Reviews

The Call of Cthulhu Table Top RPG by Chaosium is unique for multiple different reasons. While combat and action pieces can occur, the game is mainly focused on detective work and keeping your sanity in the face of otherworldly creatures from Lovecraftian lore.

The series has never really translated over to a video game well, with the last attempt being Bethesda’s Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, which while attempted to be faithful to the source material, had major bugs that pulled out of the immersion. Since then the franchise has been rather dormant but Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide studios have attempted to bring it back with a new call to answer.

Players take control of Edward Pierce, a war vet and private detective, who is down on his luck as he has not been able to take on new cases and has turned to alcohol to ease the pain. That is, until a major case comes in and he is charged with investigating the death of the Hawkins Family, who died in a mysterious fire.

The Hawkins were a big name in their small fishing community of Darkwater – just off the coast of Boston, Massachusetts. The wife – Sarah Hawkins – was a well-known painter who was being treated for mental issues. Her paintings showed dark and disturbing creatures, which brought her plenty attention in the art world. Her death brought on a shock to those around her and the community and Pierce is asked to find out as much about her and the fire as possible.

Pierce agrees to the job and travels to Darkwater, here he finds an old whaling station which has its own problems, a group of bootleggers have taken over most of the port, the police are almost powerless to do anything about it, the sailers of the town are drunk and jobless. As Pierce gets closer to finding out the truth behind the fire of the Hawkins mansion, the closer we get to learning of a dark force set to release on the world.

There is plenty of mystery and intrigue to keep you interested in solving the case, this is mainly thanks to how well paced the gameplay is. Call of Cthulhu is a detective game first and throws itself into the land of stealth gameplay where hiding is really your only defense, and psychological horror as you begin to question your sanity against as you battle against the occult.

Thankfully the game gives you multiple ways to tackle these situations thanks to a specialized character upgrade system. Players can upgrade specific stats that will allow them to choose different outcomes to situations, for example, someone with the who has an improved Hidden Spot stat – players can find hidden clues in the world much easier, better Investigation skills will allow you to pick locks, and so on. Only two stats cannot be upgraded via normal means, which will be the Medical and Occult, these can be upgraded instead by finding Medical books and Occult items in the levels.

Despite this, Call of Cthulhu is a slow burn, focused more on telling a good detective story than delivering a game full of jump scares. Intense moments where the need of stealth feel far and in between from the predominant investigation gameplay that tends to be the focus point of the game. That being said, I’ve never found myself bored of my investigation as every aspect was filling in (or adding) blanks to tell the story.

While the environmental work is beautifully done to bring Darkwater to life, its residents I find could have used more work. I’ve found a lot of characters experiencing clipping issues where their hand went through their legs, or the mouth refused to open while the characters body convulsing and almost had a seizure motion (in my case he was also brandishing an axe). Sadly, my time with Call of Cthulhu was filled with these technical issues that will hopefully get repaired with a patch.

The sound quality of the game is also questionable, during my playthrough with important events, I found that important sounds like ripping and tearing, or blood splatter was unfortunately missing out of these scenes which really took the power away from it. Like with the visual issues I experienced, these happened frequently enough that it became noticeable but will hopefully be patched up.

Cyanide’s Call of Cthulhu does a great job at staying true to the source material even if it takes things slower than most horror games. It tells a great story and presents enough choices that makes it interesting for multiple playthroughs. It’s unfortunate that some graphical and audio glitches keep occurring throughout which ruined my complete immersion.

If you’re looking for a different type of horror game, a fan of H.P. Lovecraft’s work or fan of the Table Top, Call of Cthulhu is definitely worth your time.

Review from https://gameitall.com/call-of-cthulhu-2018-review/
Based on the review copy on PS4 provided by Focus Home Interactive

If you don't play many bullet hell, fast-paced twin-stick action games, Furi will likely test your sanity. You start your game as a stranger, imprisoned in a highly advanced ten island prison complex which floats in orbit above a planet's surface. A man wearing a rabbit disguise frees you, gives you a sword and gun, and leaves you with one idea in your mind "The Jailer is the key. Kill him, and you will be free.".

This game is a sci-fi version of Afro Samurai, where you have to battle each islands Guardian to progress, similar to games like Shadow of the Colossus, you fight only with these Guardians. That makes every boss feel like the last boss fight in any other game. These fights are stylish, fast-paced, intense rounds of endurance. I almost gave up, at one Guardian, called The Burst, it was so hard, and if you lose, you have to start that fight sequence from the beginning,  hearing the same dialog over and over again. I mastered that fight, but one sequence and after another beating I deleted the game, infuriated. But the game was so good that after the dust settled and anger faded away, I installed it again and beat the boss after the first try. The feeling you get when beating hard enemy was only matched by souls games experience. So don't forget, "The Jailer is the key. Kill him, and you will be free.".

TL;DR
A great run-and-gun puzzle platformer with witty humor, though a trivial plot. The early Bioware game:)

A review through nostalgic glasses but I think I can do it justice.

MDK 2 is a run-and-gun shooter with platformer and puzzle elements. The story is very trivial with aliens coming down to Earth to mine it for resources and destroy it. The player's goal is to destroy aliens and their nefarious plots.

