Call of Cthulhu is a Lovecraftian game with a strong focus on character dialog and interaction, exploration and detective work, as well as creating a creepy and a sometimes tense and horrific atmosphere.

Check out my live gameplay here: https://youtu.be/T3afXA6zCio https://youtu.be/mWq7DyImwE4

While I have played a couple Lovecraftian horror games, I am not familiar with the work of HP Lovecraft outside of said games. Skip to bottom for conclusion.

• very interesting lore, that can really suck you into the story
  
• excellent immersive atmosphere that persists throughout the game, both visually and audibly
  
• absolutely fantastic ambiance, the sound effects are solid all around, and most of the voice acting is pretty good
  
• environments look and feel great; very creepy, lots of ominous overtones, and some awesome gruesome things
  
• rewarding exploration as you learn about the town, and lore
  
• there are different ways that things can play out depending on player choices throughout the game, which may increase replay value
  
• good horror elements here and there, not only the tense atmosphere, but some well placed jumpcares too

• you don't need to know anything about HP Lovecraft's works to play or enjoy this game
  
• full playthrough took me roughly 8 hours (talking to everyone fully, and attempting to collect all the things),
  
• RPG elements do play a role, and there are some things you can or can't do depending on your skills
  
• died a lot in a stealth area where it felt like trial and error was necessary
  
• load times can be long (using an M.2)

• character lip syncing is really bad, and the character animations could be better - this can certainly hurt the immersion if you can't or won't look past it
  
• some frame rate drops - I really only noticed in one area: the harbour in a later chapter was VERY sluggish, but it didn't freeze/skip - Max settings with Win10, 32GB RAM, i7 6700k, GTX 1070TI
  
• [bug] on two separate occasions objects/dialogs became unclickable for no reason, forcing reloads to be required to progress; upon reload, one of the objects became permanently unclickable, but it was merely a note that was thankfully not required to progress
  
• [nitpick] some gameplay is overly linear (i.e. found an object, couldn't take it, knew I would need it, and figured out what to do, but couldn't until talking to a specific person first, to allow me to pick up and use said object)

Call of Cthulhu's varied gameplay may not appeal to everyone. If you are interested in character dialog and interaction, AND exploration and detective work, AND its horror elements, it's definitely a game worth playing. Call of Cthulhu is by no means a perfect game, and while the negatives mentioned above were bothersome at times, they weren't enough to hinder my overall enjoyment of the game. I really liked the game, its mixture of gameplay, and the Lovecraftian lore. With that being said, the imperfections, and the length of the game are cause for pause, and waiting for a sale price is advisable.

Call of Cthulhu is a Lovecraftian game with a strong focus on character dialog and interaction, exploration and detective work, as well as creating a creepy and a sometimes tense and horrific atmosphere. [b][u]Check out my live gameplay here[/u]:[/b] https://youtu.be/T3afXA6zCio https://youtu.be/mWq7DyImwE4 [i][h1]While I have played a couple Lovecraftian horror games, I am not familiar with the work of HP Lovecraft outside of said games. Skip to bottom for conclusion.[/h1][/i] [h1][u]Pros:[/u][/h1] [list][*]very interesting lore, that can really suck you into the story [*]excellent immersive atmosphere that persists throughout the game, both visually and audibly [*]absolutely fantastic ambiance, the sound effects are solid all around, and most of the voice acting is pretty good [*]environments look and feel great; very creepy, lots of ominous overtones, and some awesome gruesome things [*]rewarding exploration as you learn about the town, and lore [*]there are different ways that things can play out depending on player choices throughout the game, which may increase replay value [*]good horror elements here and there, not only the tense atmosphere, but some well placed jumpcares too[/list] [h1][u]Neutral:[/u][/h1] [list][*]you don't need to know anything about HP Lovecraft's works to play or enjoy this game [*]full playthrough took me roughly 8 hours (talking to everyone fully, and attempting to collect all the things), [*]RPG elements do play a role, and there are some things you can or can't do depending on your skills [*]died a lot in a stealth area where it felt like trial and error was necessary [*]load times can be long [i](using an M.2)[/i][/list] [h1][u]Cons:[/u][/h1] [list][*]character lip syncing is really bad, and the character animations could be better - this can certainly hurt the immersion if you can't or won't look past it [*]some frame rate drops - I really only noticed in one area: the harbour in a later chapter was VERY sluggish, but it didn't freeze/skip - [i]Max settings with Win10, 32GB RAM, i7 6700k, GTX 1070TI[/i] [*][bug] on two separate occasions objects/dialogs became unclickable for no reason, forcing reloads to be required to progress; upon reload, one of the objects became permanently unclickable, but it was merely a note that was thankfully not required to progress [*][nitpick] some gameplay is overly linear (i.e. found an object, couldn't take it, knew I would need it, and figured out what to do, but couldn't until talking to a specific person first, to allow me to pick up and use said object)[/list] [h1][u]Conclusion:[/u][/h1] Call of Cthulhu's varied gameplay may not appeal to everyone. If you are interested in character dialog and interaction, [i]AND[/i] exploration and detective work, [i]AND[/i] its horror elements, it's definitely a game worth playing. Call of Cthulhu is by no means a perfect game, and while the negatives mentioned above were bothersome at times, they weren't enough to hinder my overall enjoyment of the game. I really liked the game, its mixture of gameplay, and the Lovecraftian lore. With that being said, the imperfections, and the length of the game are cause for pause, and [b][u]waiting for a sale price is advisable[/u][/b].