Alone Against the Static (2023) is the latest solo adventure for Call of Cthulhu. Set in the ’90s, it focuses on a couple who have hit a rocky patch in their relationship and have retreated to a secluded cabin in the hopes of patching things up. Of course, they don’t really get the chance, as something strange is lurking in the woods.
I don’t want to get into too much detail because I had a blast playing this and think it is well worth picking up. There’s a whiff of the horror films Resonance and In the Earth here, among the usual cosmic horror touchstones. And I can’t stress enough: in play, this felt like a horror story or a horror movie, not a game. I was locked in from the start and needed to know (but dreaded) what was going to happen next. And, because the narrative allows you to pick which half of the couple you play, it was just as gripping in my second playthrough. Part of this is down to the Log Sheet mechanic. The game text regularly has you check things off a list — inventory, but also experience and statuses — which allows the narrative to branch more elegantly than a more traditional set-up.
Nicholas Grey is the primary artist, inside and out, and does a primo job of complimenting the text and maintaining its tension. Get it, get spooked, but don’t listen to the static!
Okay, I gotta say – you sold me on this one. I’m gonna go out and buy it. While I always WANT to love the solo adventures (since I’m the Keeper/DM for our group,I never get to play the game otherwise), they often feel like barely glorified Choose-Your-Own Adventure games (and I’m never sure what to do when my character died. Do I just pretend they didn’t and continue? Or leave most of the book unfinished because I’m dead?)
But this…sounds pretty good. Thanks for the review!
Perhaps it’s due to having reread it recently, but from what I can tell, this scenario seems to carry more than a whiff of Laird Barron’s story ‘-30-‘. It’s one of his better known works, (having been filmed as 2018’s ‘They Remain’, which I haven’t seen) so it isn’t unthinkable that the author of this scenario would be aware of it. It’s also a cosmic horror story involving a troubled couple in the woods, creepy VCR tape and malfunctioning cameras, etc. It’s worth a read if you don’t mind some deliberate obfuscation.
I enjoyed They Remain, and Laird’s work generally, quite a lot! I interviewed him an age ago: https://unwinnable.com/2014/06/09/laird-barron/
That interview was great, doubt I would’ve found it otherwise. Thank You!