Call of Cthulhu (game, 2018)

In the game, the player will control the character by Edward Pearce - a detective who investigates the death of the Hawkins family, who died during a fire in their estate. Most of the time, the player will control Edward (in the story, the player will also be transferred control of other characters). Edward has 7 skills (search, eloquence, psychology, investigations, strength, occultism, medicine) that help to pass the game, 5 of which the player can develop at his discretion. During the passage, the player receives very little experience, he can either not fully pump all the skills, or pump 2-3 skills, but to a professional level. The player can pump up the skills of occultism and medicine only if during the passage he will be attentive and find books that will help improve them. Each skill helps the player to complete the game in their own way: “psychology” and “eloquence” help to convince the characters (during the conversation) that they are right, without the “search” skill the player will not be able to find many useful objects (in different places and rooms) during its passage. The skill "strength" will help in a situation where it will be necessary to open a closed door with a crowbar or scare the interlocutor during a conversation. The skill “occultism” will help the player understand strange things or clarify what is happening (for example, a character can say that the picture is obsessed with a demon). Also an important element of the game is the investigation of crime scenes or places that will help to understand what happened in the world. During such an investigation, the player gradually restores the chronology of events.

The game takes place in the 1920s. The main character is a veteran of the Great War and (now) an experienced private investigator Edward Pearce, who arrived on the mysterious island of Darkwater near the American city of Boston , Massachusetts . He will have to unravel the circumstances of the mysterious death of the Hawkins family. ^[3]

• Edward Pierce is a private detective who works in Boston . Pierce works at his agency, which he called Pierce's Detective Agency (he works at that agency). His agency is contracted by another agency, Wentworth, and under the terms of the contract, Pierce has a detective license, while he reveals a large number of detective cases each month. But in recent times, Pierce has ceased to comply with the norm of disclosed cases, the reason for his act is that he was tired of revealing cases of adultery, crimes of revenge, to search for missing people (who themselves arranged their disappearance). Pierce has a mental trauma that he received when he fought in World War I as part of the infamous “ Lost Battalion ”. Now he cannot fall asleep without sleeping pills and whiskey, and when he sleeps, he has nightmares. At the beginning of the game, a wealthy entrepreneur Steven Wesbster comes to him and asks Pierce to help him investigate the death of his daughter Sarah Hawkins. Pierce gets down to business as he considers him rather confusing and worthy of his attention.
• Stephen Wesbster is a wealthy entrepreneur and collector. His daughter, Sarah Hawkins, died with her husband and son during a fire in her house. The police say that Sarah started a fire herself, because she is insane. Her father, Stephen Wesbster, does not believe in this version of events and therefore hired Edward Pearce so that Pierce would find out the truth about what happened in the house and why it happened.
• James Fitzroy is the last acting captain of the ship on the island of Darkwater, it is he who takes away or brings passengers to or from the island on his ship. At the beginning of the game, he brings Edward Pearce to the Darkwater Island. He knows the seaport of Darkwater like the back of his hand. Answers to Pierce’s questions about what the Hawkins family earned when the island’s inhabitants stopped catching whales in 1847 and who ruined the goods delivery declarations (which belonged to the Hawkins and are now impossible to read) refused to be answered. There is a gang of bootleggers in the port (Prohibition alcohol suppliers), its leader Katherine Baker is trying to tax James Fitzroy's entrepreneurial activity with illegal taxes .
• Katherine Baker is the leader of the bootleggers gang, whose territory is the port of Darkwater, her gang is engaged in the supply of alcohol and racketeering. Character traits: impudent and self-confident woman.
• Silas Winchester is a watchman of the former Hawkins estate, when the Hawkins family was alive he worked for them, after what happened buried the Hawkins family near the estate. Guards the Hawkins estate despite the tragic events that occurred. When he first met Edward Pearce at the entrance to the Hawkins manor, he was mistaken for a thief and threatened with his ax. Constable Bradley, who also came to the estate with Pierce, but was slightly behind Pierce, intervenes in this conversation and convinces Silas not to touch Pierce and give them the key so that they can continue to investigate Pierce.
• Constable Bradley is a constable who works as a policeman on the island where the game takes place. Edward Pearce meets him for the second time at the Hawkins warehouse, where he explains to Bradley that the Hawkins death is confusing and that someone killed them by malicious intent. Bradley, to make sure Pierce’s words, goes with him to the Hawkins estate and collects evidence there with Pierce. During their investigation, they find a secret passage into the tunnels under the estate, during the study of which they find supporters of a cult who conduct their rite. Bradley tries to stop them, but they do not listen to him and their leader, Charles Hawkins, kills Bradley. Seeing this, Pierce tries to escape through the tunnels back to the surface, but there is a collapse and he is covered with stones. After that, Pierce wakes up in the hospital, where Bradley and Dr. Fuller are nearby, who says that Bradley is dead. The doctor gives Pierce an injection and he falls asleep. After that, Pierce wakes up in a room in a psychiatric hospital, where Dr. Marie Calden speaks with him, who helps Pierce escape from the hospital. When Pierce almost got out of the hospital, he faints, but before that he sees Bradley, who says that it is time for them to leave here. Waking up at the Hawkins Manor, Pierce sees Bradley and Marie Calden. Pierce tells Bradley that he saw how he was killed, to which Bradley replies that when he and Pierce were in the tunnels, Pierce himself lost consciousness and began to say something incomprehensible aloud, and then Bradley drove him to the island’s hospital, so that he was cured. But then, when Dr. Fuller took Pierce to his psychiatric hospital (which is located in the dungeon of the hospital where he had been before) and Bradley realized that Pierce was in trouble and was unlikely to be able to get out of there himself, then he asked Dr. Marie Calden for help Pierce escape from there.
• Dr. Fuller is an antagonist, a doctor who conducts inhumane experiments on patients who are unlucky to be in his psychiatric hospital.
• Marie Calden is a doctor at the hospital on the island, very interested in investigating the events that take place in the psychiatric hospital where Dr. Fuller works. She wants to know the truth about what Fuller is doing with his patients, because mutilated patients arrive from her psychiatric hospital, and when they are cured, they go back to the hospital where Fuller works. For this reason, she helps Edward Pierce and Constable Bradley in their investigation.
• Irene Sanders is the wife of Francis Sanders, who dies in front of Edward Pierce. When Pierce speaks to her about her husband’s death, Irene almost does not feel sad when she heard this news. When asked why she was not homesick, Irene replied that she had already wept enough when a few months ago her husband was in a psychiatric hospital. She also reports that Francis only spoke all the time about Sarah Hawkins and the paintings that Sarah painted. One of them, called "Tramp", is in Irene’s house. When Pierce began to study the picture, a monster attacked him - the picture was obsessed.
• Sarah Hawkins - according to the plot of the game, it turns out that she did not die in the fire. After the fire, she was in a psychiatric hospital where Dr. Fuller works, and was subsequently rescued from there by Edward Pearce. After she and Drake expel the monster Tramp, she finally loses her mind and begins to control Cthulhu . By the end of the game, she becomes an antagonist.
• Charles Hawkins - the plot of the game reveals that he did not die in the fire. The plot of the game does not reveal how Charles got Ktuhl’s strength, which changed his appearance (he became ugly and half of his face was covered with ulcers and one arm turned into tentacles). In a conversation with Edward Pierce, Charles says that he does not want his wife Sarah to become an obedient instrument of the Ktukhlu cult. He also says that the power that Sarah possesses can destroy everyone and therefore wants to hide it. He also says that the Cult of Cthuhlu has a great influence on the island of Darkwater. The plot of the game was killed by Edward Pierce and Sarah Hawkins.
• Algernon Drake is a researcher and scientist who has a friendship with Sarah Hawkins. Drake has read many books about the myths of the island of Darkwater and he has a copy of the book of the necronomicon , so he understands the great danger of the evil monsters and deities that are on the island. Ally of Edward Pierce and Sarah Hawkins. Together with Sarah Hawkins, Drake expels the monster Tramp back into his dimension.
• Leviathan - is the main antagonist. Appears first in Pierce’s dreams, and then in hallucinations, where he suggests Pierce to find out the “truth”, depending on the player’s choice (as this will affect the fate of Edward Pierce). It was once caught by the whalers of Darkwater, whose meat helped the islanders escape starvation.

