Consider yourself a H.P. Lovecraft fan? Good, because a new game is coming out that will appeal to you, especially if you love the Cthulhu stories. Titled Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game, players will enter a world of madness as they find supernatural elements all abound. Wonder if this is the next game you should be playing this October 31th? Then continue reading below as we explore developer Cyanide Game’s Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game and see what horrors await in our review. A bit of spoiler, Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game is one incredible game.

Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game is a first-person RPG where players must take a troubled PI through a supernatural mystery that begins to get stranger and stranger as the player goes through. Players will solve puzzles to unlock more about the world of Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game and go about solving the mysteries within, and players will also need to survive against otherworldly forces/beings. Due to its RPG nature, Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game allows players to create their own versions of Edward as they allocate points into several categories that greatly change Edward’s skill sets and actions towards the various inhabitants of this world. With multiple dialogue choices and story scenes, Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game allows players to experience a tale differently than other players. Can you help this PI find his way to the truth all without allowing him to fall into madness? Find out in Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game!

Edward Pierce has survived numerous battles, which has caused his mind and spirit to begin to decay into sadness and despair. As a private investigator, Edward struggles to find work that sustains him and instead, would rather drink his days away to escape the pains of life. One day, that all changes however when a man appears in his office asking Edward to investigate his daughter’s mysterious death. Edward takes the case and finds himself heading to Darkwater Island where he will soon discover more than just dark deception and corruption. On this faraway island, madness exists and Edward has just walked straight into it without a true understanding of how much worse this battle he’s entering is in comparison to his past plights…Can Edward solve the mystery of his client’s dead daughter and escape the island with his sanity intact?

If you’re into macabre or horror literature genre then you’ve probably read one of the better writers in the field of fiction H.P. Lovecraft. Known for creating some fascinating works and stories, H.P. Lovecraft has always had one element that shines above the rest and that is his creation known as Cthulhu. Even us here at Honey’s Anime have found ourselves always interested in this fictitious being from another realm and have loved seeing him appear in various form of media. Developer Cyanide Games seems to also love Cthulhu and has created a video game titled Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game that focuses on following the themes from the old school pen and paper RPG. Is Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game worth your time even if you’re not a diehard fan of the source material? Let us find out as we dive into the world of madness in our review of Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game for the PS4.

Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game thrusts players into the role of drunken mess Edward Pierce. Suffering PTSD from his time in the war, Edward struggles to live as a PI—Private Investigator—and finds himself haunted by strange dreams. Suddenly, Edward’s world changes when an older man enters his agency and claims that his daughter died from bizarre circumstances and wishes Edward would take the case. Seeing as how this is a video game, Edward agrees without hesitation and the player begins their journey in Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game.

One of your first actions in Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game is to spread out various skill points into Edward. These points might seem strange at first—the categories range from investigation skills to strength and even occultism—but you’ll quickly realize that Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game takes your skill points and makes Edward’s world change according to your choices. As you explore the various locations in Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game, your experience changes based on Edward’s stats. If you make Edward high in investigative prowess then you’ll find grilling people you talk to easier and will unlock numerous side dialogue choices that might help you understand a problem ahead or even possibly avoid one. Equally, allocating your points to a talent called Hidden Spot will allow the player to see items scattered in the world easier making puzzle solving simpler. Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game isn’t afraid of making your life difficult if you choose poorly for Edward’s stats and we noticed some puzzles took just a few minutes longer earlier on as we didn’t pour enough stat points—which are earned as you play so you can further increase Edward’s skills—into categories that might help Edward in his adventure.

The reason you might also want to care about your stat choices is that it does affect the story of Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game quite a lot. Did you decide to make Edward a man of his fists more than his brains? Well, that might help you brute force your way out of arguments and problems with physical puzzles but equally, will make your alignment to other characters shoddy and they might not divulge information that could help you later. Equally, if you don’t explore this rather large but confined world, then you’ll find the stranger experiences that will begin to happen in Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game will make less sense to Edward and cause him to suffer in various ways mentally. Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game truly feels like a tabletop pen and paper RPG in game format as every action taken by the player has some significance and can’t be undone once it happens.

One issue though we did notice with Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game is that, occasionally, the save system can be quite…strange. There was a locked door that we successfully opened due to our medium strength stats but during the exploration of the room we hit a game over when a man caught us snooping around. When the game reloaded, the door was locked and our luck opening the door failed this time, but then Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game decided to save so even when we lost and were forced back, the door remained forever locked. This issue will happen quite a lot as you play Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game and it can create some irritation as you play. Make your choices wisely and hope that you can reach a save point without losing progress.

Let’s wrap up Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game with one of its strengths and weaknesses wrapped all in one element, the visuals and sound. Visually, Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game can be quite beautiful and creepy but in a good way. The environments you’ll explore and the various locals are wonderfully created with a ton of detail and some amazing art design. The same can be said of some of the NPCs you’ll encounter that can almost make Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game feel like a movie with dynamic dialogue and some truly strong voice acting/music. Equally though, Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game suffers from some weak visuals in the character models and cutscenes which sometimes look…odd. Characters can have odd plastic-like looks and weird mouth/body movement. Voice acting can also sometimes be quite overdone with Edward sounding sometimes truly genuine and then other times sounding forced and corny. Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game will impress you at times and equally make you stare in bewilderment at other moments.

Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game is what we consider a rather strong RPG title that sticks with you as you play. The rather creepy world you’re thrown into isn’t going to scare you like a horror game, but instead, it gives this almost spine-chilling feeling as you dive continuously into Edward’s story and discover the truth of the mystery before him. We loved the puzzles and dialogue choices/narrative for Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game, but equally, felt the save system and visuals to be quite inconsistent. Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game is a title you could play several times and continue to find something you might have missed or a different way to solve a puzzle/event and that’s why it warrants not one but several playthroughs even if the base story seems to stay the same. When Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game releases this Halloween Eve—that’s October 30th—you should truly think of picking up this great RPG title. In other words, we here at Honey’s Anime give a solid recommendation to gamers who love titles like Bioshock—the exploration elements—and Amnesia. Heck, if you love old pen and paper RPGs, you’re going to not want to skip out on Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game just because it feels like one of those experiences.

Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game is just like H.P. Lovecraft’s works, haunting and truly whimsical. We loved that while not toted as a horror game, Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game can at times feel akin to one with creepy moments and otherworldly beings that seem to exist in Edward’s mind and world. Just like pen and paper RPGs, Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game truly feels different each time you dabble with events and choices which makes for a game that has longevity well after the credits roll. Are you planning on picking up Call of Cthulhu: The Official Video Game? Comment below so we can hear from all of you wonderful readers out there! Remember to also keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime for even more great anime and game reviews!