I am kinda going into this blind. I never played the previous title to this game, so this is a fresh-eyed experience with nothing to compare to. In saying that, though, I have done my research, ‘ Call Of The Elder Gods’ is developer Out of the Blue Games’ 2020 sequel to ‘Call of the Sea’, another first-person, adventure puzzler. Will this break the curse of being less relevant, a plague on most narratival sequels? Let us call upon the Gods and see.

This Lovecraftian-inspired narrative is about a girl and her obscure dreams. Evie Drayton is chasing what these dreams mean with the help of Professor Harry Everhart, also plagued by a mysterious black ooze infecting his mind and senses. Brilliantly narrated by his wife, Norah Everhart, the now deceased protagonist of the previous title, Harry and Evie must globe-trot ruins Indiana Jones style to solve the otherworldly alien mysteries that haunt both their cognitive senses.

The characters are actually quite charming and mostly likable, which is great because they propel what is actually a riveting and bold story. With these sorts of games, the story NEEDS to be tight, and Out of the Blue Games provides, albeit it a short and sweet tale.

This game is generally a narrative driven by a constant stream of puzzles to progress. The puzzles are a combination of simple and complicated. Sometimes it will lull you into thinking something is straightforward, and some can be quite challenging with backtracking or swapping between characters to work together to complete the task at hand.

You even get to gather clues along the way that get stored in your nifty journal, making backtracking greatly easier and less frequent if you can put it all together efficiently. It is nice that there is some challenge, and even if you reach a point of frustration, you can access a hint page that will walk you through the puzzle’s mechanics.

The game takes you around the globe, jumping from continent to continent and environment to environment. Each new location is rich in diversity and cultural references. From a country house in Virginia, an abandoned Nazi encampment that links to the discoveries of Alan Turing, to the reaches of the Great Sandy Desert of Australia, it shows even our own world can feel extraterrestrial. I only wish we had got to globe trot a little more because it was actually a great break up of each chapter, which aren’t particularly long as it is.

The graphics are sound. Neither here nor there. Visually, it is a mix of cartoonish animations, not overtly detailed, but always painting interesting scenes due to the diverse chapters with globe-trotting environments and intercutting still cutscenes.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the latter; they kinda felt like a road stop in the momentum of the story, even though they are there to push it along. There is a charming and charismatic feel, though overall, from the colour combinations, and despite my grievances, it did feel like settling into a cosy mystery novel.

The audio is brilliant. Giving off a very cinematic adventurer vibe, it wouldn’t be out of place for any Tomb Raider or even a hyper warping Space Crusader. It is impactful and orchestral and sets the ambience for any scene you are about to dive into. Likewise, the sound effects perfectly match any scenario, with blizzards blasting through bunkers and water dripping from underwater caves.

What ultimately complements this, though, is the voice acting. It’s superb, even in some of its cheesiness; the delivery is perfect in keeping it on the level of appropriate acceptance. The ambience to be an investigator is set perfectly.

My score moved from a 7.5 to an 8 constantly through my mulling for this write-up. After much thought, though, I did finally settle on its current score due to the fact that this title is very good for its genre, despite its lack of what could be considered conventional action. Call Of The Elder Gods is great and developing a story that travels across multiple locations without you having to have played the previous title, throwing you into a Lovecraftian tale that is solid till the very end.

Written by: Stacey