Behind closed doors at E3 2017 journalists were given a glimpse of Cyanide Studio‘s Call of Cthulhu. The game embraces its Lovecraftian roots fully, giving players an opportunity to explore a mystery that could end with them going absolutely mad. It’s a formula that should work wonderfully for VR and, while the developers are certainly interested in VR for the game, they’re awaiting a green light from their publisher.
In response to a question about putting the game on Sony’s PlayStation VR (PSVR), a member of the development team from Cyanide declared that their team has “thought about it but it’s up to the publisher to decide. We went to [VR] to see the cool perks that we could benefit from of course,” he said.
To make sure I was understanding correctly, I asked if VR was “completely off the table” for now. “It’s not off the table,” he added. “It’s up to our publisher to decide that, that’s all.” The other Cyanide representative showing us the demo added that the team is “more focused on console and PC versions, so maybe later”.
The game showed off a couple levels where the lead character, a detective, investigated a few important places related to a case. The case involved a house fire, but not all is as it seems. The game is in first-person and, with a collection of skills spread across three disciplines, you can interview NPCs and scour the scene of a crime for clues with varying degrees of success. The 2nd level shown introduced us to a conflict with a beastly creature that climbed out of a painting, but there was no actual combat in the traditional sense. You have to research as much as you can to make you’re prepared for the monsters you come across and, when the young lady running the demo broke a knife out of a glass case and stabbed it into the creature’s portrait, we learned what happens when you haven’t investigated everything you need to. It wasn’t pretty.
The game’s publisher, Focus Home Interactive, doesn’t have any VR titles under their umbrella just yet but this game’s premise, play style, and ambiance would translate well to a virtual reality platform. Horror experiences go over well on VR, so what better place to go than with Lovecraft?
