Call of Cthulhu®

This 2018 game looks and feels like 2008 game, that was done without even a smidge of love, passion or interest. Or, rather, there was an interest, the one particular type of interest - fullfilling the contract, getting the paycheck and moving on. I wish I'd moved on instead of buying this game on sale. Don't do that mistake of mine.

[h3]Unrelated plot.
The gameplay is boring.
Leveling up your personalities is useless.
Dialogues don't affect anything.

while it is atmospheric in places and has some cool environments, the models are ugly, the dialogue doesn't match the character animations or flow properly during conversations, combat is abysmal, this game just kind of sucks..i don't feel enthralled by any of the story or characters whatsoever...

All is bad: overly conventional "Cthuluish" scenario, graphics from an ancient age, rigid gameplay, tedious and unnecessarily punishing stealth phases and a systematic crash that can only be solved by searching the GOG forum. Run away.

It is actually quite enjoyable and decent game, like being a light detective in a Cthulhu mythos puzzle adventure dripping with mediocre but incredibly atmospheric graphics. This game will not steal awards by its looks but in the campy and enjoyable somewhat hammy (intentionally mind you) execution, the game gives me that old nostalgia when I was a teen enjoying video games like nothing other! The gameplay feels like a toned down mix of Alien Isolation/Outlast/Sherlock Holmes series. Detective work, puzzles and some light action elements come together quite nicely and in a setting of you losing your mind to eldridge horror! The voice acting of the main protagonist fits the period and setting well, despite other voice actors may come on the cheaper side. I think I recognized the voice actors from Vampyr and The Mafia definitive edition delivering solid performances. I would give this game a 3 out of 5 stars and definitely recommend for a sale purchase!

THIS GAME IS BROKEN.
Can't change internal resolution, game renders below 1080p res
None of the solutions work

Nice puzzles, interesting storyline, fun game. Would suck at surviving this IRL to be honest that's for sure

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☑ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☑ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Slow burn which really rewards you with incredible depth if you stick with it. The mysteries, the choices, the horror, and the unpredictability as well as the ominous atmosphere make this game one of a kind.

At first, the game seems incredibly deep. I read clues carefully, answered questions carefully, and distributed stat points carefully. I did so, under the illusion that my choices would lead me down a winding path of plot possibilities. That kept my interest for a couple of hours. However, as time progresses, the game's gimmicks become increasingly transparent. Choices have little impact on the story. The game just hides certain clues from you, based on your skill points in each area.

Game Runs at a consistent 7 FPS no matter the settings. My specs are 7800x3D and a 4090. Zero way it's a problem with my hardware. Might be a problem with compatibility but I can't figure out the issue. Would love help figuring this out, but for now I just can't play the game.

Really enjoying this game immensely! If you like or enjoy the Ctulhu mythos then this is definitely a game you shoud get, but even if not i would still highly recommend it! Engaging storyline, easy to master, and visually appealing. Game flows nicely and not long to complete, am almost done as of writing this review, on chapter 10 out of 14.

Taking my time though, and there is different paths to choose which affect your ending as well.

Visually and atmosphere vice VERY cool game! A little janky and the audio mixing is below decent, but other than that a good time!

You dont need to be a lovecraft fan to play this. a perfect experience and storytelling!!!!! loved it! i will remember it for many months

I really wanted to like this game, but the fact that this was my go to game to put me to sleep on the weekends for the last few months should tell you everything you need to know.

Generally fun if not very difficult. It had a couple stealth areas, which I'm not a huge fan of, but it was fun enough to keep me interested until the end.

This was a pretty cool game.
It definitely has issues with dialogue not making sense, and some mediocre cutscene animation, but overall it was a fun ride.

Really fun and engaging game with an immersive Lovecraftian atmosphere. If you're a fan of other detective games - the Nancy Drew series was my favorite! - then you'll love this. It's not too difficult, but it definitely gives your brain a good little workout at times if you like that kind of thing.

The story kept me guessing what sort of messed-up horrors Edward would stumble upon next in his investigation on the island of Darkwater. The cast of characters was fascinating and unsettling, and the ending captured the essence of a classic Lovecraftian tale perfectly. The game really nailed that atmosphere! That said, it has its flaws. Some puzzles weren’t clear, and I struggled most with the lamp puzzle in the hospital. I’m not against challenging puzzles, but dying twenty times to the Shambler pushed me to look up a guide, which I see as a negative. Puzzles should challenge, not frustrate to the point of breaking immersion. Despite that criticism, I still recommend it-though maybe wait for a sale.

An unforgettable experience!!! Call of Cthulhu combines incredible atmosphere, a gripping story, and mindbending mysteries. The RPG mechanics are solid, and the Lovecraftian horror really pulls you in. If you're into dark, immersive stories with a touch of madness, this one's a must-play. Highly recommend!

Very good and interesting game, it's not really scary beside maybe 1 or 2 sections of the game.
However, the end sequence and the last act was somehow lacking and felt rushed compared to how the earlier stages of the game were designed, and I felt that some characters ending were also not finished.
I recommend this game, however not for the full price, maybe wait for some discount

its like watching a good b-movie.
definitely get it on sale, its flawed, but i enjoyed it!
dark adventure game, with some stealth

This is a mixed recommendation - no spoilers.

