Call of the Sea VR Review

July 27, 2023

Call of the Sea released on PC and Consoles back in December 2020, but the team at Out of the Blue Games have now ported their game over to Virtual Reality. With puzzle games really shinning in VR, it makes sense this was the next step for Call of the Sea.

STORY

You are Norah Everhart, a woman who has a mysterious affliction. After receiving a strange package, with a picture of her husband Harry, a ritualistic knife and coordinates to a small island off the coast of Tahiti, she picks up his trail. With Harry and his crew going on an expedition to find a cure for her illness, so quickly realises that the island has secrets of its own, that have been waiting to be unearthed.

GAMEPLAY

The game is made around exploration and solving puzzles in order to advance in the game, similar to games like Cyan Game’s Myst. With your exploration and progression being accompanied by a story-drive narrative, which makes the actual scale of the island and the immersive setting become evident, and this is only boosted by the use of Virtual Reality.

As mentioned, around this island there is going to be a number of puzzles for you solve to not only access more of the island, but also progress the brilliant story. The puzzles feel natural to not only the story, but to the island setting, which really adds to the immersion – as they really do feel like they belong as part of the history of this small island. The puzzles will start off easy, but at some points the puzzles really left me scratching my head – but, this never became an annoyance, as the puzzles felt so natural to setting.

If you feel like getting halted in a puzzle game might take you out of it, the team have included an inbuilt hint option in the settings. But, honestly with how well the puzzles are designed in the game, I would say just try and refrain because they are designed so well, you really do feel an sense of achievement once you figure it out.

At one point I was thinking maybe combat would come into the game, and I was actually relieved that it didn’t – as this would be out of the place in a game like Call of the Sea VR. The real wonder of the game is the exploration of the island and taking it all in like you are there in person.

PRESENTATION

Where Call of the Seas gameplay ported over perfectly to VR, the visuals have of course needed to take a hit compared to the PC and Consoles releases – but, this is expected as it has moved over to a mobile device in the Meta Quest.

For example, you might find that the edges around buildings, structures and trees are a little jagged, but the pure scale of the island and the tropical settings with mountains and ruins in the distance really makes this easy to overlook – and does not effect how immersed you are while exploring. Also, each area you can explore is huge in scale and what blew my mind was there is no loading screen in each chapter, meaning your exploration of that area of the island is not interrupted – causing zero breaks in immersion. Even with the huge areas to explore without loading screens and the limitations by the hardware, Call of the Sea VR can still drop your jaw at locations around the island.

One area that is really important when making a story-driven game with a lot of narrative is nailing the voice acting, and I am very pleased to say the voice acting in Call of the Sea VR is outstanding. With Norah being voiced by Cissy Jones (Delilah, Firwatch) and Harry by Yuri Lowenthal (Peter Parker, Spinderman – Miles Morales) adding all the emotion and feeling to the games narrative. Add to this the 3D audio and the atmosphere of the island is perfect and the audio design brings extra immersion and the island and story to life.

COMFORT/CONTROLS

The team at Out of the Blue game have made sure that all comfort options are available, meaning you can play the game how you like. From seated or standing position, teleport or smooth locomotion, and even implemented a point and click pick up system following feedback after release. Meaning you can play the game without discomfort breaking the immersion for those who suffer from motion sickness, and making it accessible to everyone.

TRACKED CONTROLLERS

HAND TRACKING

LONGEVITY

The game took me around five hours to get through, but it does seem like there might have been areas I missed exploring in that time. With many items in the game giving you more of the backstory of what has happened on the island and your husbands expedition, I am very tempted to revisit the game again to make sure I explore everywhere possible.

REVIEWED USING META QUEST 2

For the purposes of transparency, this review was created using a review code provided by the company or their respective PR company. The use of a press code does not affect my judgement of the product.

REVIEW OVERVIEW

Call of the Sea VR might lose some the stunning visuals from the original PC and Console release with the hardware limitations, but it certainly flourishes in VR in every other area. The game really feels at home in Virtual Reality, and like it was designed with the immersion that VR offers in mind – despite it being a port. With an engaging story, well crafted puzzles and a huge island to explore, its an incredible addition to the Meta Quest library of games, and one you should not overlook.