Call of the Sea | PC Review

1934. The great dust bowl storm sweeps across the US. The world wasn’t at war yet when Hitler  declared himself Fuhrer of Germany. The world still had unexplored places. There was still plenty of mystery on our own planet and many things were still unexplained. It was an era of exploration, of invention, of strife, and of enigmas. It is in this turbulent year that Call of the Sea takes place.

The Shadow Over Tahiti

Call of the Sea is the latest release by Raw Fury and is developed by Out Of The Blue. You play Norah, a woman “on the trail of her missing husband’s expedition.” Norah is suffering from a mysterious illness and her husband Harry was adamant to find a cure to save his wife. His quest for the cure led him to a mysterious island in the South Pacific, an island not even the natives dare to visit. This is where his expedition disappeared, and this is where Norah’s quest begins. She needs to find out what happened to Harry and his crew, if he found a cure, and what the ties are that this island has to her own past.

The Call Of Cthulhu

The first thing I noticed was that Call of the Sea has a very Lovecraftian mood to it, and that immediately attracted me to the game. Lovecraft himself was a truly terrible human being, but his fevered imagination gave us a Mythos that is incredibly interesting, and Call of the Sea makes good use of that. The game is incredibly atmospheric and moody, despite taking place on a sun-soaked island in the Pacific. It manages to strike a balance between the utter beauty of the tropical location, and the unknown horrors residing in that paradise. Call of the Sea doesn’t hide this inspiration, nor does it throw it in your face. It was done in a way that is satisfying for both fans of the Cthulhu Mythos and people who are completely new to it.

Out Of The Aeons

The island is really beautiful and being there feels like walking in a 1930’s pulp novel or movie, the kind of Saturday morning matinee entertainment that inspired George Lucas to create Indiana Jones. In fact, it has that same spirit of discovery and exploration that the Indiana Jones films have. Except we now have a female dilettante in the lead, and one that fits the general archetypes of the Cthulhu Mythos stories very well. 

Norah isn’t some damsel in distress, though. She can run, climb, jump, and swim as good as Doctor Jones himself. In fact, being on the island seems to make her feel so much better and forget her illness, if it wasn’t for the strange blots on her skin. But this island isn’t without danger, as Norah finds out as she discovers more information on what happened to her husband’s expedition. She, and through her the player, will have to solve a ton of intriguing puzzles to move closer to the heart of the island.

Colours Out Of This Space

As you might have guessed from the descriptions in the previous paragraph, the game really is beautiful. The graphics are fantastic and colourful and make it a joy to play. But equally important is the sound, the score, and especially the voice casting. Cissy Jones is no stranger to iconic roles in computer games, having lent her voice to games as diverse as Firewatch, World of Warcraft, Walking Dead, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Death Stranding. She breathes life into Norah in her own way, and by doing that becomes an unmissable companion in Norah’s quest for her spouse. She gives the character a unique voice and becomes an integral part of the game.

The controls are very simple. You can either play with keyboard and mouse, or with a controller. I used both and found the controller the more natural way of playing the game. This surprised me a bit, as I’m a lifelong PC player and have only recently started using controllers there. You control Norah’s movement, eye sight, and journal. Norah can run, swim, climb ladders, and manipulate the surroundings at certain points to solve puzzles. There’s no need to jump or do anything dangerous; this is all done automatically and the controls are very simple to master.

Dreaming In The Witch House

Her journal is an incredibly important part of the game, as she will note down her experiences during the adventure, but also clues that are needed to solve the many Myst-like puzzles scattered throughout the island. I was never a fan of Myst. I found it a boring game when I played it in the early 90’s, but Call of the Sea is fairly linear and the puzzles are way more interesting than I remember those in Myst to be. They can be very challenging, though. Most of the puzzles I managed to solve eventually, as they are all logic puzzles, but there were a few that really wrecked my brain and I only managed to solve with help. But that’s how games like these are, it’s part of their charm. Call of the Sea is most certainly not a boring game, I can tell you that!

Conclusion

Nothing in Call of the Sea is what it seems. There are many hidden depths in this game and it plays with expectations of its genre, all the while being thoroughly entertaining. Out Of The Blue has taken the best of Lovecraft and video games, and created an extremely compelling story that was also extremely hard to put down. With its intuitive controls, gorgeous surroundings, challenging puzzles and easy gameplay, they have given us one of the best games of the year, and one that is certainly worth revisiting in the future. I honestly hope we get more games like this in this universe. Just beware of any black ooze and keep your mind sharp to stave off insanity!

To hear more discussion about Call of the Sea, be sure to listen to CB’s discussion of the game during Episode 324 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast around the 47:22 time stamp. You can also hear me discuss it on Episode 94 of my own podcast, Adventure Games Podcast.

This review is based on a PC copy of Call of the Sea provided by Sandbox Strategies for coverage purposes. It is also available on Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X, including Game Pass.