The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu

The image shows a view from inside a cave looking outwards. Outside is a jungle, with four adventures brandishing weapons, torches and crosses in a defensive stance. The cave itself however, is made of flesh, and has numerous tentacles protruding out of various areas, pointing towards the adventures. The text on the right says 'The Mound; Omen Of Cthulu' in white.

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I’m here checking out the latest release of The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu, a cooperative-exploration game. Where you alone or with three friends will begin to uncover what Lovecraftian horrors that ACE Team, has created on the island. If you’re like me and love anything cosmic horror or at least has Lovecraftian themes, then you can pick The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu on Steam. Maybe you are looking for some other suggestions to scratch that Lovecraft itch, then check out my articles for Necrophosis, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss, and Stygian: Outer Gods.

Don’t trust anything, not even your own eyes!

A man stood in a dark forest wearing nothing but a hooded garment that has cloth going down to cover is genitals. He is seen holding a torch with a blue flame. — Hello mysterious stranger.

Gameplay

Upon loading into The Mound, the player will be able to select from one of four characters to play from. From what I played selecting a character is more for visual and effect rather than offering bonuses. After loading onto the ship player will select a contract to take before heading out on an expedition. Each contract offers different equipment for you to use and also a minium treasure amount that is needed to complete. Failing to meet the quota or dying on missions has no negative impact so far.

The player is looking up at a towering tree or maybe a creature, it has branches that look like tentacles. But it is slightly hidden among the mist. An Axe is shown equipped in the players right hand. — I really hope that’s a tree.

However, looking for treasure serves only as a side objective to the real goal of The Mound, and that is uncovering the island’s mysteries. Players will accomplish this by locating journals which in turn will unlock more map destination leading closer in-land. In the levels players will find various things such as weapons, rations, artifacts, and of course treasures! Sadly the inventory we get is limited, but we are accompanied by an Ox cart, that is used to store excess items. The cart will move alongside the player as they explore the area. Ending the expedition will require all players to return to the starting point. No need to worry about getting lost as the cart helps out by leaving a salt trail while it followed.

Your friends won’t be the only thing with you on this island.

While The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is playable with friends, you can play solo. As the game provides an A.I. companion. Now, the bot doesn’t really help much besides combat and even then that causes a lot more problems. The bot’s main reason for being there are thanks to the games’ mechanics on not being alone. Otherwise, your character will begin to go insane and might be targeted by specific monsters. Because what is a Lovecraft themed game without a little insanity. Although there isn’t an exact bar for insanity, there are plenty of things that will hurt the player because of it. Various fun events can trigger when under the influence.

A cart being pulled by an red-haired ox and riding it is the owner who looks like a monk. On a tree close by to the cart is a large avian creature but instead of normal head it is more human-like. The player is hilding a musket. — Might as well shoot the pidgeon.

These events can become more apparent if you make too much noise, like running with a full set of armour, or using fire arms. Which is where the bot becomes a little more trouble than he’s worth. Melee weapons and crossbows will be the key to keeping things stealthy, since most basic creatures are easily killed from attacking behind. It is without saying that you can’t just go in all gung ho either, thanks to the noise and melee weapons having durability. That I learnt the hard way.

While aboard the ship

I have already mentioned you can equip gear before setting out, but here are a couple more things. Players are able to upgrade their health by bringing back set amount of deer, this also increases the potency of rations. Another area on the ship is the shop, here we can purchase Occult Artefacts that will prove useful when going a shore. Such as the Medallion that helps with highlighting more treasures. Additional Artefacts are found in the levels and once located, we can acquire them from the shop. The currency needed will be awarded to you after finishing a contract. And bringing home the required amount of treasure, the more you obtain, the more tokens you get.

Graphics & Audio

The graphics have a slightly janky look, kind of like The Forest. They’re detailed and shiny but also have that sort of ‘doughy’ look to them. I will admit, the design of the enemies are varied and interesting. Another pretty interesting, visual feature is the game making your AI companion look like something else to mess with your head. It can range from a monster, a ghost or a tree hopping like the Pixar lamp.

A journal entry of a creature known as the Y'm-bhi. There is a large amount of text explaining an experience with the entity. While the right side shows a well drawn image of the monster. — I assume this is only one of the small ones?

The audio cues are pretty decent too and do a good job of both telling you what’s going on and putting you on edge. It may not be the most elegant presentation on both sides, but you can tell they’ve put effort into it. While I used the headset feature, it wasn’t really for me.

Longevity

After 5 hours roughly of gameplay, I have only managed to reach I think the fourth or fifth area. This is mainly due to just how many enemies spawn that I can’t kill or simply sneak past. Which leads me to replay missions until I eventually get a smaller hoard. Since The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is more tailored to the multiplayer side of things, you can definitely get a fair amount of game time. It offers levelling, and there is also unlockable characters that the achievements say players can gain.

A man in what looks to be priests attire. Behind him is a protrait that looks to be of a man holding a new born child with a glow showing a crown. To the right is a text in red which says "Fray Gaspar" that is the name of the current character. Below is a small text box in white giving a brief bio on his background. In the centre at the bottom of the screen are four portraits for the other characters the player can select. — Pray for thee, who aims to travel the perilous unknown lands.

For the achievements themselves, The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu offers 25 to earn. Some of these are for repeated actions like, reviving allies, headshots, and levelling up your account. Although the levelling itself doesn’t reward anything from what I have noticed after reaching level 5.

Final Thoughts

My main issue with The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is that it isn’t too solo friendly. I have died too many times to the amount of hordes that just appear with no real way to clear them. As I said above the A.I. companion solo players get does little to actually help, with it firing off gunshots. Or just being another enemy you will need to constantly have to watch your back for. For the beginning of the game I wasn’t expecting so much aggression from creatures as they will easily out number the player. The cart has a terrible pacing to the player too, making it more punishing if you wish to explore even a little further from it. Since you will be waiting forever for it to come to you, and of course I don’t wish to run all the way back just to unload two items.

After teaming up with fellow TC memeber Stu, it did not make the hoards any easier. There are just too many to deal with, and thanks to the enemy being able to disarm or grab the player at any point.

Frame rate and combat

When it comes to the combat, striking monsters feels impactful, but there isn’t a lot that helps the player defend. We get a shove but with how close you need to be, can make it risky to do. Maybe adding dodging or at least a block would really aid in the players’ survival. Until something like that is added, I’ve used the bot to goad enemies to attack him, then I would attack. Which does make fights a tad more manageable in The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu.

The amount of monsters that spawn can differ a lot, as at time there would be hardly any enemies. I have enjoyed the game to some extent, and I am curious to know just what is causing everything. But most of these issue might be easily resolved when playing with friends. I did suffer with a lot of frame issues and no matter what I did in my settings the frames wouldn’t get better. What I did find strange however, is that when I played with friends there was no stuttering at all. So it could not be my computer.

So from a more solo I think The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is very trial and error based. With just a smidge of a gamble on how many monsters you will get, this makes it a lot more challenging compared to friends. Which might leave you feeling more annoyed and dropping the game entirely. But on the other hand, if you manage to play with a few friends, then a lot of scares and fun is to be had. So I will be giving The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu the Thumb Culture Silver Award.

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

About Author

Kyle McGrath

I’ve enjoyed video games for as long as I remember and I don’t think there isn’t a game I wouldn’t play. For reviews, I try my best to make them simple and easy to understand. With so many games released daily, I attempt to play them all.

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The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu – PC Review