A long, long time ago, in the distant past of my life, I had to do some overtime. Back then, I used to work for a computer games magazine and that night they needed all the materials ready. As we usually were lazy bastards, of course “ready” wasn’t a word in our vocabulary. Exactly when I thought I was done, I heard the editor-in-chief shouting “We need a preview”. I froze. Back then, a preview meant that you had to write an article on a game that you didn’t have any details about. It was awful. “The game is Call of Cthulhu”, I heard him say again. Call of C-what? Fortunately, we had an Internet connection and this way I was able to find out a few details about the recently announced title. Just don’t ask me what I wrote in that one page preview.

     It seems this Cthulhu with all the mythology surrounding it is the grand innovation of H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), a famous horror short-story writer. All his stories , together with the ones of his followers, are now known as the Cthulhu Mythos, though Lovecraft never used this term. I could tell you more, though I’ve never read Lovecraft since I’m not a fan of the horror genre. Frankly, it wouldn’t do you any good, as you’re interested in the game, not in the stories. Yes, it’s always best to be prepared and have a background, so if you’re familiar with Lovecraft, good for you, though your disappointment will be even greater. First, the game is named after a Lovecraft short-story but its content is inspired be two other stories - “The Shadow Out of Time” and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”. You play as detective Jack Walters who, after a rough encounter with some strange beings, is thrown in a mental institution where he experiences some weird visions. After you’re out of there and resume your detective work, you receive a call - you have to go to the town of Innsmouth to investigate a missing person case.