I was looking forward to this one since the kickstarter, as I was unable to participate at the time and instead purchased it at my FLGS. The PDF copy comes courtacy of Evil Hat's Bit and Mortar program.

When it comes to Lovecraftian RPGs, Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu is the gold standard, having carried the torch for the genre for decades now. But with Lovecraft's material clearly in the public domain, there as been a flood of Cthulhu materials in the last decade plus. Call of Cthulhu is as moderately complicated system, with the 7th edition now avalible probably the best version so far. So for a new Lovecraft inspired game to have traction, it can do so by having a distinctly different system. Fate of Cthulhu does this well. If you haven't played Fate before, I feel this is one of the best intros you can find. Stripped down Fate rules are baked into this book, allowing this to be a single book game if you wish. What Fate brings to the table is being much more freeform than CoC, which allows for more player and Keeper creativity and colaboration.

The second way for a new game to stand out is how the setting is different to explore Lovecraftian themes. When I read the concept of time travel, I was intrigued. The book fleshes out this idea very well, giving specific details in an abundance, so you can use what you like and discard what you do not. The PCs are desperate heroes, just like is often the case in CoC, but with clearer goals typically. I was reminded of Delta Green in this regard, with the war against the Mythos being just that, fought by soldiers.

If you love Fate and have never given cosmic horror a go, this is a gateway for you. If you love Call of Cthulhu and want to try a more freeform system like Fate, this is for you. What is most important is that this is doing something decidedly new and does it well. This was not only a solid purchase for me, it is in my opinion the best Fate book released so far.