Call of Cthulhu - Preview

HiddenX

HiddenX

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Farflame spotted this informative preview of Call of Cthulhu on GodisaGeek:

Call of Cthulhu combines true detective spirit with quintessential Lovecraftian horror

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I’ve never read anything by H.P. Lovecraft. My knowledge of his work extends to knowing that Cthulhu is some massive squid geezer and that our boy Crafty was a bit of a racist in his work. Regardless, his writing has stood the test of time and continues to be read and referenced today. In fact, it’s even being used for inspiration in a video game.

Call of Cthulhu is a video game adaptation of the paper role-playing game of the same name, developed by Cyanide Studios. Set in the 1920s, it’s a first person horror-adventure RPG which puts you in the shoes of Private Investigator Pearce who has been tasked in discovering the truth behind a mysterious fire that ravaged through the Hawkins Mansion and killed three people.

I watched a demo which showed off the opening to the game and then a monster encounter which takes place further on in the adventure, which is aiming to be around 10 to 15 hours long. Although I completely hate horror in whichever form it takes (so much so that I jumped when a flock of birds frantically took flight at the beginning of the demo) and have no connection to Lovecraft in the slightest, I was very impressed by Call of Cthulhu. There seems to be a lot of depth and interesting ideas going on.

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10 - 15 hours.
Hmmm...

Well, if they are not asking 40$ for it, sure, why not.
 
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I enjoy the atmosphere in their screen shots. Not really a fan of Lovecraft's brand of hopeless horror though.
 
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well, when all what (almost) omnipotent and inter-dimensional beings ever manage to achieve is to drive nuts few (not very stable to begin with) sensitives it's not all that hopeless is it? Besides, Lovecraft is THE master of the atmosphere.

I'm just reading The Collected Short Stories again. Delightful!
 
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“Knowledge is the true weapon, but the more you know, the more it can damage your sanity” was the ethos that kept being repeated by the lead designer...
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That's Lovecraft all right! 10 to 15 hours, though? I hope it's a pretty dense 10 to 15 hours.
 
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I never really read anything by Lovecraft so I can't say whether or not I'm a fan… What i question is whether or not a horror game can really have RPG elements without losing the horror aspect. RPGs are at their core about making your character/s become stronger (i.e., increase stats) as you progress (i.e., level up). This seems diametrically opposed to the basic concept of horror genre (where things are supposed to be terrifying / disturbing because they are insurmountable, overwhelming, etc.). While I'm skeptical I remain very interested in Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones but I'm not sure tactical combat where you frequently cannot win will be fun.

Since Call of Cthulhu is based on a tabletop RPG I am intrigued by this one, but Cyanide has not yet proven themselves a competent developer.
 
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Stygian will have some combat encounters where the goal is different from killing your opponents, not simply fighting and then losing.
 
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