In many cases, you are only allowed to ask one question of the many available to you, but this never felt restrictive, and indeed made me consider what I wanted to learn most in any given conversation. Several times I found myself leaning forward in my chair, my brain fully engaged on piecing together what I’d seen, only to lean back with a breath and a “wow” when the answer clicked in my head, not simply because I was told it.Īll too often, dialogue options feel stunted and unimaginative in games of this nature, but Pierce always seemed to have the same questions that I had. In certain key areas, Pierce can “reconstruct” events that occurred, and when the information hard-won by thorough detective work meshes with the information these fun “CSI Cthulhu” segments reveal, magic can happen.

Finding those clues in Call of Cthulhu’s detective sections is a true highlight – I enjoyed investigating the well animated and atmospheric environments, reading notes and books, and taking in environmental hints. Very, very little is revealed at first glance, and it is only over its 15-hour campaign that clues are dug up and the bigger picture starts to piece together. The story begins in almost rote pulp fashion – Pierce, the PI with a history, gets a weird case in a weird place and immediately sets to work. In the beginning, I found Pierce’s somewhat wooden portrayal a little jarring, but as I made him my own by focusing heavily in the stats that intrigued me most – like Investigation and Eloquence – and then leaned on those skills in my conversations and investigations, I rapidly became invested in his tortured tale. There really isn’t much to the character beyond the many choices you make for him, shaped by which skills you choose to upgrade. The hero of this story is Edward Pierce, a grizzled veteran and alcoholic PI who acts mostly as a blank slate for you to experience the story through. The story itself can be confusing in spots, and some rougher mechanics and levels do rear up occasionally, but Call of Cthulhu still delivers what is perhaps one of the finest cosmic horror experiences in modern gaming.

Inspired by the legendary Chaosium RPG of the same name, it tells its Lovecraftian tale with writing so strong that I couldn’t help but get sucked into the immersive atmosphere it created. It doesn’t take long for Call of Cthulhu’s dark and intriguing detective story to rapidly spiral down the well of occult madness.

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