Call of Cthulhu®

Final chapters are trash. Buy it on sale

To precede the review, we shall inform the reader of a common bug. This game depends on a version of OpenSSL that crashes on 10th generation Intel processors. Luckily, there is a workaround. Create a system environmental variable called "OPENSSL_ia32cap" and set it to "~0x20000000". Then reboot, of course. If you are not a technically minded user, then you may wonder how you do this. Google is your friend. Or ChatGPT. Or the Microsoft support forums. You may also be scared by the opaque naming of that environmental variable. Good! It stands for "OpenSSL IA-32 Capabilities", but me telling you this probably doesn't calm you any. Well, you won't get a virus from it. If you can believe me. The review now begins after the horizontal rule. [hr][/hr] Buyer beware: This game has neither a deeply branching story, nor detective work. But it is a fairly well-presented Cthulhu story. The devs could have stayed there, but they decided to add more. I cannot call these choices mistakes, as they do greatly improve the game's presentation. But they may also mislead the player into hoping for more than what this game has to offer. Firstly, this is not a detective game. You will be told the truth no matter your choices, and there is only 1(!) puzzle. This game is a walking simulator, and occasionally a hidden object finder. Secondly, there is technically a branching story. This is to the same degree that Mass Effect 3 has a branching story. - There is a number of hidden statistics tracked throughout the game. You will not be told what these are. I do not know myself, though I suppose I could take a few guesses. - You wil be presented at the end of the game with a choice between 4 endings. Which ones are available depends on the aforementioned statistics. If the skill system is making you think there are multiple ways to play, then there technically are. But there is only ever a choice in how to approach a problem, not which problems to solve. In Chapter 2, there are 3 ways to get into a warehouse. That is the most branching point in the entire game. No matter what you do, the cast will have the same attitude towards the main character, and act out the exact same beats. It's just in one route, you will find an extra collectible item, and in another, you may encounter a locked dialogue choice. If you go into the game with hopes for either a detective game or a branching story, you will be disappointed. If you go into the game with hopes for a Cthulhu story, then it is a good game. It documents the descent of one may into madness. As it ought.

I had this game in my library for a while, unfortunately it is not playable as it crashes to desktop multiple times. I attempted to play 5 times with different graphics settings but to no avail. Was really looking forward to enjoying a quick lovecraftian experience but unfortunately because I picked this up on sale years ago I cant even request a refund. A real shame.

crashes every time I load it up. 13 minutes of loading and crashing in the opening sequence.

To enjoy Call of Cthulhu, one must accept that it is B-movie camp. Going in expecting a serious experience will end in disappointment. As with most of these detective games, the story being just barely compelling enough to move things along is the highlight. Any time actual video game mechanics are employed, such as the awful stealth sections or whatever the heck that lantern part was, it falls apart. I actually laughed out loud during the gunplay sequence; it's just so ridiculous. Yet, I always come back to this kind of game -- much like people find entertainment value in bad movies -- so keep making them, I guess.

I really wish this game was better. I love Lovecraftian horror, and this game delivers most of the time. However it's bogged down by too many shallow mechanics that don't add anything. And while I wasn't stupid enough to expect a final boss fight against Cthulhu, but I was at least expecting a good look at him! We see him for half a second during a lightning strike 3 seconds before the credits roll. The atmosphere in this game is genuinely incredible, but the gameplay is an utter mess and the ending is super underwhelming. I want to like this game, and I don't think it's bad. Just not great, nor what I was looking for. It's a 2/5 for me, though I do think it's worth a shot if you lower your expectations and it's on sale.

all edward pierce does is have panic attacks and pass out and the only thing you can do is watch - really good concept & visuals (always have a weak spot for tentacle-based cults); voice acting is decent, too (anthony howell has quite the talent for panting and grunting and gasping) - definitely delivered in the horror aspect (that shambler will GET you bro) - story is kind of half-baked? Felt a bit rushed through the whole thing and didn't get much time to connect with the characters (which is what i'm looking for when it comes to adventure games lol). also for a game with 'cthulhu' in the title, he is surprisingly absent! - 75% cutscenes. made me feel a bit helpless when trying to participate in the narrative - there's also frequent captioning mistakes? In both grammar and vocab/dialogue changes. tl;dr: 6.5/10 would play again, but just so i can save algernon

Crashes during opening cutscene of starting a new game.

Игра крутая, сетинг старого, заполненного болью и страданиями людей городишки передали отлично. Но из-за графики играется не так страшно. НО, сюжет подан правильно и копаться в них как настоящий детектив я люблю))

纯正的克苏鲁氛围： 游戏完美还原了洛夫克拉夫特式的恐怖风格。阴暗潮湿的黑水岛（Darkwater Island）、压抑的色调、未知古神的低语，以及标志性的“理智值 (Sanity)”系统，对原著粉丝和跑团（CoC TRPG）玩家来说代入感极强。 如果你是克苏鲁神话死忠粉、跑团爱好者，或者单纯喜欢重氛围、轻操作的黑暗悬疑侦探故事，这款游戏非常值得一试。 建议等到 Steam 大促时再购买。