Call of the Elder Gods Review: A Cosmic Puzzle Adventure (PS5)

The works of Lovecraft have been a growing interest for me, especially in video games. I’ve played a few and have had a great time with them; that’s why Call of the Elder Gods intrigued me. It’s a fun puzzle game with an entertaining cosmic story that continues from its predecessor, Call of the Sea. For someone who did not play the first game, the sequel successfully catches you up so that the story doesn’t go completely over your head. 

Call of the Elder Gods is available now on PC, PS5, Switch and Xbox Series X|S for $24.99/£19.99.

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Story – Searching For The Truth, In Shadows

Call of the Elder Gods continues the story that Call of the Sea began back in 2020. This time, however, we play as two protagonists: Evangeline Drayton, a student at Miskatonic University haunted by impossible dreams, and Professor Harry Everhart, who is plagued by shadows caused by past sins. Their search for the truth regarding the mysterious statuette and their missing loved ones will put them at odds with a scheming cult and beings beyond their understanding. 

Evangeline and Harry are a fun duo

Through six chapters, you’ll experience an entertaining tale that shares many similarities with the adventure genre, like the classic film series, Indiana Jones. Both Evangeline and Harry are enjoyable characters to root for, especially closer to the end, where specific twists and turns occur.

Some story beats, however, don’t land too well, like Harry’s mental condition not really affecting the story one bit. The villains in the story are not interesting and barely get time to shine. I would have liked more scenes to expand on their plans than just simply reading notes about it. 

Face off against a small cult obsessed with cosmic forces

Regarding the main eldritch theme of Call of the Elder Gods, I thought it was fine. I’m more accustomed to dark Cosmic Horror tales when the works of Lovecraft are used in stories. So a somewhat lighthearted adventure tale that, as I said above, felt like an Indiana Jones adventure, was a bit surprising. It wasn’t entirely my cup of tea, but it still entertained me from start to finish. 

Gameplay – Fighting Cosmic Forces With Puzzle Solving

The main aspects of Call of the Elder Gods‘ gameplay are puzzle-solving and exploration. Each level consists of exploring the environment, discovering puzzles, finding clues and then using them to progress. It’s all played entirely in first-person, where you’ll interact with objects, run around the map, use a flashlight if it’s too dark and make notes in a very handy journal.

Experience a range of different puzzles

With there being two playable characters, I was expecting some unique gameplay, but sadly, other than the ability to change characters, there’s no uniqueness between them. When you’re not solving puzzles, Call of the Elder Gods turns into a walking sim with sprinkles of story thrown at you.

It’s not entirely a bad thing, but it just slows down the game for me and makes parts of the game underwhelming. Heck, there’s even an enemy introduced into the level, but you don’t get a fun chase sequence outside of the game’s cutscenes. 

Puzzles – From Simple Mind Teasers To Challenging Enigmas

Other than the Eldritch themes, I mainly wanted to play Call of the Elder Gods for the puzzles. I love me a good brain scratcher that can give me that eureka moment when I solve it. Each chapter contains a few puzzles to solve, ranging from easy to solve to challenging.

This ranges from figuring out a safe code with a piano and a Christmas tree to using an Enigma Machine to decipher codes for the combination to a door to a secret bunker. Most of the puzzles are object and observation puzzles that work similarly to Call of the Sea, but with more depth to them. 

Explore your environment to discover clues to help with solving puzzles

I would say that some of the harder puzzles were difficult because the clues were not particularly helpful. On one occasion, when trying to solve an elevator puzzle, I had to collect a vast amount of information to solve five different combinations.

The clues were easy to find, though it didn’t give you the complete picture, which is fine, but it never felt like I could figure out the puzzle without mindless guesswork. There was even a time when I figured out how a puzzle worked, but somehow read the instructions wrong and still solved the puzzle. 

This was one puzzle I somehow completed by reading the instructions wrong

Of course, outside of this, I really had a great time being a puzzle sleuth. What really helped me was the Journal, where certain clues discovered would be filled in. There is an option to turn this off for anyone wanting to work physically with their notetaking. But I enjoyed it, even though it felt forced as a gameplay device since it exists outside of the narrative. This is due to the Narrator (Norah), who is the one actually taking the notes and not the two playable characters. 

Each clue can be recorded in your journal

Graphics & Audio – A Cosmic Painting of the Mind

Remembering how colourful Call of the Sea looked, Call of the Elder Gods is no exception. Practically every level feels like walking through a beautiful painting. Each level has its own unique environments, from an old mansion, exotic ruins, a snowy research base, and realms beyond our understanding. The game uses a mixture of in-game cutscenes and still image drawings to tell the story. Both look nice, though I do wish they’d pick one style over another. 

The game’s music fits the tone for each part of the story with a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi themes thrown together. I wouldn’t say it’s something memorable, but it does the job. Now, regarding the voice talent of Call of the Elder Gods. Standouts come from returning cast members Cissy Jones and Yuri Lowenthal, giving great performances. Newcomer to the series, Mara Junot, is a great co-lead and brings Evangeline to life. 

Call of the Elder Gods was reviewed on PS5 courtesy of a code from Kwalee.