Call of Cthulu: The Wasted Land released, PC release date announced

Red Wasp Design released Call of Cthulu: The Wasted Land for iPhone and iPad on January 30, 2012. Now, they write in to announce an impending PC release on May 5. What is CoC:WL, you ask? I quote from the developers’ website:

‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ is a turn-based strategy/role-playing video game based on the award winning Call of Cthulhu RPG. The game is set in the midst of World War One and pits a team of investigators and soldiers against an ancient evil, one older than humanity itself, who is using the carnage of the great war to build an undead army deep beneath the battlefields of Europe.

There’s a very positive review of the game on GameZebo that puts this one squarely in tactical RPG territory, with much of the core gameplay sounding a bit like what you’d find in X-Com or Jagged Alliance:

Your squad members each have a certain number of action points per turn, which are used up by things like attacks, special skills, and movement. Making an attack depends on how many action points you want to use up: You can make a wild shot, which uses fewer points, or you can take aim and sacrifice said points for an increased chance at success.

Different weapons take different amounts of action points to use, too. That means the investigator armed with a pistol can make more attacks than, say, the dude who happens to be lugging around a rifle. Leveling up, too, is rather unique, since you characters gain experience by making successful attacks with the weapon they happen to be using.

Not surprisingly — since, after all, this is game that involves a lot of trench warfare —there’s a fairly complicated cover system in place. As is the case with real life, elevation and cover can be integral to ensuring your team’s victory over the forces of evil.

We’ll be doing a review of this one in the not-too-distant future, so stayed tuned!