Game News Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land Coming to PC

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land; Red Wasp Design

Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land, a role-playing game loosely based on the Call of Cthulhu P&P, is coming from iOS to PC on May 5th. Unfortunately, it won't be DRM-free and won't be on GOG or even Steam; instead, it will use Intel AppUp -- what the hell is that thing?

Whispers in the darkness today confirmed that the critically acclaimed ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ today announced their hit game is coming to PC. The developers, Red Wasp Design, revealed the existence of a Cyclopean pact with the Intel AppUpSM program to spread the insanity onto laptops, Ultrabooks and desktops worldwide. The Intel AppUpSM center is a service that aggregates, curates and distributes validated digital content delivering a fuller, richer experience on the PC.

The game will launch on the AppUpSM center on 5th May 2012 at the RPC Germany international RPG event. The games developers will also be at the event demoing the PC version of the game to fans and fellow gamers. The price point will be confirmed on the release date. AppUpSM is free to install and has lots of games and applications on it for Windows PCs. The PC version of the game runs in widescreen and has been optimised to run on laptops, Ultrabooks™ and desktops including support for Windows 7 touchscreen powered PCs.

Supported by the Intel AppUpSM developer program, the PC version of the game will also feature language support for German, French, Italian and Spanish gamers. The game’s designer, Tomas Rawlings said, “We’ve had lots of requests from fellow gamers and fans of Lovecraftian horror to bring the game to PC, and thanks to Intel’s support that will now happen. It’s also great to be able to get the game translated into more languages, as Lovecraft’s work has a universal appeal.”

Intel’s support also means the game will also be localised into German, French, Italian and Spanish.

Stefan Englet, Director AppUp Content EMEA said, “Intel is pleased to help Red Wasp Design fulfill the many requests from worldwide gamers to launch a PC version of ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’. We hope you enjoy playing the game and browsing the other great PC content in the Intel AppUp center.”

For those new to the cult title, the indie game is a turn-based strategy RPG inspired by the works of cult horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. The game was developed in co-operation with Chaosium, the publishers of the cult horror role playing game, Call of Cthulhu. The game features nine 3D levels set in the trenches of World War One. In ‘The Wasted Land’ the player controls a team of up to six investigators charged with uncovering a deadly inhuman conspiracy underlying the clash of empires of the Great War. Barbed wire, mustard gas and machines guns will prove to be the least dangerous thing that the investigators will encounter as they venture out into No-man’s land to solve the mystery of the Wasted Land. As the game progresses, the player can build up the skills, weapons and equipment of the team to suit their playing style. As well as the physical danger, the investigators must guard their sanity against the myriad horrors that threaten to destroy it.​

Really, what is that thing? First time I hear about it.

Spotted on the Rampant Games blog

 

[sea]

Wow, I am impressed. Really great premise and the gameplay looks like it could be pretty solid at least based on all those pretty stats and the turn-based combat. There are few actual Cthulhu games out there and I think a supernatural theme could really breathe a lot of life into the RPG genre.

 

[Infinitron]

Intel moonlighting as digital distributors? o_O

Android version: http://redwaspdesign.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/android-update-for-call-of-cthulhu-the-wasted-land/

 

[Jaesun]

Holy fucking shit.

 

[CappenVarra]

Hmph. Will keep an eye out just because I'm a mythosfag, but not sure how this will turn out...

EDIT: to clarify, sanity-shattering experiences and leading a squad from a lovely top-down perspective don't seem to be the best match...

 

[InspectorRumpole]

Lovecraft ftw, but i'd rather have a proper pc game.

 

[Falkner]

EDIT: to clarify, sanity-shattering experiences and leading a squad from a lovely top-down perspective don't seem to be the best match...

It would be with NWN2's camera.

 

[skyst]

I have the game on my iPhone. It's a decent game for while sitting on the shitter at work but despite the stats it is painfully simple. As a huge, long time HPL fan, the presence and ham fisted introduction of key terms, monsters, names, etc is almost insulting. Grab it on your mobile device if bored, but I just can't reccomend getting a big dick over a PC release - you'll be done with it in a sitting and never go back to it.

 

[Teepo]

Coincidentally, was reading Call of Cthulu books before I checked the dex this morning.

"But blazing Tommy Guns won’t help much against the more terrible creatures of the Mythos. As usual, your hero will have to rely on the information he’s found to escape the clutches of such villains as Nyarlathotep or Yog-Sothoth."

Call of Cthulu should be dialogue heavy. But I suppose it all depends on what angle they take. I'm sure they can take a WW1 angle where the problems they encounter are more physical than spiritual.

 

[hello friend]

Another Lovecraft game. Another game that slaughters its source material.

 

[No soup for you!]

I first saw this game some months ago on the Yog-Sothoth forums. I am cautiously optimistic about it. My fear is that it will end up like a bad CoC PNP game--lots of guns blazing and when the smoke clears: cultists, deep ones, and a dimensional shambler or two lying on the ground.

