strong start, Call of Cthulhu starts to stumble and fall near the end, demonstrating a lack of polish and poor localization.

It’s not so much that Call of Cthulhu is irredeemable as much as it feels flawed. Less than the sum of its parts, I’d say. Any one aspect of Call of Cthulhu sounds intriguing in isolation, but put them all together and it’s a mess of disparate elements, all fighting for control.

Call of Cthulu is a deeply disappointing game, because those opening hours showed such promise. If developer Cyanide had just stuck to the bits that work – the investigation – we’d have ended up with a better game. Instead of descending into madness, it descends into tedium.