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H. P. Lovecraft's famously twisted universe
will be coming alive on PlayStation 4, Xbox
One and PC later this year, in the official video
game adaptation of Chaosium's pen & paper
RPG Call of Cthulhu. The Cthulhu Mythos has
grown to become one of the largest shared
universes ever envisioned, giving birth to
countless stories, novels, and even movies ever
since the original publication of Lovecraft's The
Call of Cthulhu. Developed by seasoned studio
Cyanide and built from the ground up on Unreal
Engine 4, Call of Cthulhu showcases a dark,
oppressive ambiance of the game's semi-open
environments, as a backdrop to the RPG-
Investigative nature of the experience.
On a mission to find the truth behind the
death of an acclaimed artist and her family on a
backwater island, players are plunged into the
troubled mind of private investigator Edward
Pierce, as his perception of reality becomes
more and more skewed the closer he gets to the
Great Dreamer’s sphere of influence. Call of
Cthulhu intends on making you clutch to your
withering sanity to discover the conspiracies, the
cultists and otherworldly terrors that inhabit this
twisted universe.
As Edward Pierce traverses down this
intriguing path of the unknown, his original
assignment spirals out of control against a
backdrop of suspicious locals, mutilated whales,
and disappearing bodies. Pierce’s mind will suffer
as developer Cyanide tightropes a razor-thin line
balancing act of sanity and madness, with your
senses pulled and disrupted until you question
the reality of everything around you.
Darkwater Island is a dreary place and adding
to it foreboding mystiq sits Hawkin Manor, a
complimentary massive grey house with loads of
secrets which can't wait to be discovered. As the
tell is told fire has tore through the Hawking
Manor tragically killing all of its inhabitants, Mr.
and Mrs. Hawkins and their son. With the police
unable to make sense of the ordeal due to
inconsistencies and errors, the case is closed,
until work hungry private investigator Edward
Pierce comes along, who has been commisioned
by Mrs. Hawkins father.
The reality of Call of Cthulhu is a rather
bizarre place as inhabitants of Darkwater Island
are unwelcoming to outsiders, which also adds to
the apealling discoveries sometimes happening
right under the players nose. While investigating
the tragic events of the Hawkins family, players
explore, investigate, and talk to people to gather
clues and find out what really happened with the
fire, uncovering Darkwater’s secrets at the same
time.
Interestingly, there are very few weapons in
and around the island, so players must lean on
their instincts while remaining ever aware,
keeping their eyes peeled to discover as much
as they can about their surroundings. The demo
for the game already looks and plays quite well,
in truth I did not want to put the controller down.
With just a sample of a hands-on and
understanding the direction of the narrative with
seemingly mountains of more to learn and
discover, Call of Cthulhu has certainly shot up
our list of most anticated games of 2017.