In January 2014, Frogwares studio (which is known for the games Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy , Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened , Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper and other games about Sherlock Holmes ) announced that it had started creating the game Call of Cthulhu , which will be released on platforms Windows , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One ^[4] . The plot and atmosphere of the game is taken from the work of Lovecraft . Neither what will happen in the plot or the gameplay itself, nor the release date of the game was said, the studio only showed several concept art for the game. The publisher of the game will be Focus Home Interactive . At the end of February 2016, news about the game appeared: the publisher of the game Focus Home Interactive launched the official website of the game and a few screenshots of the game itself were available on it, the important news was that the publisher changed the game developer’s studio and now the game is made by Cyanide Studio ^{[ 5]} . New developers talked a little about the plot of the game. Cyanide CEO Patrick Pliggersdorffer said the following:

We are incredibly pleased that Focus Home Interactive has entrusted us with the development of a video game adaptation of the legendary Call of Cthulhu. The opportunity to work on such an interesting project with our long-time partner is a privilege for us, old fans of this series. We want to present to fans the game that they have been waiting for.

. Cedric Lagarrig, president of Focus Home Interactive, answered this phrase:

Working with Cyanide again is an honor for us, for the last ten years this team has been developing with us and during this time it has turned into one of the best European gaming studios. On the example of such projects as Styx: Master of Shadows and Blood Bowl , they showed their creative abilities and proved that they are able to create impressive games in unusual worlds. The Cyanide team has been dreaming of making the adaptation of “Call of Cthulhu” for several years. Now they have everything to create a game that will appeal to fans of Lovecraft mythology and just gamers who miss the deep and non-trivial games.

During the time when Frogwares studio participated in the creation of the game, the studio managed to create its own game engine that can be used to create the game. With the help of his studio, he began to create his game The Sinking City ^{[6], the} atmosphere and plot of which is still based on Lovecraftian horrors , the studio was able to find a publisher for its game ^[7] . The developers of the game Call of Cthulhu in January 2017 reported that the game will be released in 2017 ^[8] , but the game did not come out in that time. In July 2018, the developers announced the exact release date for the game on October 30, 2018 ^[9] , on which the game was released.

• Official site of the game Call of Cthulhu