Back in 2020, Call of the Sea quietly became one of the biggest surprise hits on Xbox Game Pass – a puzzle adventure packed with atmosphere, mystery and a genuinely memorable story. Now, six years later, the team at Out of the Blue Games are returning to that strange universe with Call of the Elder Gods.
Launching on Xbox Series X|S, PC, Play Anywhere, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2, Call of the Elder Gods also arrives Day One on Xbox Game Pass for Ultimate and PC subscribers. And this time, things are getting far stranger.
At A Glance
- Title: Call of the Elder Gods
- Developer: Out of the Blue Games
- Publisher: Kwalee
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC, Play Anywhere, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2
- Game Pass: Day One on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass
- Price: £19.99
- Genre: First-Person Puzzle Adventure
Returning To A World Of Cosmic Horror
Call of the Elder Gods acts as a spiritual continuation of Call of the Sea, once again blending puzzle-solving with Lovecraft-inspired mystery and deeply personal storytelling.
This time, players follow Professor Harry Everhart and student Evangeline Drayton as they investigate impossible visions, missing loved ones and the lingering secrets surrounding an ancient artifact uncovered years earlier. Naturally, that investigation soon spirals into encounters with beings and locations far beyond human understanding.
Inspired heavily by H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Out of Time, the game goes hard into themes of grief, sanity and cosmic horror. At the same time though, it still appears determined to balance that darkness with the thoughtful puzzle design that made the original stand out.
Bigger Puzzles, Stranger Places
Puzzle solving once again sits at the centre of the experience, with object-based exploration and environmental observation returning in expanded form.
Players will switch between Harry and Evangeline throughout the adventure, solving larger multi-layered puzzles spread across different timelines and locations. The developers are also including flexible difficulty settings, allowing hints, journals and guidance systems to be toggled on or off depending on how much help players want.
And the locations themselves sound wonderfully bizarre. From candlelit libraries and frozen wastelands to Australian deserts and cities seemingly existing outside of time itself, Call of the Elder Gods looks far more ambitious in scope than its predecessor.
The jump to Unreal Engine 5 certainly shouldn’t hurt either.
A Strong Follow-Up To A Game Pass Favourite?
We were big fans of Call of the Sea back in 2020, saying in our 4.5/5 review: “Who said that single player games were dead? Call of the Sea on Xbox was made for Game Pass: a fantastic story stunningly told, full of well-pitched puzzles, with almost zero replayability. It’s one of 2020’s most surprising genre-reboots, taking Myst and transplanting in a heart, and we’re all for it. You’d do well to buy a ticket to its shores.”
Call of the Elder Gods now has the chance to build on that foundation with a bigger mystery, darker themes and even more elaborate puzzle design.
The returning voice cast certainly helps too, with performances from Yuri Lowenthal and Cissy Jones bringing the two leads to life throughout the story.
Call of the Elder Gods is available now on the Xbox Store, playable on Xbox Series X|S and PC. There are layStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 version too. And better still? You’re getting Day One access through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.
No brainer? Our full review of Call of the Elder Gods will let you know.
