The Calling preview – Why’d you wanna give me the run-around?

Walking the back streets of the city can be dangerous. There are rumors of a deadly Horde of monsters, a strange glow is coming from the other side of the city, and someone is chasing you down for murder. Something draws you closer to a mysterious power. Can you grow in your abilities and escape the threats? In The Calling, you may just find out.

The Calling is an upcoming game from designer G. Wesley Cone and publisher Mere Pursuit. Typically, most games are designed for a multiplayer experience and have a solo mode tacked on, but for The Calling, it feels like the solo game is the star with some elements added to play up to four players. I’ll primarily be talking about the solo experience here and discuss some of the elements that can be added in for multiplayer.

In The Calling, players control characters who are running through the alleys of a city trying to gain experience while avoiding a shifty government “suit” and the mythical beasts who lurk in the shadows. Along the way, they spend experience points to level up their abilities, or gain new ones, and try to be the best runner through the city. In a solo game, players keep pushing their luck for as many as five rounds, to see if they can attain the rank of Level 10 Sky Captain. In a multiplayer game, players are achieving goals and feats to outscore their opponents.

At the beginning of the game, players create their character by choosing one of the three premade options or making a custom build. Players place colored cubes on their player board with starting speed, defense, hit points, and emergency kits. Players also pick a starting ability to help them in different phases of the game. The different builds give boosts to speed, defense, and hit points and have different difficulty ratings. When doing a custom build, some stats have minimum requirements with the rest of the 15 points distributed as the player chooses.

Each round takes place over a series of turns, which happen simultaneously during a multiplayer game. Each turn has three phases:

Movement Phase: players roll a six sided die (d6) in their player color and add their speed to the value. Players then move down the main alley pathway, choosing to break off into a side alley if they cross an entrance. Side alleys hold victory points and emergency kits that players can collect when they stop at or pass a space. After collecting one of these rewards, players can choose to go back to the main alley.

Encounter Phase: Players roll another d6 of their player color and reference the encounter chart based on the value. These encounters can involve choices to help people in the alleys, navigate traps, and even grapple with the “Horde.” If choosing to fight, players roll a d6 and add their defensive value to the total. They then roll a “horde” twelve sided die (d12). If the attack value of the horde is higher than the defensive value of the player, the player loses HP by the difference. If the defense is equal to or greater than the horde, they gain an XP reward. 

Level Up Phase: Players have an opportunity to spend their experience points to heal and level up their character stats and abilities. Players can make up to three different purchases during this phase. 

After all players have done their upgrades, the Suit gets to move. The suit starts with one d6 which is rolled for movement. As the suit progresses down the main alley, they have the opportunity to gain a second die for the round. If the suit ever catches up to the player, or the side alley entrance their pawn is in, they capture the character and immediately drop the HP to zero. If a player has an emergency kit, they can spend it and reset their health back to three. With no emergency kit, the game would end immediately.

The turn phases continue until the solo character pawn, or all pawns in a multiplayer game, reach the end of the board called “the Flux.” At the flux, characters are able to upgrade and then move their pawns, and the suit, back to the start line. Each subsequent round increases the power of the suit and the horde by increasing their respective dice pools, but players carry over any upgrades and abilities they have leveled up.

In the solo game, players can choose to end the game after any round, but the game suggests players try for a complete five rounds. Players then compare their progress to a chart for their title. Over the course of four games, players total their XP and compare it to a leveled chart to get their overall ranking.

The multiplayer game differs in only a few ways. Multiplayer games only take 2-3 rounds, depending on player choice. During set up, players are given three feat cards to choose from that are basically end game goals. Each completed feat is worth a point during end game scoring, and each unfinished feat subtracts a point. When moving, the suit ends their movement at the first player they reach. Rather than being knocked out of the game, players earn scars that can be spent during the Level Up Phase, but are worth negative points at the end of the game. Players determine a winner by scoring an achievement board and completing feat cards. Achievements include first to finish round 1, most defense, most scars, and even a special Riverborn goal that I’ll leave you to find on your own.

Overall, the game is very unique and has a lot going for it. Each game takes very different paths depending on the dice rolls and how you level up your character. After you get a hang of the game, experiments with different character builds give each run a different flavor. The game looks more complicated than it truly is. There are copious player aids to direct you through each phase of the game and each ability is clearly outlined. The solo version is truly where the game shines. Once you have learned the system, a game can be played very quickly. I think during my third or fourth game I was clocking in at 30 minutes, having memorized the different encounters and being able to keep the game moving. I have complained in the past about solo modes only having a scoring chart at the end to tell you how good you did and the lackluster payoff, but with The Calling, the ability to really customize your game each time made me want to come back and try a new character build. 

The multiplayer experience felt like “multiplayer solo” for the most part. The old joke kept coming to mind about not being the slowest person in the group when being chased by a bear. There is little to no player interaction, other than trying to stay ahead of the slowest player so they’re the first to get nabbed by the suit. The biggest change is trying to meet the goals, which just requires looking at someone else's board and trying to push your stat rows higher rather than taking big strategic moves. 

Overall, I enjoyed my time with The Calling, even in its preproduction state. The solo gameplay was a lot of fun and allowed me to play a round a night after work for a week or so. I’ll be interested to see the final production of the game and the expansion of lore surrounding the backstory of why the characters are running and what happened to the city. There are already some fun secrets to discover in the game, but I’m wondering if there will be more hidden treasures embedded throughout?

The Calling is headed to Kickstarter on September 1, 2025. Check out the crowdfunding page and the Mere Pursuit website for updates and information!