Developer: ACE Team
Publisher: NACON
Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PC
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu – Review
Even though, when growing up, console multiplayer games were extremely popular, they have reached a new peak in popularity due to the convenience of online gaming. Games such as R.E.P.O., Murky Divers, PEAK, and many others attract a varied crowd of gamers, with some of them taking these titles seriously while others are playing them for the silly things that keep happening. Nonetheless, some titles further build on this concept, like UNDERWARD, which still has a few funny elements but provides players with genuine spooky and more serious experiences. In comes ACE Team’s The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu, a multiplayer-focused extraction game in which you cannot trust your own eyes thanks to its unique sanity system. We were lucky enough to give this one a go, and while enjoyable, the game didn’t quite nail it for us.
Story
Even though The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu does have some story value, the narrative takes the backseat for most of the experience. The game is set in the 17th century, where a Spanish expedition to Chile is supposed to find occult items and signs of a worshipping cult. The lore is loosely based on the Cthulhu mythos by H.P. Lovecraft, but you don’t need any real prior knowledge here. You’ll get a short introduction on what is going on, but after that, the narrative is presented via found letters for the most part. While a more fleshed-out plot would have been nice here, we didn’t mind the absence of a lot of narrative components.
Graphics
Graphically, The Mound is a very good-looking game. Even on our aging setup, the game still looked great on lower settings. Though it’s not smart within the context of the game, we often found ourselves just looking around, taking in the scenery. There are a lot of small details, and while some assets are used quite a lot, we still loved whatever the game threw at us. The enemy designs are proper spooky and creepy, which certainly helped to set the mood for this multiplayer-focused horror title. We did encounter a few clipping issues here and there and some flickering when a few parts of the environments didn’t load in fully at the start of new expeditions. For the most part, however, we didn’t encounter any major issues.
Sound
The sound design is great here. While the music itself might not always stand out here, it does set the mood for encounters. The SFX, however, are handled amazingly, as environmental sounds may indicate that enemies are nearby. You’ll hear things crawling in the bushes, or you’ll hear enemy grunts, which all made some of the expeditions really creepy. Other SFX, like combat sounds and just walking around, were decent and also provided proper audio feedback. The voice acting was not bad, but it wasn’t anything to write home about either.
Gameplay
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu could pretty much be described as an extraction FPS, albeit in the 17th century, making ammo and guns rather limited. You’ll often have to resort to using melee weapons or even a bow and arrow. The game’s shtick is not just collecting enough items to clear the level you’re in, but also the fact that you’re dealing with hallucinations that may make it impossible to differentiate friend from foe. Stray too far away from the group, and they might perceive you as a threat when you return and vice versa. This unique gimmick does allow the game to do a lot of original things, but it also comes with its limitations, of course.
Most of the levels follow pretty much the same gameplay loop where you and other players explore the environment to find precious (occult) loot. You will have to accept a contract before embarking, which will give you specific gear options for said contract. If you don’t bring back enough loot, or you meet your untimely demise, you will not be rewarded. You get tokens for completing contracts, which will allow you to buy a few tools to be used on missions, but whatever you buy disappears after a single mission, just like gear you find during an expedition. This leads us to one of the biggest issues: there is no real goal here, and the actual upgrades you can unlock aren’t really worth it. Sure, it’s nice to unlock things like an additional inventory slot, but overall there simply isn’t much to do other than leveling up and unlocking minor upgrades. Luckily, some levels do have a few side objectives to complete, which slightly spice things up.
We mainly played the game in short bursts, and even then we noticed that the experience is much more fun with more players, though it does suffer from quite a few design flaws. We found the combat to be really clunky and punishing, and while the latter made sense, the overall clunkiness didn’t. Our swings with melee weapons felt awkward, and sneaking up on enemies to backstab them often didn’t trigger properly, resulting in regular combat where our stealth didn’t even matter. Some enemies also require too many hits to be downed, and there are also a few that you almost cannot hear approaching you. The sanity system was fun and original here, but sometimes it just kept doing the same thing over and over again, ruining the potential ‘surprise’. Multiple times in a row, one of our party members kept turning into a walking tree, to the point it somewhat lost its charm.
Conclusion
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu does have a great core concept and a rather enjoyable gameplay loop, but we mainly enjoyed it in short bursts. The game can grow a bit stale after prolonged sessions where you end up doing the same thing over and over, especially if you play solo. The game is still best enjoyed with a group of friends who can join you. Even so, the game oozes atmosphere and still has a lot of potential to turn things around and become a hit within its genre. We hope the game receives new content, new goals to work towards, better balancing, and improved controls. All of that being said, you could do far worse than this one for your next multiplayer session(s).
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