Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land Coming to PC

Posted by Rampant Coyote on April 19, 2012

I’ve been looking forward to “Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land” coming to the PC for a while, as I still have a “dumb phone.” And I’ve been a fan of Lovecraft for a long time. I’m also a long-time player of Call of Cthulhu, the dice-and-paper RPG that this game is (at least loosely) based on. Interestingly, it was originally created by some returned LDS missionaries right here in Utah. As it was explained to me, it was originally designed a little bit as a joke – sort of a “what would happen if you applied the D&D rules to Lovecraftian monsters? Your party would all go insane and the be devoured by the monsters, that’s what!” So the game is pretty exciting to me, and will be available soon (May 5th) on the PC. That’s the good news.

The bad news? Intel AppUp. Yet another app program.

I mean, I’m glad to see Steam face some competition. I’m a little worried about that. But what I really want is … well, more things like GOG.COM, where the games are stand-alone and the distribution mechanism is optional and really only used for downloading. I seriously do not need a dozen gaming apps running simultaneously on my machine.

So as much as I’m looking forward to this one, the AppUp thing may be a deal-killer for me. We’ll see. But hopefully it will find its way to other “services” – or no service at all, which would be preferable for me. I’d just as soon buy direct.

Here’s the press release:

‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ Summoned to PC via the Intel AppUp^SM center:

Whispers in the darkness today confirmed that the critically acclaimed ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’ today announced their hit game is coming to PC. The developers, Red Wasp Design, revealed the existence of a Cyclopean pact with the Intel AppUp^SM program to spread the insanity onto laptops, Ultrabooks and desktops worldwide. The Intel AppUp^SM center is a service that aggregates, curates and distributes validated digital content delivering a fuller, richer experience on the PC.

The game will launch on the AppUp^SM center on 5^th May 2012 at the RPC Germany international RPG event. The games developers will also be at the event demoing the PC version of the game to fans and fellow gamers. The price point will be confirmed on the release date. AppUp^SM is free to install and has lots of games and applications on it for Windows PCs. The PC version of the game runs in widescreen and has been optimised to run on laptops, Ultrabooks™ and desktops including support for Windows 7 touchscreen powered PCs.

Supported by the Intel AppUp^SM developer program, the PC version of the game will also feature language support for German, French, Italian and Spanish gamers. The game’s designer, Tomas Rawlings said, “We’ve had lots of requests from fellow gamers and fans of Lovecraftian horror to bring the game to PC, and thanks to Intel’s support that will now happen. It’s also great to be able to get the game translated into more languages, as Lovecraft’s work has a universal appeal.”

Intel’s support also means the game will also be localised into German, French, Italian and Spanish.

Stefan Englet, Director AppUp Content EMEA said, “Intel is pleased to help Red Wasp Design fulfill the many requests from worldwide gamers to launch a PC version of ‘Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land’. We hope you enjoy playing the game and browsing the other great PC content in the Intel AppUp center.”

For those new to the cult title, the indie game is a turn-based strategy RPG inspired by the works of cult horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. The game was developed in co-operation with Chaosium, the publishers of the cult horror role playing game, Call of Cthulhu. The game features nine 3D levels set in the trenches of World War One. In ‘The Wasted Land’ the player controls a team of up to six investigators charged with uncovering a deadly inhuman conspiracy underlying the clash of empires of the Great War. Barbed wire, mustard gas and machines guns will prove to be the least dangerous thing that the investigators will encounter as they venture out into No-man’s land to solve the mystery of the Wasted Land. As the game progresses, the player can build up the skills, weapons and equipment of the team to suit their playing style. As well as the physical danger, the investigators must guard their sanity against the myriad horrors that threaten to destroy it.

To stay in touch with the developers and get updates on the game, help and strategy guides and more, you may want to connect to Red Wasp Design on Facebook, Twitter (@redwaspdesign) and on their site at redwaspdesign.com

Filed Under: Game Announcements - Comments: 9 Comments to Read

Gareth Fouche said,

That looks really awesome. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. 😀
Andy_Panthro said,

There’s a risk that if there are too many competitors with a steam-like distribution/service model, that one (or more) will fail and access to paid for games (or in effect services) would be lost.

At least with GOG you can download and store your games to avoid such problems.

Anyway, a bit more on-topic, I like the look of this. I’m a horror fan, and like a bit of Lovecraft (that sounds a bit wrong, doesn’t it?), his writing has been massively influential.

Not sure I like the look of intel AppUp, but if it makes it’s way to a more normal distribution site I might pick it up. After all, how many RPGs give you skills like “Psychoanalysis”?
BellosTheMighty said,

Ummmm… You do know that you can shut those things off, yes? With Steam, it’s a simple as right-clicking the icon on the taskbar. You can even set it not to run on startup and circumvent the problem entirely…
Xenovore said,

@Bellos: That’s not the point. The point it that some of us don’t want or need yet another lame distribution platform on our systems! We’ve already had Steam for a while now; we do not need WindowsLive, Origin, Impulse, AppUp, or whatever other flavor of the month that comes along.

Either go the GOG way and just give us the games, or use Steam, which already does everything a distribution platform needs to do, and does it quite well.
Xenovore said,

Additionally, after checking out AppUp and seeing what it has to offer, there is absolutely no point to ever using that POS. Their game catalog looks like the dregs left over from failed iPhone games. And the sorting is completely bogus; I mean, “Murder She Wrote” is listed as “role-playing”?!

After seeing that, I’m kinda boggled that they decided to use AppUp. I know I wouldn’t want my game getting lost in that pile of junk.
WhineAboutGames said,

“After seeing that, I’m kinda boggled that they decided to use AppUp. I know I wouldn’t want my game getting lost in that pile of junk.”

There are reasons why a developer would bother with them (Intel gives out nice swag) but it must have been some seriously nice swag to be worth ONLY going with them and not selling the thing properly themselves…
Press Coverage of PC Release Date Announcement | said,

[…] rampantgames.com […]
Xenovore said,

@Whine: “nice swag,” i.e: “bribery”. You’re right, that would have to be some amazingly nice swag, ’cause like I said, I wouldn’t want my game mixed in with all the rest of that crap. There’s absolutely nothing there that allows a game to differentiate itself from the crowd and actually sell itself. (I mean, I took one look and immediatedly said “meh” even though there might actually be a few good games in there somewhere…)
Thomas T said,

I never used Intel AppUp before, so its another one of those online drm thingy right… *sigh* I guess I won’t be buying the game then 🙁