If there’s one thing in the world I’m always excited about, it’s a game that uses H.P. Lovecraft’s work to bring us something ominous and mysterious. The way Lovecraft handles its psychological horror is just my kind of tea, so you could imagine I was excited when ACE team announced a co-op extraction game within the space of Lovecraft. Let’s dive in.
The game of The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is fairly simple. Together with a couple of friends or online strangers, you will have to go on an expedition on an island where possibly highly valuable mysterious idols and other treasures can be found. On this island, there are not only multiple regions to discover, each with its own fauna and flora, but somewhere between the tropical trees and ruins, you will find “The Mound,” which is the most important region of them all. The region with the most riches a man can imagine. However, as you would expect, this expedition will be more than the conflict between men and beast; you will be confronted with paranormal sightings along the way as well.
“This kind of trickery is the game’s best trick.”
For people who know H.P. Lovecraft’s work, you will know that this mysterious cosmic being wants to separate you from the company and relieve you of your sanity by altering the world around you by playing tricks on your mind and eventually strike when you’re at your lowest. This is an amazing feature within the game as well, where everyone around you will see other things and try to convince them from their own truth that’s been altered by Cthulu. You might see rain while your friend might see blood dripping down from the sky. You might find an amazing musket in a chest, where others might see you goofing around with a stick. This kind of trickery is the game’s best trick.
Eventually, the core gameplay loop is all about delivering treasures from the environment to your ship. Each expedition starts on the ship where you choose a contract (current objective of the expedition), choose your weapons, and even armor or occult attributes that can help you against the monsters on the island. During your expedition, you will be accompanied by a chariot where you can deliver the stuff that you find. This chariot will follow you, but the moment it realizes you’re in danger or it has become the target of an attack, the chariot will run away. It will leave a white trail of dirt on the ground, so you can always find your way out of the jungle. You can also command your chariot to go to the ship to end the expedition. You will only gather the stuff on the chariot when at least one of your team members or you survives the attack and arrives at the safe zone.
“It’s the glue that keeps all of the different aspects of the story together.”
You will also find logbooks that have some important information on your findings or the world around you. These logs will open up the way to “The Mound” or give some bestiary advice on how to approach some of these mysterious enemies. These logbooks can be read through, but some of these logbooks ( that are more important than others) will be told at the end of your expedition. The voice acting of these storytellings is decent enough to keep you engaged in the story. It’s the glue that keeps all of the different aspects of the story together.
Before you can truly explore the island, you will be able to do the tutorial. You get a sense of what the future holds for you and some of the mechanics that are available to you. Due to some technical issues, I couldn’t complete the tutorial as intended. Thankfully, the tutorial is optional, so you aren’t forced to do this tutorial again before you can really play the game. My gamer instincts took over and said: “We’ll learn it while playing…”. Eventually, the game’s mechanics are simple enough to learn along the way, which is definitely a plus for me. Just straightforward, the way I liked it. We went in dark, and it was the best decision we made.
“So all of the visuals and sound design choices are a big plus for me.”
The first thing I noticed was the amazing visuals the game has to offer. Even with it being an online co-op game, the game runs smoothly on PC, which impressed me. The only thing I didn’t like was the shakiness of the camera. I can somewhat understand why they made the shakiness the way it is, but for me it was too much. It was one of the first things I immediately shut down, and it didn’t break my immersion whatsoever. Visually, the game truly looks stunning, and I do have the feeling that the jungle around me feels alive and that there’s constantly someone watching from behind. The way they’ve implemented fog and ray tracing truly makes the jungle feel vivid. Not only is the game amazing to look at, but the sound design in the game, especially the sounds in the jungle or the moment ominous sounds surround you the moment when you’re alone, adds up to the eeriness they were trying to accomplish. In a Lovecraftian-style game, you have to have this feeling of being watched and constantly tiptoeing, because Cthulhu (story-wise) can have this feeling of “he’s always there, waiting for the right moment…”. So all of the visuals and sound design choices are a big plus for me.
