I’ve always found the concept of the Cthulhu character to be strange. He’s a character that I knew about for a long time due to cultural osmosis, or from TV shows and movies that reference or feature him. After all, a giant otherworldly flying octopus monster that could destroy the universe but is sealed away in a different dimension seemed pretty far-fetched, so it came as a shock when I learned how long and storied Cthulhu’s history is. I’m also squeamish around horror games, and it’s always been a genre that wasn’t really for me. That said, it’s never been one that I would reject playing outright. As such, when I learned that Big Bad Wolf Studio made a game that combines both Cthulhu and the horror genre with a puzzle-solving mystery, I was quite interested. Unfortunately, when I finished Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss, I discovered that it was guilty of something scarier than otherworldly horror: a lackluster experience.
Journey into Mystery
As Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss began, I was pretty excited to see what the narrative had in store. The premise of investigating a missing friend and going down a rabbit hole through the history and lore of Cthulhu was a pretty good hook. However, as the story continued, it just became more and more of a slog. The game overloaded me with lore and history that, while interesting, constantly had my brain spinning due to just how much there was to decipher. From aliens to ritual sacrifices to cults worshiping the monster, the game kept introducing more and more ideas with little time to breathe, and it all began to mix together, leaving me with more questions than answers.
The Cosmic Abyss has you playing as a character named Noah, an occult investigator who at first seemed really interesting but failed to keep my interest. It’s a shame because later in the game, they give a bit of backstory to his character, which did seem kind of interesting initially. Yet, even though I wanted to learn more, the game just kept moving along, making Noah feel more like a vehicle than a person. The Cosmic Abyss also features an AI partner named Key, who was alongside me throughout the whole game. Key sometimes helped guide me to the right path, but mainly served as a form of solace against the game’s isolation. This is because, besides one other person that sparsely shows up, there aren’t really any other characters in the game besides the group of antagonists, if you can really call them that.
One of the villains present, aside from the giant otherworldly squid, is the owner of a large ocean mining company. He initially went missing alongside most of his crew, and it was originally Noah’s mission to learn why. However, as I ventured deeper into the abyss, I discovered, through audio and video recordings, that he went mad with power due to the influence of Cthulhu. It’s a very strange plot point as it really doesn’t lead anywhere. It felt like it was just there to extend the plot and have a reason for there to be bodies lying around everywhere. It certainly doesn’t help that I never saw the character in person. I wish the developers did more with this element, such as having his group impede my progress or actually see them start losing themselves to the corruption. As it stands, though, it felt like a potentially good storyline that ultimately went nowhere.
Of Blood and Bone
The best part of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is the deduction and investigation elements of each chapter. Every chapter forced me to go deeper into the strange world of Cthulhu and all his lore and backstory. Each area is large and well-designed, and teeming with clues to read over and analyze. In order to unlock a clue, I just had to hover my mouse over a highlighted icon and read its information. Usually, it has just the basic info, but most times, when the analysis prompt shows up, it gives more insight and unlocks a frequency to use.
Frequencies are how most clues are found throughout the adventure. Selecting one and using the radar shows you clues scattered nearby, along with certain ones changing the shape of items that I could pick up. It was fun at first as it made puzzle solving unique, but later on, the game started making important frequencies very easy to miss. The deduction aspect, on the other hand, was pretty simple. Certain clues turn purple in the menu and ask a question that can only be solved by selecting the right clue and inserting it into the question. Initially, the mechanic made me want to keep looking around to find the right one. As time went on, the sheer number of clues became overwhelming.
Analyzing items is important, but doing so continuously drained my stamina bar. In order to increase it, there are orange fungus clusters that I had to inject into Noah’s body. There are two variations of the clusters: a young type and a mature type. The latter gives enough for a full syringe worth of stamina, while the former gives only a third. It felt strange to me having two different variations instead of just one, as the closer I got to the end, the more clues I needed to analyze. Plus, the game kept giving me the smaller clusters, meaning that I was constantly running low on stamina. While there was an option to analyze while drained of stamina, with the cost being a small increase to Noah’s corruption, overall, the mechanic felt half-baked. It seemed like it was only there to keep me from analyzing everything instead of being super important.
