Call of the Sea was a pretty good puzzle game. The puzzles ranged greatly from very simple to very obtuse, but they also weren't a hindrance to the story, which was an interesting tale of a woman traveling to a remote island to find her husband while trying to deal with the usual Eldritch horrors. Call of the Elder Gods is the unexpected sequel, and we got a chance to try out the demo ahead of the latest Steam Next Fest.

The game is set in the late 1950s in Arkham, Massachusetts. As a student of Miskatonic University, Evangeline Drayton has been suffering from recurring dreams about a jungle that's located on another planet and a floating statue with a sphere of black ichor within. She's also had some bouts of amnesia, so Evangeline seeks some help in interpreting what all of this means. She finally gets that in the form of a meeting with the university professor, Harry Everhart. When Evangeline arrives at his manor, the professor is missing, so she investigates the estate to see where he could be.

One interesting bit in the demo is that, just like the first game, you'll get some introspective narration as you look at objects in the game. While you'll get some dialogue from Evangeline, you'll also get some from Norah, the protagonist of the first game. Depending on the ending you got from the first game, her presence is perplexing, and the level featured in the demo doesn't outright say why she's able to observe what's happening. This provides the game with one its first big mysteries, so there's already a reason for players to seek out what's happening in the full game.

Much like the first game, Call of the Elder Gods plays out from a first-person perspective. Almost all of the interactions you perform are done in service of puzzle-solving, whether that's looking at an object from all possible perspectives to find the next clue or hitting a switch for a given puzzle. The rest of the interactions give you more insight into the story, with this level featuring things that help flesh out Harry's character and backstory. Just like before, you have access to a notebook, where very important clues are automatically written down for you. All it takes is the press of a button to bring up the journal; you'll come to enjoy this shortcut, since you don't have to navigate through various menus to consult it.

When it comes to the puzzles, the ones in the demo range from being simple to obtuse enough to require brute force. The flashback sequence where you're reliving a scavenger hunt that Norah participated in during Christmas is a good example of the former. The methods used to get to the solutions are clever, and the notebook goes a long way in helping you keep track of things that would be a chore to remember. It doesn't take long for you to figure out what to do. For the latter, a good example has to be the book puzzle. Parts of this one are satisfying to solve, but it also feels like there is just enough information missing that you'll understand parts of it while you're guessing at the rest. Whether the full game falls into this trap is a mystery, but for those who disliked that part of the first game, it looks like the sequel will follow a similar vein.

There is no final release date for Call of the Elder Gods yet, but based on the experience in the demo, it looks like this can be a winner. The puzzles vary in quality but seem quite good overall, while the story promises to be more focused on adventure and less on emotion. This is especially true when the trailer shows you traveling to several different locales as if this were an Indiana Jones-style journey. We can't wait to play Call of the Elder Gods once the full version releases.