General thoughts:
The story is good with lots of interesting characters and a wonderfully fleshed out world to explore. If you are looking for a well-told lovecraftian story, then you will probably like this game.

I say probably, because the game is too faithful to the table-top rpg. Every interaction in the game is dependent on random chance that you are locked into because the game saves after every roll.

Random chance:
What this means in practice is, that even if you want to play a certain way, you may/will be locked out of at least parts of it by dice rolls since everything you interact with will roll a die against your ability in the skill associated with the check.

So if you have 95% in a skill and are a god in pshycology, then no matter if you are analysing something trivial, there still is a 5% risk of you failing the check locking you out of either lore or a part of the game since that check might have lead to some choices later.

Yes, you can max out SOME of your skills, so you get 100% on your rolls. But two of your skills (and one of them is perhaps THE most interesting one for a totally different way of playing) you cannot max out using skill points, but are locked behind an infuriating mix of 1) character creation point allocation and 2) random chance in-game finds determined by a different skill, that takes a while to max and 3) you actually finding the level-up items.

So if you want a full occult or medical playthrough, you need to put all (or just about) of your staring points into the one skill you want and then max out your "special item spawning skill" (special items are only in the game world if this skill rolls a success). Without doing this, you will be locked out of later checks and even if you do this, you may be unlucky and not have an item spawn in your playthrough (unless you know where the item should be and then save-scum until it appears.

In short: If you want a specific playstyle, Go 100% into it from the character creation and onwards. Especially if it is medical or occult.

Final thoughts:
Seen as a one-off story game, where you just let things happen and don't worry about what you experience, then this is a fun game. I enjoyed it. But since the game story actually does feel different if you lean into something like occultism or avoid/embrace insanity, then it becomes infuriating, that this choice of story path is somewhat out of your hands.

TL;DR:
Good story game for a single semi-random playthrough. For replayability it is bad because it relies on random chance, so you cannot really choose the path you want.

It was good I played it in one session for 7 hours nonstop. But the ending was very disappointing. I checked all 4 endings and all of them were lacklusters.

If you're a fan of the source material, this will be a relatively fun interactive trip through Lovecraft's world. If you're not a fan already, it is hard to recommend this game. By modern (based on when it was released) standards this misses on almost all marks as a "video game." If you think of it more as an interactive novel, it's a little more forgivable but still fails to fully deliver on its promise.

Meh. The ending was disappointing and I'm not particularly inspired to replay it for the other endings. The payoff for the final choice I made was over in a flash, and I feel like I put 14 hours in for cutscene that might as well have been included in a teaser trailer. The first half of the game was decent, but at a certain point I just wanted it to be over.

The game is okay, but just okay.

Get it at a discount. Cool story, okay graphics. as you can see i finished in about 14 hours. The upgrade system doesn't really provide much benefit, the game plays out the same regardless except for some unlocked dialogue and story flavor like pages and artifacts which have some good context. And while it's an investigation game there's not really much to uncover, the few puzzles that the game provides are fairly easy but entertaining none the less, and the survival aspect is, well, not really relevant.

Definitely more of an interactive story with game elements rather than a game itself. No replay value imo unless you want to, just to see what happens for completion sake, since you can replay the endings from your last save after the end of the game. There are four different ones and you can read the requirements online. i got three, just kinda feeling out the game and that was enough for me. all in all it's like a 6/10. nothing to really tell your friends about, but good enough to pass the time.

Pretty ok game. Some mechanics are janky and graphics not that good.

Not working on Steam Deck, despite verified badge. Loads initial cutscenes (with sound), then main menu (without sound), selecting New game is followed by the infinite load screen. Tried different Proton versions, etc.

is good
got weak parts where it's difficult to know what to do that should have been worked on more in dev
but overall a good game and worth the money especially when on sale

When I bought the game I was not expecting it to be that good. It was on sale. I do not regret it a bit. The game is great,I enjoyed it a lot. :) I need more games like this. ^^

My one and only FPS type of horror game that meet what I want and makes me want to plays more
The other thing I like from this game is the feel when I got stuck and have no clue to finish the mission, rather than quit, I keep playing and searching for the walkthrough to find out what I missed...

Game crashes as soon as you load in. I even tried three different ways to fix this but nothing worked.

Absolutely stunning adaptation of Lovecraft's Literature. Great gameplay, visualization and depiction of the slow but sure fall into madness.. Playing as a private investigator supposed to solve a murder mystery also adds a nice spin to the story. The fact that all the characters have a lot of depth makes the story even more interesting.

Really enjoyed this; plenty of gameplay variety, wonderful atmosphere and a compelling story. The level in the Sanders Art Gallery and some the Cthulhu RPG elements were excellent, particularly being able to use Mythos knowledge to translate or observe extra details.

I was loving this game until I hit a lantern maze puzzle that was so frustrating and inexplicable that I quit. What were the game designers thinking? Why not stick to the game's strength, which was atmospheric storytelling?

