Call of Cthulhu (2018)

Beat while choosing the counter ritual ending, and I had 3 endings available (not shooting myself). I spent my starting points in spot hidden and maxed it first chance I got. Then I put investigation to 4, psychology to 3, investigation to max, then the last points into strength figuring they would help with combat. Though the late game did not allow me to look at my skills anymore to verify skill levels. This game was a slow burn but I loved the atmosphere and psychological horror. It was great to see no stupid minigames for lockpicking and other skills checks; just a simple succeed or fail based on skill level, as it should be. I enjoyed the exploration and investigation aspects. The stealth was ok but I did not like how being caught was automatic game over. There should have been more survival horror aspects, such as melee combat, multiple weapons, bullets to find, and more use for light to ward off danger. The limited fuel for the lantern was really under utilized as a mechanic.

The worst part of the game was the boss fight with the Shambler. There was no explanation or guidance on what to do. I had to look it up online, so how was the player expected to figure this out without dying countless times? I thought it would be a stealth based escape sequence, but the stealth mechanics were completely different than against humans; there were no indicators. I even tried to attack with the lantern, but it did nothing despite being used to stun the creature during the second fight later in the game. I quickly gave up on using stealth at all and just ran around like a mad man trying different things to figure out what to do; light did not work, could not stab the creature or block its attacks with a dagger, and could not escape. This entire fight needed to be redesigned. The second battle was much better because the game actually told me what to do.

I did not like the weird spiritual puzzle in the hospital. It took me a while of looking around mashing A getting frustrated before I found the other lantern. It felt like a waste of time but would have been better if the game made the other lantern more evident. Then was the “first person shooting” near the end. It was ok but I quickly realized there was no real aiming and ammo seemed to run out at predetermined times rather than how many times I shot. I tried to sneak up on the enemies for stealth takedowns, thinking the fist symbol above their heads meant I could use the strength skill to conserve bullets; nope. I made mostly rational choices throughout the game, choosing dialogue choices for investigation and psychology when I could. I read every book, had my medicine and occultism at 3, and my sanity pretty much fully depleted. I did not kill the cop, gave the first aid kit to the girl gang boss (because she was hot and I figured she could help fight; screw the bartender who refused to serve me early on), accepted forbidden knowledge, refused to take medicine and eat the flesh, and shot the bad doctor.

I found the story and setting to be fascinating. There seemed to be actual science behind what was happening; an actual creature that was both physically and mentally affecting the people. It made me wonder whether it was from another dimension, or a highly evolved lifeform born of Earth. Many of the weird things the protagonist saw seemed like hallucinations caused by the creature. But overshadowing all of this was the suspicion that the protagonist was insane and that most of the game was just the imagination of a lunatic. There were times where the unsettling events got me with a jump scare or made me think twice about going that way, but the Shambler ruined any sense of fear because it was too easy to die. Despite the few serious shortcomings in the gameplay, this was a great horror experience.

7.8/10