Despite being such a vivid and atmospheric game, the lighting could have been reined in a bit: the bloom effect around the sun and other luminescent objects tended to obliterate their surrounding no matter the brightness setting, and there was a noticeable amount of screen tear in early sections when moving through these sun-drenched areas. The architecture and objects encountered are often gorgeous, making Norah’s journey worth the sight-seeing, instead of blustering through to the next problem to solve.

Norah’s masterful bullet-journalling skills should keep you on track.Īll of this is served up in a stylish and dreamy environment courtesy of the Unreal Engine. It’s a compelling approach, designed for momentum as you move through an area, and having hints buried amongst world-building materials merge the storyline and mechanics in a satisfying way. As the game progresses, areas become larger and encourage more exploration, with smaller puzzles needing to be deciphered before the results can be applied to a larger, more complicated barrier. These puzzles and code-breaking exercises vary enormously, and the fresh challenges to understand in each section build nicely without retreading the same ground. As Norah explores, you’ll find lost languages to decipher and ancient technologies to manipulate. Call of the Sea is separated into six main chapters, each with a distinct area to explore Norah’s trail takes you above and below ground as you trace the footsteps of the ill-fated party. The sun beats down and the vegetation springs up around you as Norah ventures deeper inland, feeling more and more like a Doc Savage pulp novel than a fearful tiptoe into unknown territories. Pulling up on the beach in a small boat, the first thing to take in is how bright and colourful everything is. You’ll be a dab hand at deciphering pictograms in no time.

Call of the sea xbox