I’ve written many times about the love of indie companies for Lovecraft’s legacy. But unlike their more straightforward colleagues, the small studio Out of the blue from Spain did not directly copy the usual attributes with the Necronomicon and gloomy surroundings, suggesting instead a romantic story of love and self-sacrifice.
At the center of the story Call of the sea a young girl Eleanor, who suffers from a mysterious hereditary disease – she is overcome by weakness, and her hands are covered with mysterious spots. The beloved and colleague of the main character Henry goes in search of a cure in the center of a mysterious island from Eleanor’s nightmares and disappears somewhere in the Polynesian archipelago. Outside the window is 1934, and now Nora must follow the path of the lost expedition and learn the secret of her illness, Henry’s dramatic journey and bizarre rituals from the past.
Like most representatives of the “walking simulator” genre, Call of the Sea restricts players by offering a walk along a given route, where Nora is prevented from moving freely by closed gates, bizarre alien structures and other objects. By solving simple puzzles, you will learn a little more about Henry’s expedition and the secrets of the tropical island. At the same time, you are not in any danger – there are simply no enemies or traps in this world.
Most of the tasks involve finding a key item to activate a particular device or artifact, and the authors are trying to diversify the basic game mechanics. Here you will try to create complex puzzles with moon phases, surf level and cipher programs, and musical puzzles with a repetition of the sounds heard, and even logic puzzles for a while. But with rare exceptions, most of the obstacles set before Nora have quite a simple solution. In addition, the girl diligently keeps a diary, so that you do not have to memorize codes, wall paintings or the level of the surf – everything can be found right while solving the riddle in the diary.
In parallel with the main plot, the game actively tries to explain the events taking place around it through tape recordings, notes and frescoes. This makes you want to explore even optional parts of the world. Call of the Sea is truly addictive with its atmosphere, captivating storytelling and constant changing scenery. And this is really a huge plus for a short game duration. At the same time, the riddles here are consistent – you cannot perform any action before the authors of the game allow you.
Graphically, Call of the Sea is a bit like The witness because of the bright color palette at the very beginning, but then the colors fade and the mysterious island plays with completely different colors. Particularly memorable are the underwater levels with bizarre algae and neon fish and a boat trip across the ocean of glowing jellyfish and giant squids welcoming Nora.
The Russian translation is made in the form of credits and, with rare exceptions, quite normally conveys the main plot – I was able to notice several gross errors towards the end of the game.