While the story is straightforward as it can possibly be, the gameplay is not so much so when you deep dive into it. You're still running and gunning but with the roster of 3 characters that have levels, puzzles and platformer sections designed especially for them, you get enough distinction to be entertained through the game.
When I was a wee kid that didn't understand any English, my favorite of 3 main characters was the dog, Max, as he was just mowing down aliens with a gun in each paw (he has 6 limbs, 4 of them can hold guns, yep). Kurt went closely second since he had an unlimited ammo in his machine gun but there were sniper elements in his gameplay, and oh boy I sucked at aiming. And the least favorite for me back in the day was the Doctor who only had an atomic toaster as a weapon, but he was able to combine trivial things into powerful things that would destroy everyone. Or also Hulk out! Well, now I understand how to play the Doc and it's heaps of fun.
And dividing the gameplay between 3 characters brings it more replayability (but you can only choose between them for the ending which affects it in a slight way).
The aforementioned level design is top-notch as its tailored to the character you're playing with: alien ships and stations for Kurt and Max, with eccentric space research station for Doc. You rarely stop to admire it but you always know where to go and what to do without feeling lost (some spaces can be quite huge for the game of that year).
Music gets you going with a bit of rock and beat with undertone alien sounds to keep you pumped up while the sound design makes you feel those heaps of bullets you're spending on enemies and their satisfying death screams.
Humor is peppered throughout the whole story making it manageable to consume. Because if the game took itself seriously, many would feel a bit of dissapointment. But since it can poke fun at itself and the ridiculous plot with its witty dialogue you forgive the pathos.

It's been redone with HD graphics for PC but you can still buy the original for Switch or on GOG. Both versions are pretty good: but there might be some compatibility issues. 

All in all, it's a solid game that can still hold its own even today when you just want to spend 3-4 hours having a not-so-mindless fun!

When it comes to feeling unease and just plain creepy, there is nothing better than Japanese Ghost stories. Movies like Ju-On and Ringu series (or their American adaptations: The Grudge and The Ring series) are probably two of the most famous films in this category and while they never really produce any jump-scares or focuses heavily on blood and gore, they provide a tense, uneasy feeling throughout the film.

The Yomawari series from NIS nails this feeling, as they're a disturbing and twisted take on an Urban Ghost story that will is guaranteed to make players feel uneasy about the entire situation they find themselves in. Now compiled into one game on the Nintendo Switch, players will be able to enjoy both titles - Yomawari: Night Alone and Yomawari: Midnight Shadows - on their TV or portable.

 Night Alone sees you in control of a young girl who while walking her dog, experiences a near-miss with a transport, only to find her dog is now missing. Upon returning home, her elder sister offers to look for the dog in the dark streets. After a few hours, the young girl decides to search for her sister and her dog only to find creatures in the shadows scattered all over the town. Midnight Shadows gives us a more emotional story by putting the fate of two best friends - Yui and Haru - on the line. As the two friends are separated after watching a fireworks display, they attempt to find each other in the dark city.

 Both Yomawari games share some similarities, mainly that they both involve young children somewhere around 8-12 years old searching for someone/something at night full of creepy ghosts/spirits, and both dealing with a loss, something that really sets the story apart from other run-of-the-mill horror titles.

 There is no fair way to say that one game has a better story over the other, as they both deliver an emotional punch out of the gates and keeps it rolling until the very end. I've also never had a game that made me audibly gasp, sad and pissed off during a tutorial scene, setting the mood for what would come almost perfectly.

 Gameplay takes inspiration from run-and-hide horror titles like Amnesia and Outlast but takes place in a top-down perspective. Players have no defence against the spirits and ghosts, and can only run when encountering the creatures. You can't run forever though, as running requires stamina which when drained can slow you to a stop, leaving you open to being captured. Players also are given the ability to hide in a bush or behind objects, as well as distract them by throwing objects.

 While most games give you a point of view for when you're hiding, Yomawari has a much more effective strategy to making hiding one of the most stressful things you can do in the game by darkening the screen and using your heartbeat as sort of echolocation for how close the enemy is to you. It's a subtle mechanic that is extremely effective in this type of horror game.

Both Night Alone and Midnight Shadows have the same type of gameplay, but I do find that Midnight Shadows refines the controls and make it work better. Plus with the ability to take control of both Yui and Haru, as wells as the multiple endings based on items found during exploration really drives the game more than Night Alone.

There is something deceptively creepy about Yomawari's cute graphics. As most of the obviously human characters have an adorable almost chibi likeness, and the environments looking like a modern-day Japanese town, the darkness surrounding the town is unsettling and almost feeling unnatural. Monster designs are also very creative, based on Japanese Urban Legends and delivering a very macabre look, whether it's just a simple shadow creature to a giant face with spider-legs, or a bunch of hands with a number of eyeballs staring out at you.

These things are the things nightmares are made of. Yomawari: The Long Night Collection is a great collection for any horror fan as both games give you plenty of content, a great amount of replay value and plenty of genuine scares that will make you want to put the console down but a story that is so good that you won't want to.

Review based on the Nintendo Switch version of the game provided by NIS America - visit our site for the original review
https://gameitall.com/yomawari-the-long-night-collection-review/