Call of the Elder Gods

Call of the Elder Gods is a game that should please a wide range of fans: fans of Lovecraft, of challenging puzzles, and of the first game. Out of the Blue isn’t trying to make a conventional horror game, but rather capture the essence of what made H. P. Lovecraft so unsettling on paper: the idea that the universe is ancient, vast, and may hide secrets humanity cannot even begin to understand.

Call of the Elder Gods is a special game that serves as the perfect sequel to Call of the Sea. It instils a wonderful sense of adventure that reminds of classic Indiana Jones films, just without the constant action and combat.

While it may not offer much in the way of an evolution over Call of the Sea, as a sequel Call of the Elder Gods nonetheless expands upon its predecessor in a meaningful way, though it fails to deliver a story that's as interesting or as unpredictable as the original. Still, some complex and well-executed puzzles more than make up for its other shortcomings.

I enjoyed my 5 hour playthrough of Call of the Elder Gods. The puzzles, environments, and voice acting were all fantastic and that’s all you really need for a fun weekend chomp of a title. However, the move from one island to jet setting across the globe in those five hours didn’t do the pacing of the story any favours. There’s a lot going on, and the game rattles through some of it’s reveals at a fair clip, losing a lot of the intrigue that made the first game so compelling. When it comes to facing the Cosmic Entities at the end of the world; I think I’d have preferred a little less movie conspiracy, and a little more actual mystery.

Call of the Elder Gods is a perfectly worthy sequel to Call of the Sea, in which the authors shifted the focus toward varied and moderately challenging puzzles. The story also turned out to be quite engaging, though for some reason the authors didn't quite polish a number of their ideas, which somewhat mars the overall impression.