Overview: 2.0/5.0
Call of the Sea follows Norah as she follows the trail of her husband’s exhibition to a possibly uninhabited island. It falls squarely into the “walking simulator” genre of mystery/adventure games. The premise is fascinating and I wanted to love the game, but the execution is underwhelming and the experience of playing is unnecessarily frustrating.
Developer: Out of the Blue
Genre: Adventure
Release Date: December 8, 2020
Platform: PC, PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X
Price: $19.99
Narrative
The narrative that unfolds as you explore the island is a more memorable one. Call of the Sea is another single-character game where you’re following in the footsteps of someone else and trying to piece together what happened before you arrived. In this case, you are on the trail of your husband, who brought an expedition to the island in search of a cure for your mysterious illness. In addition to following the trail of the expedition team, you also discover the history of the island’s inhabitants. Unfortunately, the narrative unfolds less through carefully placed clues and subtle hints, and more through exasperating spoon-feeding and redundant explanations of the characters’ pasts. When you reach the end of the game, you’re asked to make a choice based on what you’ve learned. The weight of the game’s ending relies entirely on the player’s connection to the main character. Maybe I’m just a heartless monster but I just didn’t build that connection through the gameplay, and the endings didn’t resonate in the way I’m sure was intended.
Mechanics and technical execution
This game has two mechanics: navigating and interacting with objects. Neither is well-executed. Even once you have the ability to run, the movement in the game is painfully slow. There is no inventory system, so all puzzles rely on interacting with objects in a specific order. The puzzles do gradually increase in difficulty, but none are particularly satisfying to solve. In addition, I encountered plenty of technical difficulties trying to line up a hot spot just right, or otherwise getting myself into a game-breaking area of the map.
Environment
The only redeeming aspect of this game is its art. The game is absolutely beautiful. Each new chapter’s environment has a unique atmosphere and I found myself looking forward to the next chapter just to see the next part of the island. Even so, the environments did not make up for how ridiculously painfully slowly Norah walked or swam through them. Any appreciation for the visuals was quickly replaced by the thought, “Walk faster!”
Summary
Our recommendation: appreciate some screenshots and then move on. There are plenty of games out there with a better narrative, more relatable characters, more satisfying puzzles, or even all of the above. Beautiful as it is, it’s just not worth the time or money. The core of the game’s narrative holds so much potential; it’s unfortunate that it could not be realized in a more engaging way.