A proper Lovecraftian game should really only have weapons and weapon skills to illustrate the relative weakness and inferiority of humans and the uselessness of such a direct approach. I'm not saying this game violates that, but such is my fear.

A greater emphasis on research, puzzles, dialogue, and stealth would be amazing.

 

[Zed]

Amazing power. Amazing FUN. At Intel AppUpSM center, we have apps for it all.
From Angry Birds to wikiHow, we're your one-stop shop for all the latest PC apps.

APP APP APP APP APP APP APP
APP APP APP APP APP APP APP

I have the game on my iPhone. It's a decent game for while sitting on the shitter at work but despite the stats it is painfully simple. As a huge, long time HPL fan, the presence and ham fisted introduction of key terms, monsters, names, etc is almost insulting. Grab it on your mobile device if bored, but I just can't reccomend getting a big dick over a PC release - you'll be done with it in a sitting and never go back to it.

Thanks for the short review. I think I'll pass on this. I'm a huge fan of HP Lovecraft but I don't like when mythos stuff uses too many terms and try to explain shit. That's the opposite of what makes Lovecraft stuff interesting.

 

[Cassidy]

Even Prisoner of Ice is better than this.

 

[quasimodo]

I have the game on my iPhone. It's a decent game for while sitting on the shitter at work but despite the stats it is painfully simple. As a huge, long time HPL fan, the presence and ham fisted introduction of key terms, monsters, names, etc is almost insulting. Grab it on your mobile device if bored, but I just can't reccomend getting a big dick over a PC release - you'll be done with it in a sitting and never go back to it.

This.

It is OK as a portable game when you need one, but there is not enough goodness here to be worth a PC game.

 

[SerratedBiz]

A Call of Cthulhu game only really needs one stat: sanity points. Now roll a 1d6 to see how you died.

 

[Crooked Bee]

It is OK as a portable game when you need one, but there is not enough goodness here to be worth a PC game.

I wonder if Shadowrun Returns turns out the same way.

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

I played this on an iPod. Like the others said, it's very nice for a mobile device game, although relatively simple (Gorky 17 is probably the closest PC equivalent, although there are differences, like the sanity mechanism and no free exploration between individual missions). I'm not sure about the distribution platform, but at a low price tag, I'd actually say it's worth getting on PC (as long as you don't expect a full Jagged Alliance clone). It's also more of a Lovecraftian parody than a "proper" Mythos game, but the writing is fairly good and the WWI setting isn't used all that often. Last but not least, I'd expect the controls to actually work a lot better on PC (they're a bit of a pain with touchscreen, should be much better with mouse + keyboard).

 

[hello friend]

I'd sure like seeing some Lovecraftian IF. Possibly the only genre that could pull it off.

 

[Azalin]

It is OK as a portable game when you need one, but there is not enough goodness here to be worth a PC game.

I wonder if Shadowrun Returns turns out the same way.

Heh,my thoughts exactly.BTW those graphics looks nice for a tablet game,I wonder if the Shadowrun people could get their engine and use it,I know they said 2d but I like the screenshots

Oh and Intelappup,WTF is that?I guess I will have to wait a few days more for the DRM-free version

 

[ArcturusXIV]

Whatever. Gimme!

 

[mondblut]

Somehow the screenshots scream "dungeon cleaners" at me.

And what's up with these fonts? They look like pepper into eyes in the otherwise semi-professional presentation.

 

[Jasede]

I'd sure like seeing some Lovecraftian IF. Possibly the only genre that could pull it off.

You mean interactive fiction? There is Anchorhead, a well-received and, I think, competently written game to be had for free.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorhead

There is also Shades, a very short yet somewhat Lovecraftian game, also IF. It is very good for what it is.
And you all know about Lurking Horror, even though I don't like it.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Not really enthused by the fact that it's a squad based game with more than half the stats in combat skills
actually look for yourself, the only non combat/survival skills are psychoanalysis and cthulhu mythos

Anyone who played the CoC pnp games wanna sound out on how faithful that is to the tabletop

 

[skyst]

Not really enthused by the fact that it's a squad based game with more than half the stats in combat skills
actually look for yourself, the only non combat/survival skills are psychoanalysis and cthulhu mythos

Anyone who played the CoC pnp games wanna sound out on how faithful that is to the tabletop

It has nothing to do with CoC pnp and everything to do with shotgunning Dark Young and stupid cultists. The psychoanalysis stat is used to restore squad member sanity points, which are lost upon attacking any enemy. Cthulhu Mythos is spell casting competency iirc, nothing more. There is nothing but 10 or so straight forward combat levels to see here.

Seriously, it's a fine mobile game. Leave it at that. Any bro is going to be let down firing it up on PC if expecting something great.

 

[meh]

Not really enthused by the fact that it's a squad based game with more than half the stats in combat skills
actually look for yourself, the only non combat/survival skills are psychoanalysis and cthulhu mythos

Anyone who played the CoC pnp games wanna sound out on how faithful that is to the tabletop

It isn't. Who the hell even uses guns in CoC, they definetely are doing it wrong. Hell, Delta Green isn't about blasting everything either.