It’s not only the sound of this ominous being that’s watching you, but everything in the game can make sound. The branches can break, you can step on shards of broken pottery, the loudness of your guns, the reaction of the beings attacking you, the vibe, … everything sounds perfect. This is one of those features that makes the game challenging as well. The jungle will react to the sounds you’re making. Every gunshot can be an alarming tone for the beasts around you, and they will come towards you. The game also uses your communication as a tool and feature within the game. You will have to be close together to hear each other; the moment you’re far too far, you won’t be able to hear each other, and the game will abuse this. The environment is also very dense with different fauna and engages you to explore; you’ll often find yourself alone because something sparkled your eye and you wander off. This, of course, won’t end well for you: people won’t be able to track you down and respond to your cry for help. The only way you can find your way back is by this “whistling” mechanic. You can “whistle” very loudly in the jungle, and your teammates will automatically whistle back. You will be able to see where the sound is coming from on- screen because you don’t have a mini-map to find your grounding.
“It will create some unique experiences to say the least.”
Just like any other Lovecraftian-style game, the game features an insanity system, and this might be one of the most innovative and interesting features of the game. The longer you stay on the island, the deeper you venture into the jungle, the more damage you take, the more you wander off, the more cursed loot you’re picking up, … adds to this invisible insanity meter. Your character will hallucinate, and you will see things that your team members won’t see. It starts very friendly by showing you more animals around your or gentle whispers, but in the end you will see blood dripping from the sky, a darkened sky, team members turning into fake enemies, sticks will take on the form as unusable weapons, traps will disappear and will become inviting by covering itself by “something that catches your eye”, you will stare yourself in the eye, armies of enemies will disappear when you come to close, … the elements of “losing your sanity” are seriously present. This progression will have an effect on how every expedition is going and how you fare with your team members as well. It will create some unique experiences to say the least. Some elements truly catch you by surprise, and it can cost you your life.
Each contract you accept will expect a certain amount of value that will be the sum of all the treasures you’re bringing forth from the jungle. Each contract also offers you certain weapons and tools that can ease your expedition. Most of the time, it seems the amount of items you can get is enough, but during your expedition, these items will quickly be used up, and it will make your journey to the depths of the jungle even more treacherous. By getting other items each time, it will definitely heighten the replayability of the game.
“But you just miss some depth to keep the game interesting.”
Things I truly hope will change over the course of time: a good progression system. The game tries to be an extraction shooter with different people, but each person has purely another aesthetic; there are no abilities or talents included within the game. This makes the game a bit boring in the long run. I love the way they’re going, but I’m afraid people will easily be bummed out. The only progression system there is that you can level the rank of your character, which allows for an extra item slot or new routes to venture through the jungle, but that’s it. You don’t have any attribute system or abilities that could amp up your gameplay experience. You also earn some tokens that count as currency, which allows you to upgrade certain weapons for one run or replace them with something better. You can also use tokens to buy certain occult items that allow you to tackle some enemies better. But you just miss some depth to keep the game interesting.
Technically speaking, the game looks great, but combat mechanics feel a bit underwhelming in my opinion. You have ranged and close- combat weapons to keep the enemies at bay, but some of your close-combat techniques are easily dodged. You also can’t dodge yourself, and a jump button is missing. Not that this jump ability is game-breaking, but it allows for some interesting interactions. Also, you have the opportunity to perform stealth attacks, but not every stealth attack’s being registered properly. This feels bad in certain situations. In other words, the engagement with the enemies as a whole feels a bit clunky and could use a clean- up.
Conclusion:
The Mound: Omen of Cthulu is a gripping Lovecraftian co-op experience that excels in atmosphere, sound design, and its brilliantly unsettling insanity system, creating genuinely unique moments with every expedition. While the combat and progression systems still need refinement to sustain long-term engagement, the game’s eerie charm and psychological horror make it a memorable and highly promising adventure for fans of cosmic terror.
7,5/10
Tested on PC