Of all the games that we've covered in this reveal event so far, this one was the title that most notably held it's 'next gen capabilities' ribbon on it's arm. And that's not due to some grand sweeping rendering achievement that put to shame any and all other consoles around it, nor some unbelievably realistic rendition of a surface we see everyday such as skin or water. (Actually, I noticed the improvement because of a simplified stylistic aesthetic.) The Series X seems to have sharper textures built into it. Yet, that's it. But if you've ever played a title like Fallout 4 on a PC and then tried it on console you'll know what I mean, ageing engines like Bethesda's just get chewed up on current gen hardware to the point where textures get down-scaled and washed out. (Don't get me started on 76's textures.) So there we have it, the one thing that I can say the Series X gameplay reveal event showcased perfectly and undeniably. Not sure why we needed a whole event for that, but there we are. Oh and the game's 'Call of the Sea' by the way...
Call of the Sea is game that very much seems to wear its entire premise on its sleeve. From the very first shot of the trailer you know exactly what you're getting yourself into, which could be commendable if this weren't a story built around mystery. (No! I'm being negative again, best to start positive.) Okay, so we start with a breathy Irish woman called Norah doting over her missing husband Harry through way of 1930's photograph; and as far as I can tell that's the set-up of the game. All the rest of the trailer's dialogue is pretty much white noise as far as I'm concerned, because the visuals are clearly the showstopper here.
Nora goes on the search for her husband on a picturesque island that looks pulled directly from an old serial with it's palm trees, waterfalls and stark blue ocean. I will admit that I'm mildly taken by the artistic direction of it all, it seems to aim for the gentle approach-ability of bright cartoonish geometric shapes whilst retaining enough personality and realism to be beautiful in the right moments. Some of the shots in the trailer of the setting sun's god rays peeking through palm leaves, or the subtle diffraction flare as we happen upon a glittering beach by a waterfall, are just plain pleasing to look at; and that's an important aspect to nail for the design team as it seems that majority of their game is based around exploration and discovery, so it helps to have a world that's nice to look around.
As the trailer picks up we move away from the natural beauty of this strange isle and more into the mystery as our Norah delves into odd unidentifiable ruins and waterlogged ship wrecks like some sort of off-brand Lara Croft. It's here when I started to get distinct vibes from this whole gameplay that reminded me of Subnautica, or more just the exploration from that game. This rings most for the moment where she finds herself in the heart of these subterranean ruins and they just seem the absolute spitting image of that classic 'prehistoric alien' architecture that so many games use nowadays; I'm talking all tall pillar platforms standing out from the abyss and hexagons literally everywhere. It's the same sort of thing we've seen in Assassin's Creed, similar to the alien structures in Subnautica (Although to be fair, that team created something a little more unique as they went on) and actually identical to the bases of the Jardaan from 'Mass Effect: Andromeda'. (I'm being serious about that, it's uncanny.)
The end of the trailer steps away from the cliches and borrowed visual styles for a bit. (although they did nick the 'alien hand print device' from Total Recall and Abe.) We see a brief comic strip depiction of Norah where in the background something huge and monstrous stirs beneath the sand, like some sort of land leviathan. To top that off, the final stinger of the trailer has, what we can only assume to be Norah, swimming through some lovingly rendered underwater scenery only with notably metamorphosed webbed hands. Okay then, trailer, you want to lure me in by making me ask the question 'why' until I just give in and start following this game; solid tactic. However, I'm not exactly blown away by the breadth or creativity by anything I've seen so far, not in the way that 'The Witness' did, or 'The Talos Principle', or 'Portal', or even 'Myst' from back in the day.
Now you might think it unfair that I compare this adventure/exploration game against all of those clever puzzle games of yore, especially as no puzzles were even hinted at in the trailer, but I took the liberty of looking through their all-ready-constructed Windows page and that's what they claim this game is. It's strange when I'm getting a different feel from the trailer than I am from the official description released by the developers, but the discrepancy is minor in this regard so I won't gripe too hard. Oh, and don't worry about that hint of a monster that you saw from the trailer, as this page goes specifically out-of-its-way to ensure us that the game will be 'enjoyable and non-violent'. (Their little way of informing us about the game by telling us what it's not. That's typically a faux-pas in introductions as it's inherently defensive and dismissive, but hey, I'm sure these guys know what they're doing...)
But none of my sass is to imply that this game looks like a total bust, because it doesn't. My issues are minuscule when compared with the allure for adventure that this trailer successfully manages to drum up, and that's something worth commending. Sure, shades of the trailer seem a little derivative but there's nothing wrong with borrowing from strong source material. I am slightly confused about the decision to set this in the 1930's before removing us from any identifiable landmark identifying such a time-period, but I understand the thematic choice as the 30's were a period of 'exploration'. (Although one could argue that 'exploration' was just as much tainted by 'colonialism', but let's not stir that particular pot, The 'Mass Effect: Andromeda' writers would drop a kidney stone...)
At the end of the day, however, all this is moot to me. When it comes to puzzle/exploration games, there has to be something that really stands out to get my attention. (Like Portal had with its 'test rooms' aesthetic.) Although these games aren't exactly plentiful, so I can imagine that someone more inclined to such a genre would be positively chuffed with this trailer. As for me, I can appreciate the visual eye candy, feel the tickling embers of intrigue, but utterly fail at stoking a flame of interest in my cold, empty heart. What can I say; I'm more the kind of kid who's excited my fangs and flames than puzzles and pondering. So unless a trailer down the line has some crazy twist to change my mind entirely, I'll be ignoring this Call. Of the sea. (Ugh, that was terrible. Why didn't you stop me?)
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