The Cosmic Abyss also features a corruption system: the closer I got to Cthulhu, the more it infected my brain. If the corruption fully took over, it wouldn’t end well for the protagonist. Luckily, each time I solved a deduction properly or did certain steps a different way, it would lower the hold it had on Noah’s brain. I assumed that the more Cthulhu took over, the more I would see visions of it, or even get scared by the monsters it was sending to drive my character to the brink of insanity. Instead, all it did was make the “corruption meter” go up. It was pretty odd, as when the corruption mechanic was first introduced, I was shown a shadowy monster from far away, which made me think this is how they’ll blend the horror aspect of Cthulhu with the corruption. Yet, aside from one other time, there weren’t any other monsters present throughout the whole game. Certain upgrades can help slow the corruption, but those were optional.
Horror from the Depths
Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss, while having tons of promise, had several issues that started to pile up as I played more. For starters, to fully utilize the deduction system, I needed to scan everything. Even the most inconspicuous items could hold the clue to what I needed to advance, and it led to a lot of backtracking. Which would’ve been fine if the world were interesting, for a game that’s about cosmic horror and eldritch beings, I wanted to feel unnerved or feel a sense of dread while exploring, but all I felt was nothing. Each chapter and each area feels empty and devoid of any life. While it does make sense, as bodies are scattered all over the place, there still wasn’t anything scary about The Cosmic Abyss.
It could be that the developers wanted to create horror that was more atmospheric in nature, rather than being reliant on scares, but instead, it just felt hollow. As previously stated, there were maybe one or two moments when an actual monster appears, but they don’t do anything. One is seen from far away, while the other does get up close but disappears before it does anything. I wanted to be scared, I wanted to solve puzzles while having a sense that Cthulhu was going to destroy reality or anything, but it was all just empty. Sure, each area is well designed, and the music is great, but none of them made me feel immersed. I felt like I was in an escape room, solving puzzles, trying to get out instead of stopping an other-worldly monster.
The absolute worst part of the game for me was the final area. After a long back and forth between various rooms, I learned I had to place runes on a cube to open the path that would lead me to the end. Around this part, I began to outright lose my will to keep playing more. It’s a long back-and-forth scanning various parts of similar-looking rooms, and also going back because I missed a material I needed to change the shape of an object. What really broke me was the finale itself; to place the runes on the cube correctly, I had to rotate it to align with the stars. Sometimes the game wouldn’t register the rotations properly, meaning I had to rotate it all over again. It became a long, painful process of thinking I did it correctly, but I either placed it on the wrong side or didn’t rotate the cube properly. When I finally got it right, the cube glowed a bright green, but instead of feeling accomplished, I felt relieved that it was finally over.
Beneath the Surface
I went into Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss with some interest and an open mind. Even though it was part of a genre I rarely played and featured a creature I knew very little about, I was still hopeful that it would turn me into a fan of both. Instead, all it did was push me away. I’m sure fans of Cthulhu will find enjoyment here, but for newcomers or people looking for the next fun puzzle adventure title, I’m not so sure. The game is solid at first, but as it went on, it became too much. Rather than feeling like an adventure worth solving, it became a chore to the point that when the credits began to roll, I was grateful that the game had finally come to an end.
The Cosmic Abyss suffers from an overly long and exhausting plot, a forgettable and frankly unnecessary villain, a stamina system that felt tacked on more than anything else, and an empty, boring world. I wanted to like this game, but the negatives heavily outweigh the good. It’s a shame, because this is a game that does have potential, but it’s never able to realize it at all. In the end, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is a mystery best left unsolved.
Disclaimer: Nacon provided a PC (Steam) copy of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss for review purposes.
