Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth Preview

Call of Cthulu, as most people know, is a new first person action/adventure game by Bethesda. In it you play as Jack Walters, a private investigator with a rough past. During his time as a cop, he was called to a house that held a dark secret. It is here that Jack’s story begins.

The game is being designed to allow players to play the game how they prefer. Different missions can be handled differently, whether by force or stealth, and there are even different puzzle-solving situations. And not to mention the graphics are looking quite lovely.

Call of Cthulu is an experience. First of all there is no HUD to distract the player, so immediately it feels as if you are truly looking through the eyes of Jack. The game features lots of creepy imagery and monsters, so different effects are implemented to make the situation feel more realistic – as if you truly were in the place of Jack. In frantic situations, the mouse sensitivity will actually go up without telling the player, so in certain situations where you would normally panic things become very twitchy. For example, if you are running away from something in the game, it may be harder to open doors because you’ll be scrambling to grab the knob. Small details like this immerse the player like nothing else.  

Sanity comes into play as well, and there are various visual and audio effects that will let you know. Things like whispers, blurring of vision, and even hallucinations take place. They’re pretty creepy effects and cool to witness, but if you let Jack go completely insane he’ll kill himself.

Without a HUD it can be hard to tell how hurt you are, but in Call of Cthulu the damage done to the character is very realistic. There are different types of items for healing different wounds, and will effect how you play the game. If you fall from too far up you can actually break your leg. If left unattended the camera will hobble as if Jack is limping on his broken leg. The various healing items include splints, bandages, tourniquets, and a few others all for their specific purpose. You can’t heal that broken leg with a bandage, you have to use a splint. There’s also a precision aim mode where Jack raises his arm to aim his weapon better, and if held for too long his arm will actually get tired and waiver.

Call of Cthulu is not a title to miss; it immerses the player like no other game has. The different visual and audio effects used make you feel like you are actually in Jack’s place. Right now the release date is set for the fourth quarter of this year.       

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