 I do not like puzzle games. My brain often fails to connect the wires that the minds of puzzle players tie together instinctively almost. So why then is Call of the Sea among my favourite games not just of 2020, but possibly ever? What kept me in control but it, for the six to seven hours, took to beat was the story, a well-executed mystery that follows Nora, an English woman with a strange debilitating disease attempting to discover what happened to her husband Harry. The writing is phenomenal and the performances, Leeds, Sissie Jones and Yuri Lovintov pull off are enchanting to listen to. This is a puzzled venture game with plenty of walking around, interacting with objects that Nora has plenty to say about and collecting pieces of information to help you solve the puzzles strewn about the world. Compared to many other puzzle games, this will definitely score best with beginner puzzle adventures such as myself. I can see experienced puzzle gamers breezing through this one, especially on account of the fact that, following Chapter 4, the puzzles decrease in difficulty as the storytelling embraces its supernatural elements. And the game prepares to deliver a finale well-word Nora's trouble, and yours too. I got a little stuck on one of the puzzles, but other than that, I found myself enjoying the process of exploration, collection of clues and eventual solution. Whenever I feared a puzzle for myself, I got a kick out of it, which might not quite be the same as the high-speed adrenaline release that was figuring out in one of the latter chambers in Portal or Portal 2, but nonetheless scratched a very real itch at the back of my mind. What's better, it's that entry-level point that helped me build an intuition to how these types of puzzles work. Something I hope to play around with at length over the coming months, to use in my D&D campaigns and the like. Call of the Sea plays no different than other first-person puzzle games in that I'll admit, it requires a little bit of suspension of disbelief. A puzzle or two could have been circumvented with such incredible ease if only Nora could climb or jump or even lunch ever so slightly. But that's puzzle ventures for you. Invisible walls everywhere. If you ever get stuck accessing Nora's journal and going through the logs might refocus you, help you look at things from a different angle that will eventually allow you to piece together the right answer. The graphical fidelity of this game is incredible. I speak here of not a single muddled texture. You know the type of backdrop of a thousand triple A games whose empty open world worlds, well that was redundant, withstand scrutiny as long as you don't walk to the closest garbage can. The particles look amazing. At sea and on land, no screen tearing at my end, not at any point. The character design which we only ever see in pictures, loading screens, a few paintings, stunts, I'll try it. No question about it. The way the island looks, the way it sounds, I was transported half way across the world along with Nora, as enchanted as she was by this island, resting somewhere between reality and dream. Part of the reason why the island so many mysteries are so captivating is this fully realized unified look and feel and sound. The soundtrack, the sound design are award worthy. Call of the Sea certainly does have some bugs. I didn't experience anything that crashed the game but I've heard some people have. I did experience a failure on the game's part to load every single one of Harry's letters properly. These letters, one of which you'll find in every chapter, should come with a series of still cut scenes to illustrate the text of Harry's narration. I however, only ever got this. My dear old pal, I know you won't ever read this letter, but I'm accustomed to writing you and it comforts me in this strange place. This island is riddled with secrets, so many secrets, but I'm not only talking about mechanisms and contraptions, Nora. I dare say that something on the island clouds one's judgment, otherwise I don't have an explanation for Roy's actions. The man was arrogant, impulsive in a little cocky, but he was no fool. We weren't friends by any means, but he didn't deserve what happened. We may have made some progress in finding the cure for your illness, but at what price? I miss you so much, Nora. Harry. An annoyance, certainly. Narrative takes place in 1934. There's this feeling of marked excitement, of reliance and trust in science, an occasional tension between what science can do, and the natural world, and human nature. Our protagonist, Nora, is enchanted by the adventures she's found herself on. So much that it's easy to forget about the reason that brought her to the island in the first place, now and again. Her husband Harry's gone missing along with his expedition, while trying to discover a cure for the mysterious disease that her mother died of and that Nora herself is wasting away from. Harry's expedition is what pushes the beauty of this island to the background. Nora comes across a wealth of notes, pictures, personal belongings of Harry's crew. Like reading a good piece of epistolary fiction, these artifacts breathe life in every member of the expedition, creating bonds that become more and more frayed the further we explore the island. This is without a doubt the best bigger release video game to make use of Lovecraftian teams, at least among those I'm familiar with. Before you quit, let me point out it's not at all scary. Rather, your role is to be an observer, pulling pieces together from the information Nora finds, and weaving in your mind a tapestry that reveals just how the strangeness to this island soured, and ground down these characters and hollowed them out, one by one. Typical Lovecraftian elements and characters are either outright shown or alluded to, names such as Miss Katanik University and Dr. Henry Armitage. The reason this game so succeeds is not only that it recreates a lot of what works so well in Lovecraftian horror, but that it inverts it, thanks in no small part to Nora, turning the unknown and unknowable into something that ultimately serves to deliver a better sweet story about empathy and insight, of love and loss. Mild spoilers ahead, scientists hold an interesting place in Lovecraftian horror, their passion often leading them towards a fall that would make even some tragic Greek protagonists shiver and break into a cold sweat. No talented scientist in Lovecraftian fiction has managed to escape a terrible punishment for the hubris they so brazenly display. Until Harry. Harry is different. He follows that same general story arc of a man possessed, the entirety of his strength of will bent towards the task of finding a cure for Nora. The clues show Harry and his thinning through slipping further and further. And if you bought into those Lovecraftian elements, you think you'll know exactly what's going to happen in the last quarter of the game, but you might be pleasantly surprised. Dairy I'm so lonely, how I miss your smile. All of the sea is a must play if you like either puzzle venture games or bloody good storytelling. Its quality of writing is far beyond what I expected and made for a wonderful end of year surprise. The story might deal with some fairly large concepts now and then, but it never loses track of the intimate nature of the relationship it studies. Harry and Nora's friendship and marriage, the way they call themselves my dear old pal, are at the center of this narrative and so incredibly heartwarming. The two offer an impressive amount of emotional resonance for the player to get invested in. It's 20 euro or your original equivalent and it's also available to play through Xbox games for PC, which is how I experienced it. Either way is worth it. I offer you my most heartfelt recommendation to get this gem of an adventure game. If you enjoyed this video, please like it, share it with your friends, subscribe, leave a comment down below. Tell me, are you planning on playing Call of the Sea? Have you played it already? What did you think about Nora about Harry? What was the final decision you made? I'm looking forward to hearing from you. I'll see you next time. Bye!