The upcoming Cyanide-developed horror title, Call of Cthulhu, is looking like an interesting proposition, taking the concepts of the classic tabletop RPG and combining it with psychological horror elements in a single experience. Apparently, the game will be a very focused, narrative-driven experience, and won’t feature any semi open world elements (like what we saw in, say, The Evil Within 2).
We recently spoke about the game with Diane Quenet, project manager, and Romain Wiart, lead level designer, and they explained that while the game won’t be semi-open world, it will feature a few branching paths, giving players some choice in terms of gameplay to decide how they want to progress.
“This is not a semi-open world, this is a linear story,” the developers told GamingBolt. “You go from one chapter to the other. Each chapter is different looking and in a different area. Inside the chapter, for some chapters, you have the freedom to choose between multiple paths to get to your goal. You can take these paths based on your choices, and your skills. If you’re good at lock picking, stuff like that. It’s mostly about giving a different flavor for each chapter.”
I’m perfectly fine with that, to be honest, especially when it comes to a horror game. Having that level of focus and drive in a game without any of the trappings of a larger, more open world can really crank up a horror title’s atmosphere and tension, and I’m hoping that will be the case here as well. We recently got a chance to go hands-on with the game, and it’s fair to say that we were intrigued by what we saw. You can read our impressions here.