Never play on a full bladder
Graphics- Cthulhu makes its own rules when it comes to graphics. Everything looks sort of grainy and dirty and generally pooped-on. But if your character takes some damage or sees something supernatural or disturbing, a filtering effect takes place over the screen. The color starts to fade and the camera shakes and things become blurry. This can creep you out or make you sick, depending on your visual fortitude. This is going to turn off a lot of gamers, but for many of us, it makes the experience more intense.
Sound- Creepy. Screams, scrapes, growls, and everything else are all top notch and downright disturbing. Oh, and the main character's voice work is top notch. He sounds like he digs playing in the Cthulhu universe.
Story- The tale is quite twisted and steeped in the occult. It draws from favorite horror writer H. P. Lovecraft's works. In case you don't know, he's probably one of the 3 most famous horror writers of all time (next to Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King). His stuff is unsettling and complex, and this game captures that well. The story is as deep as you want it to be. You can play through the story just solving puzzles and shotting baddies and see the twisted path of the main character. Or you can bother to read all the memos and journals and diaries scattered throughout the game and see the intertwining tales of other unfortunates. Gameplay- Here's where fans of standard shooters need take heed. There is no aiming reticle and the first half of the game is spent without a weapon. Plus, you're woefully outnumbered and outclassed, so lots of stealth is a must. If this is how you like your shooters, then you're in luck. Cthulhu is more about the atmosphere and the adventuring than busting heads with a well-planted slug. Yes, you'll do a healthy share of that, but you'll want to keep it to a minimum as much as possible. Shooting is really a last resort here.
In case you don't know yet, Cthulhu is a horror game, very gory, very dark, and very very unsettling. But if you enjoyed Condemned: Criminal Origins, then this could be your next love.