I recommend this game if you want about an hour of great gameplay interrupted by a mind-numbing maze puzzle that will probably cause you to rage quit.

Update: I finally calmed down and got past the maze puzzle. The game becomes good again although not as good as it was at the beginning.

The first two hours or so of the game are a suspenseful detective story, but by the end it has devolved into a very trippy experience.

The game isn't long enough for you to really put the skills you invest in to use.

There are alternate endings depending on the choices you make, so there is some replayability, although you'd have to do the damn maze again.

Overall I recommend it for the first two hours or so alone.

God damn this story is cool, a little confusing at some point which is frustrating as you feel like youre missing something. But once you realize thats the point it gets really enjoyable

Great game. Wonderful storytelling with some interesting gameplay. However, I do find at times that the immersion dies a little when you hit dead ends and have to constantly backtrack to find that one thing, or a area is really tough and you have to keep trying again. I also feel that no matter how you play, you'll always end up with one ending or the other, but not sure. Guess another play through will tell.

Not too bad although the ending(s) leave much to be desired imho. There is a multiple-choice system that allows you to pick how you progress and ultimately which ending you get. There is a also a multiple-slot game load system but no way to save/load over a decision you make so you're always stuck with that outcome. It needs work.

Beautiful and twisted and intriguing and insane, all at various times throughout...

Worth a playthrough if it's on sale but honestly if it's full price i'd probably skip..

I picked this up for a few dollars on sale (3.99 USD). Overall it was entertaining for the sale price point but I would not recommend paying full price. For me by the end it was more of a let down.

I would have preferred the game to be shorter and more inspired. Once you get past the first half or so things start to get repetitive and "gimmicky." There is only one real monster you face and his entrance and set piece are absolutely terrifying and well executed. After that things tend to get watered down and more simple/uninspired. I am not sure if the developers ran out of ideas or rushed to finish the product.

There were a lot of things that seemed to have great potential but ultimately seemed kind of pointless. The dialog options based on abilities seemed like an awesome idea but I didn't feel it added to anything except your character just saying something different. The options really didn't reveal anything useful or interesting.

The sanity system sounded cool and seemed alright. I found it way too easy to stay relatively sane though. I would have liked to the see the game make sanity a center point more than some of the other features. The game should have been more focused on a loosing battle with sanity making it very difficult to read situations. Seemed like I could always chose the sane choice no matter what. I didn't feel the pressure was enough.

Overall I'd say this game is for the casual player who isn't looking for a difficult ride. I found it very easy to complete and little challenge in the way of puzzles and investigations. Not really my style, so I can't recommend it I will go back to playing the classic from 2005.

The Call of Cthulhu provides an immersive atmosphere that draws one forth like the words of an enjoyable book. So far there is only one potentially mind retching dilemma to deal with at the beginning, and the rest is an immersive story of horror. This game involves finding clues, having some conversations, and reading notes from a journal in order to solve a great mystery. There is hiding and creeping and puzzles to solve that involve finding objects to place and use.
It can be played over again with different choices.

I'll be honest, there are points where it is really rough around the edges. Buggy interactions, design decisions that don't make sense, non sequitur dialogue, player choices don't really seem to matter, etc.

But, that being said, I really enjoyed this game. Enough to play through it twice. I think it does justice to the Lovecraft Mythos and the story and gameplay are generally very interesting.

Best game about cthulhu that i have every played. Good story and great atmosphere. Graphics look good enough that you wont get disgusted by them!

Atmospheric linnear adventure. Great blend of action and familiar Mythos themes. The story is good and they do a great job of illustrating the claustrophobia and other bouts of madness. It is a linnear story though and requires you hit the right key actions (or run into them) to make it all work.

Bought on sale for 4 bucks. It feels like a visual novel with a few decisions here and there, some solvable puzzles and 1-2 stealth scenes. I liked the atmosphere, eerie visuals and soundtrack. On the other hand there is not much "gameplay".

I'd give it a 6.5/10, so thumbs up.

Don't bother buying this game it continuous to crash moments after starting. I couldn't get through the intro and have tried 3 times now. Doesn't even matter if you adjust the settings, say, lower the graphics or of the like. It'll still shut down. Save your money and don't but it! Which really sucks because I'm a big fan of H. P. Lovecraft and wanted to play this game.

0/10 - Can't play it

Bought the game on sale. I can see why it was 80% off. It crashes within seconds of starting a game and even crashes if you hang out in the menu playing with options.

Forums mention something about the engine being incompatible with new generation Intel processors?

Amazing game. Feels like one of those you want to finish and replay to see if other choices will affect the story. Strongly recommend

4 hours in as of right now.
Chapter 6 from 14.
This game has so much story and narrative. it's really fun.
As a H.P. Lovecraft fan I did enjoy it extra!
If you pick it up on Sale of fullprice both are worth!

Will update once I finish

It's not a walking simulator, but it's not a game with lots of puzzles and challenges either. There are a few action sequences and timed challenges, but it's mostly about investigation.
The story and atmosphere is solid Cthulhu, and I'll give the game 7/10 altogether.