Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is a wonderful narrative adventure that rewards you for the time you spend with it, offering a great story and some fantastic detective elements.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss can't find anything interesting or new to say about Lovecraft's work, but its detective adventure gameplay is an extremely promising foundation.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss does ample justice to its grim source material, fashioning a compelling investigative adventure which generously drips with atmosphere but one which is sadly somewhat undercut by a wealth of technical issues that take the sheen otherwise what is a highly enjoyable Lovecraftian romp.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is the latest Lovecraftian-themed game to hit the shelves, and while I can’t speak for its contemporaries, I have to imagine it stands towards the top of any ranking list, because it is, in many ways, an incredible experience. There’s a lot here for puzzle fans to love, there’s a little for horror fans to love, and woven through all of it is a narrative that doesn’t ever try to reinvent the wheel but is able to solidly execute and deliver a good payoff by the time you hit credits.

While there are many games based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss stands out thanks to its focus on you conducting an investigation. With some genuinely tough puzzles to solve, it's just a shame that one or two are more frustrating than they are fun, and that there are numerous technical issues to deal with too.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss has some interesting ideas, but it hides them behind poorly explained puzzles and deceptively linear design.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss doesn’t truly excel at anything, chucks in a few unnecessary mechanics, and can be technically wobbly, but fans of cosmic horror and in-depth puzzle-solving will surely enjoy it as a perfectly competent investigation game that offers a sinister and spooky edge.

Step into the shoes of an occult investigator up against the growing corruption of Cthulhu, gather clues for careful analysis, and choose how to solve puzzles to either stave off the corruption or let it spread.

Adaptations and interpretations of H.P. Lovecraft’s works are plentiful and everywhere. In games, we have the likes of Call of Cthulhu or Alone in the Dark, which drew incredibly heavily on the Lovecraft Mythos. Whilst masterpieces such as SOMA, which don’t directly adapt the mythology are based heavily on it, instead building their own world on the themes. Cthulhu is the most well-known work of Lovecraft, so it’s unsurprising that it gets so much love in the gaming world, and I’m her...

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss takes an ambitious swing but it just doesn’t fully connect. It nails the atmosphere and tone but struggles where it matters most. The investigation systems are deep, yet buried under a clunky complex UI that often turns discovery into frustration. There’s a compelling game here but maybe it’s for a very specific type of player. In the end, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss feels like a strong concept held back by execution.

Thalassophobia (the fear of deep bodies of water) is a perfect fit for first person games, as the restricted vision and immersion, not to mention the added inertia from being underwater, always adds extra tension and panic to the experience. Add in the constant dread of Lovecraftian horrors from beyond human understanding and you have the raw ingredients for terrifying gameplay. Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss promises to make the most of this setting and add in complex puzzle solving and investigative detective gameplay, but an unfortunate lack of polish and some annoying bugs hold it back from tak...

However, there were some stumbles along the way that were hard to ignore and ultimately took some of the shine off the overall experience. Ultimately, the game did make me lose my sanity, but not always for the reasons I expected. While the atmosphere is great, the lack of technical polish in the latter half of the game is a significant hurdle. If Big Bad Wolf can iron out the performance following launch, this will be an indispensable title for fans of the genre. For now, it's a brilliant but bruised descent into the abyss.