Cosmic and Lovecraftian horror Psychological horror

Call of Cthulhu

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A 1924 investigation on a whaling island, where the truth costs you your mind.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Price: Paid
Rated: Mostly Positive on Steam (11,069 of 13,975 reviews positive); Metacritic 63 on PS4
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard and mouse or a controller (full controller support).
Made by: Cyanide Studio
Released: 2018

Get it on Steam PlayStation Store (PS4)Xbox Nintendo eShop (Switch)

What frightens On fog-bound Darkwater Island, a private investigator digs into a family's deaths and finds a cult, horrors from beyond and an asylum; as he sees too much his sanity slips, his senses turn on him with hallucinations, and in some places all he can do is hide from what stalks him.
Content: gore, disturbing imagery.

Call of Cthulhu is a first-person investigation horror game based on Chaosium's tabletop RPG. In 1924, private investigator Edward Pierce goes to the isolated Darkwater Island to look into the death of the Hawkins family and finds cultists, cosmic horrors and a slow slide into madness.

About Call of Cthulhu

Call of Cthulhu was developed by Cyanide and published by Focus, and came out in October 2018 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with a Nintendo Switch version in October 2019. It is the official video game of Chaosium's classic Call of Cthulhu pen-and-paper RPG, set in H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.

You play Edward Pierce, a war veteran turned private investigator in Boston, hired to find out how the artist Sarah Hawkins and her family died in a fire on Darkwater, a declining whaling island. You talk to suspicious islanders, search scenes for clues, reconstruct past events from the evidence, and spend points on character skills that open new options, as in the tabletop game.

The horror is slow and creeping. The island hides cults, strange science and something older, and Pierce's mind pays for every truth he uncovers: his sanity drops, his senses distort, and in places you can only hide from what you cannot face. Choices along the way lead to one of four endings.

It suits players who like detective stories and Lovecraft's slow dread more than action. Critics were mixed, faulting its stealth sections and its later chapters, while praising its atmosphere.

How to play Call of Cthulhu

Buy it on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox or the Nintendo eShop.
Explore Darkwater as Pierce, talking to the islanders and searching for clues.
Use reconstruction scenes to piece together what happened from the evidence you find.
Spend character points on skills that open new dialogue and investigation options.
Hide when something stalks you, and make the choices that lead to your ending.

Screenshots

Call of Cthulhu key art: a lone man stands before lit iron gates under twisted trees at night

Call of Cthulhu screenshot: a hand raises an oil lantern in a dark, cluttered mansion hall

Call of Cthulhu screenshot: detective Edward Pierce holds his head with a cigarette in hand

Call of Cthulhu screenshot: islanders stand on a gloomy harbour dock under a green sky

Call of Cthulhu screenshot: Pierce looks out from a cliff road with an old car toward the sea

Tips

Read the documents and books you find; they fill in the story and point to new leads.
Explore each area fully before moving on, the evidence decides what you can say and do.
In the hiding sections, watch patterns and move between cover rather than rushing.
Play a second time to see what different skills and choices change.