Call of the Elder Gods

If making a stand-alone game - or any kind of artform for that matter - is a herculean task of its own, then trying your hand at the fine yet painful task of crafting a sequel might as well be a particular hell of our own creation, but it's also an alluring one for a reason. This medium's own nature of constant mechanical experimentation offers this beautiful vision of an untouched ceiling, an exercise in both imagination and self-reflection, looking at what came before and not only picturing what's ahead, but also what can be changed.

Out of the Blue Games' Call of the Sea was a couple of things, but to me the word that defines it best is "focused". It's a work plagued by a mystique reminiscent of its Lovecraftian inspiration but one propelled by a sappy melancholy that views a world of impossible knowledge less through the lenses of horror, and more in the eyes of tragedy and beauty. This is of course more of a general framework for the puzzles and riddles that the lost island had to offer, but it also defines its identity both as its own view of the horrors beyond and a character study of Norah and the human aspect and reactions that surround those mysteries. It was brief, it was direct... and in true incomprehensible knowledge fashion, it left a few doors open.

The world of Call of the Elder Gods is defined by its inspirations: the works of Lovecraft, 50s noir flicks, science-fiction literature that shaped the ways we see the indescribable, and of course, Call of the Sea itself, so just making more of it in the literal sense is not really an option - even if it was, it probably wouldn't be the best one - and so Call of the Elder Gods had to face the music: What lies beyond Norah's experiences and character?

The answer turns out to be grandiose... and also quite messy.

From the confines of a puzzle-filled tropical island, the sequel goes all out in every direction, laying forth a world of 50s America idiosyncrasies and Cold War conspiracies presented in a mixture of noir-style pacing and narration with a premise of the likes of 80s Indiana Jones, with a little bit of time travel shenanigans thrown in there for good measure... You know, like the usual Call of Cthulhu campaign! Saying this shake-up in scenery is massive would be an understatement; the collection of jaw-dropping spaces and set-pieces practically define the entire experience, environments that on their own say far more than a thousand lines of dialogue or narration. The 3D texture and model work is on point, and it results in the kind of sense of scale and place you really need to get out of an experience so dependent on its ambience like this one, at which point the excellent lighting and sound design become delicious cherries on top of a cake of visual prowess.

I seriously cannot stress how pretty everything looks, even at its ugliest. The simplified cartoon style looks good on its own right, but spaces like the lair of the secret society or the gardens of Pnakotus transcend their own barriers and sell the illusion of a depth and open-endedness they lack.

Beautiful as they may be, these big rooms and ruins won't amount to much if they don't have something to tell and, more importantly, show, and that's where the power of their riddles comes in. Each major area and chapter is neatly compartmentalised into one or two big puzzles that follow the trail left by their predecessor; it's got the feel of a point & click adventure where your tools are merely the knowledge you amass in your notebook, pieces of deduction that shine the brightest you're left with a plethora of information to distil and fit into a frame awaiting for the solution.

The highlight of the game may just be entirety of Chapter 3, which is the sheer embodiment of the detective-esque spirit hidden within the code, a complicated work of threads and loose clues that rock your brain back and forth till you manage to tie them together, soaked in the dim atmosphere and small narrative of a group of strange individuals that are on the verge of jumping at each other's throats. It's the game's highest point, which makes it a bit of a shame that nothing quite matches it moving forward. I struggle to even suggest that any of the puzzles in Call of the Elder Gods are bad; it's a very competent collection of brainteasers that never repeat a concept, and it is fun to learn how to decrypt the machinations of an Enigma Machine or be guided by constellations, yet the more I sit with it, the more I wished it realised its potential more consistently.

There are a couple of segments that either feel strangely straight-forward and simple or that go on for way too long, be it the lacklustre use of the character switching mechanic that doesn't go past the most basic use-cases imaginable or having to re-tread a lot of dead space through long walks that cannot be saved by the presence of a run button, the latter of which is aggravated by the fact that you know that the only important information is always in your notebook, so having to waste time because you missed a tucked away clue at the other side of the map or because you need a mechanism that's far away is not exactly my definition of gratifying.

These bumps non-withstanding, there's something commendable in how every single one of them realises the small stories that encompass their rooms. These aren't just notes laying down a particular event or decoration, these are clues that tell a story in it of itself, puzzles that make up and resolve an unseen narrative that came before, scattered recollections that form into context. This is what good environmental puzzles achieve, a sense of discovery in every step, something that stems beyond the isolated jigsaw. This is something its predecessor also achieved, but with the added context and sheer variety of ideas and locations, it's perhaps even more impressive here. And it's good that Call of the Elder Gods uses this to its advantage consistently, because otherwise we'd be left with a narrative that for all its ambition, gives very little to latch onto besides its own main characters.

If there's something it's hellbent to achieve compared to its predecessor, is making you actually care about Harry, a character that once only existed through Norah's eyes and recollections and now is given a proper arc and aches, not to mention the rapport he and Elizabeth have with one another, bouncing from each other and injecting the game with an interpersonality that sets it apart from its predecessor, and both of them are the sole hearts of the game. Around them, however, there's a story that seems afraid to go all out.

For all of its references and love for pastiche elements that start off as charming, very little has left an impact by the time the credits roll; Call of the Elder Gods has incredibly cool concepts and ideas that in execution fall short of their full potential, shadows that can be seen from a mile away and twists aren't as smart as they think they are, even when time travel gets involved. It tries to present its plot in a way it'll be understandable for newcomers, which in a way I respect, but it ends up wasting a lot of valuable time and possibilities because of it. The antagonists are basically a non-sequitur despite the game implying over and over again otherwise, a signal flare that points to the game's insistence to deflate a lot of pay offs that Chapter 6 unceremoniously spits out, and it makes me see other stylistic decisions with less grace. Norah's narration starts out intriguing and warm, but by the end the most that it has achieved is making cut-scenes feel way too stilted, and it does very little to add the book/noir narration it was going for, but what may be the worst example are the faux dialogue branches, which have no virtual impact besides changing the order you get to hear things, and in the cases it does affect something, it's less the story itself and more of a slightly different cut-scene that leads to same point. There's no more loop, but what we are left with is a line.

Call of the Elder Gods knew what it wanted to be, but that meant it was also going to be a way more unfocused experience, jumping all over the place and throwing to the wall a fast-paced, grander tale of conspiracies and riddles. Seeing it like that, it's surprising to see just how much it sticks.

The story's closure and major points leave me cold, but I look back on the bulk of it and I'm still left marvelled by the awe-inspiring sights, the creative puzzles that soar in quality at their best, the moments of personal banter between Harry and Elizabeth that made me smile. For every step back it takes, there are two steps forward, and even if some don't cover that much distance, it leaves at a spot that seems worthy of its status.