They range from scavenger hunts to complex combination puzzles. Almost all these puzzles are hard head-scratching, yet immensely rewarding upon completion. The next part that Call of the Sea passes with flying colors is the puzzle design. The reason why Call of the Sea is so fun is that it allows the player to dip their feet into the Lovecraftian genre without getting submerged by the intensity and stress of cosmic horror. I couldn’t write something better myself Call of the Sea is a fantastic twist on Lovecraftian games of the past - standing on its own two feet and is fully accessible by everyone because it’s not a horror game. While Lovecraft painted this otherworldly phenomena as a horrifying reason to despair and go insane, Call Of The Sea portrays Norah’s quest to find her missing husband in the South Pacific as a positive experience, one where fear of the other can be conquered through understanding and a willingness to accept the truth. See, the thing I love most about Call of the Sea is that it’s not a horror game, yet it’s fully inspired by the Lovecraftian horror genre.
Yet, Norah takes it one step further and leaves herself with two possibilities: does she leave her husband, evolve into her power, and live an eternity without him? Or stay with him, but continue battling this illness, all to eventually die a slow and painful death? It’s a love story with a difficult end choice. The real reason for her journey to this island is an elaborate plan by Harry for Norah to learn the truth about herself and come to terms with it. Norah discovers her illness is a consequence of being one of these descendants. This island was once the home of a forgotten occult civilization that worshipped elder gods with outer-worldly power, and there was a striking difference between those that were and weren’t descendants of the elder gods (with the latter as slaves and cattle). Then she learns the true reason why she’s on the island and the truth of her illness. Soon, she’s struck with the next question: why is the mysterious black ooze so important to them? It causes them to develop the strange black spots that Norah has up her arms, and has turned them against each other. However, Norah quickly finds out how doomed this expedition was, as she discovers more and more mysterious accidents that either turned the crew against each other or lead to their deaths.Īs it turns out, this strange black ooze has mysterious properties, and it’s the cause of all the issues that the crew has suffered. Upon finding the first camp, it becomes clear that Harry’s crew may have discovered a forgotten tribe, as you find notes surrounding a strange black ooze. Hell, just learning about the story is a puzzle in itself, and it’s up to you to find the notes and audio logs that tell said story. The story is amazing to experience and is told to you in bite-sized chunks, so you remain engrossed and driven to learn what the hell happened to the expedition. Of course, this review will be riddled with spoilers, so tread carefully. However, upon touching down and navigating through the long-forgotten island, Norah quickly learns the fate of her husband’s expedition, as well as the truth of her ailment. Harry led an expedition to a nameless island paradise that houses remnants of a long-lost tribe, in hopes of finding a cure to Norah’s mysterious illness that has left her weak and tired, along with strange black spots up her arms. Will it be a generic twist on the genre? Or is it something more?Ĭall of the Sea follows the story of Norah Everheart, a woman in search of her husband, Harry.
So when Call of the Sea popped up, I was intrigued to see what newly established developer Out of the Blue Games’ interpretation of the genre. There’s been a lot of Lovecraftian-themed games, and we’ve seen our fair share of the good and the bad. Maybe it’s the man vs cosmos trope? Or maybe it’s the scariness of the unknown and unseen? If done well, I’ll be hooked in immediately and fully immersed within this fictional world. There’s something about the Lovecraftian genre that’s mysterious but intriguing, scary yet engrossing.
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