Call of the Sea: The Review

 

The sea… it calls to me.

Today, let’s discuss a rather fascinating title, set in the year 1938. It’s a puzzle/mystery escape room (well, island) game from developers Out Of The Blue and Raw Fury. For those of you who like Lovecraft, “Call Of The Sea” contains some hints of this throughout the story. You are Nora Everhart, a woman with a mysterious illness that shows itself on your skin. Your husband, Harry Everhart, has gone missing in the South Pacific. Soon, you receive a clue in the form of a letter, and it’s from Harry himself! But… where did he go? Furthermore, why didn’t he tell you anything? Determined to find out what happened, you set out on a journey to find your significant other.

For those who are curious, there are 6 chapters in total, and for the average gameplay, it would take roughly 5-6 hours to complete. When I initially started playing Call of The Sea, I was happy to see that they provided players the option of using either full controller support or the trusty keyboard. Additionally, there are various options in settings that can optimize your gameplay. Walking into this island felt magical, and I was in awe with the attention to detail on the scenery and puzzles throughout each chapter. Collecting clues for the puzzles were a blast, and finding out what happened to Harry’s crew added to the tense feeling that there’s more to Nora’s illness than meets the eye.

“Dear old pal…”

I did, however, keep experiencing motion sickness. This was even after tweaking the settings a number of times. I felt it was a combination of the color scheme, the 30fps frame lock, and the motion blur. When I searched the internet to see if this was a common issue, I was surprised to find out that many like myself were also experiencing this. It would take about half an hour to an hour before I started feeling sick during gameplay. I feel bad for saying this, but I felt miserable whenever the motion sickness triggered mid-gameplay.

The environment and graphics are truly captivating in this title. The art style is stunning, and so are the graphics. Each location could make a good desktop screenshot! Each section traversed feels more like a feast to the eyes than say, something tolerable. There were a few moments when your character, Nora, would speak and it would not match with the imagery at all, but that was pretty rare.

“It all started with an illness…”

Call Of The Sea has a wonderful and diverse mix in regards to the music. It’s a beautiful mix of romance, adventure, melancholy, and adventure. I feel that the soundtrack truly helps with setting the mood of the game. Especially while you are transported to the ominous unnamed island.

And now, for the verdict. I think that Call of the Sea is a beautiful game. It is jam-packed with puzzles, mesmerizing sceneries, and a captivating storyline. There was one small issue for me though. The motion sickness. It ruined part of the magic for me, as I had to take frequent breaks throughout the playthrough. I normally never get sick like this while playing games. Is it a good value for money? I think so if you are a completionist! I believe that it’s replayable only due to the two possible endings. There’s not much replayability after that.

You can play Call Of The Sea on PC: Steam.

You can also play it on Xbox series X, S and One.