Narratively strung together with an otherworldly mystery, the game focuses on a handful of intricate puzzles that offer multiple independent solutions and force you to solve increasingly difficult questions, largely without holding your hand. Ultimately, The Cosmic Abyss, like its titular character, uses its overtly ominous presentation to hide even more secrets to discover underneath.

"Where The Cosmic Abyss differs from many of its counterparts, though, is in its lack of combat."

The Cosmic Abyss puts you into the shoes of Noah, an ocean investigator looking into the mysterious disappearance of a group of miners on a deep-sea expedition. Because of the nature of the investigation, you are sent alone with only your AI companion, Key, to track the miners and quickly find yourself sent through a portal to another world and set out on a mission to both understand the mysterious and unsettling world you’ve found yourself in and ultimately find your way back home.

Though it might be inexplicable to send someone alone on this type of mission, it properly sets the tone for the ominous and secluded experience you have through Noah, and naturally, as a Lovecraftian horror game, you begin to come across signs of other races with intelligence far beyond humans and terrifying supernatural beings.

Where The Cosmic Abyss differs from many of its counterparts, though, is in its lack of combat. While it’s possible to die at the hands of a monster on a couple occasions, this is a linear puzzle game wrapped in an atmospheric horror shell, as most of its 7 main chapters consist of one complex self-contained puzzle. These puzzles strike a delicate balance between forcing you to explore each area thoroughly and learn the rules of the game without becoming overly obtuse.

This is where you can clearly tell the influences from immersive sims like System Shock in the way you explore each area and are forced to largely handle things on your own. One highlight puzzle, for example, sees you having to open a portal on the other side of an uncrossable body of water. To do this, you have to learn the steps to complete a sacrificial ritual by translating the ritual’s steps, locate a number of crowns throughout blood-red waters, and manipulate the crowns in the right ways to trigger the ritual. Structurally, many of the puzzles, including this one, are familiar, but they each have a distinct eerie atmosphere with strikingly beautiful visuals and largely intuitive level design that propels you to always be finding new clues, even in areas you thought you’d already explored completely.

One of the key ways this is done is through your Sonar ping, which allows you to match frequencies with certain objects and locate other objects in the area with the same material. This means that the game doesn’t highlight every key item needed to progress. Those crowns, for example, are made from Bones, and you can only search for the other crowns made of the same material once you’ve found the first.

"On top of this, there are options to ask for more help from your AI companion in the form of three additional clues in certain situations."

This is a clever way to keep pushing you to experiment if you get stuck, even if this is where the game’s creativity can give way to opaqueness when you don’t quite know if you even have the material you’re searching for. As you work through each chapter, the puzzles increase in variety and difficulty. Another puzzle has you finding a way to either destroy or get around a massive otherworldly monster by finding its weaknesses, and later game puzzles require you to truly come to grips with the world you’ve entered and the characters within it.

When you put it all together, these puzzles can get very challenging very quickly, but fortunately, the game offers a bevy of accessibility options that help you solve them. Each discovery is placed on the game’s Mental Map, which allows you to sort clues, color code information, and often pose a deduction question that, when paired with the correct clue, gives you further information to help answer a question.

This system can be finnicky, especially when you’ve solved a question yourself but the correct clue for the deduction isn’t clear, but for puzzles with this much background and this many disparate clues, the Mental Map is an incredibly helpful way to sort and organize information, especially if you’re coming off multiple play sessions or just want to avoid having to backtrack just to read an old tablet.

On top of this, there are options to ask for more help from your AI companion in the form of three additional clues in certain situations. Some of these are direct answers to the puzzle, while others are less clear and more directional, but having these as optional additional help is a refreshing way to give the player a bit more of a hand when they need it without being overly invasive.

This is the type of game where knowing the solution to puzzles will ultimately hamper replay value, but to counteract it here, most puzzles have two independent solutions that connect with an in-game feature called Corruption that reflects how much you’ve given in throughout the game. Where puzzles have multiple solutions, one is typically slightly easier or more transparent but increases Noah’s Corruption, while the other is more difficult or complex but either reduces or has no impact on his Corruption level.

For example, the puzzle involving the sacrificial ritual, when completed, increases Noah’s Corruption by going through with a human sacrifice to open that portal, but there is an alternative path to open the portal through an underground electric system. Though they’re both solutions to the same problem, they hardly overlap, and this approach offers a ton of flexibility in how you approach each chapter.

 The Cosmic Abyss incorporates these choices on a narrative level by making Corruption an evolution of the moral slider. Chapters are interlaced with cutscenes that pull you further into this mysterious world as you follow the paths of the miners and have further revelations about yourself. There are immediate questions about the motivation of the miners to come to this place that subtly touch on the theme of corporate greed and power, but the overall narrative becomes more of a milquetoast Lovecraftian ride that hits many of the same plot points that you’d expect from this setting.

"There’s enough variety to make the runtime never feel overly long, and the optionality within each chapter provides a significant amount of replay value."

The performances are passable if a little stiff, but the writing often leaves something to be desired with the way it conveys information. It doesn’t always seem to know its expectations of the audience’s awareness of the lore, so characters can flip between overly explaining a revelation to having full conversations about it without introduction.

This sometimes clunky dialogue makes it feel like an exercise in getting from one visually interesting place to the next where the appeal is often more in the visual variety than in any major narrative reveals. Your corruption level directly impacts the final act, with multiple endings based on how much you’ve given in throughout the game. Combined with the opportunity to solve different puzzles, these different pieces of content offer an intriguing reason to come back for another 10-to-12 hour run through the campaign.

On the technical level is where the game flounders, at least at launch. Environments are beautiful and highly populated with dozens of clues and other interactable items, but this often comes at the expense of performance. Much of my experience was plagued with an apparent memory leak bug that caused the game to slow down over time and ultimately crash, particularly when looking through the text-heavy Mental Map. It’s a shame because when it runs well, this game is incredibly smooth with almost instantaneous loading, and while it saves frequently enough that it didn’t end up costing any significant time, it’s still an immersion-breaking experience.

Though familiar in its setting, The Cosmic Abyss uses the known Lovecraftian environment to enable the creative and intricate puzzles at the center of the experience. The constantly unsettling atmosphere provides an appropriate backdrop for you to explore each area and answer the increasingly complex questions the game throws your way, and there’s a satisfying sense of progression as you continuously unlock new clues and solve deductions.

The Cosmic Abyss is clever, varied, and propulsive, and while it doesn’t break new ground narratively, The Cosmic Abyss brings enough new to the table with its puzzle design to warrant revisiting a well-trodden influence.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

The trailer provides a brief rundown on the story setup for Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss. The narrative revolves around a submarine station in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which had been shut down by the powerful mining corporation Ocean Eye. While the official statement was that it had simply been decommissioned, intercepted transmissions have indicated that there is more going on than the megacorp would want to admit.

The crew had started reporting hearing strange whispers in the dark, as well as the discovery of an underwater city resting on the ocean floor. The player takes on the role of an investigator working for a group known as Ansel with one simple mission: figure out what happened to the crew and figure out what they might have discovered. As the trailer notes, this isn’t a rescue operation. Rather, it is a “containment assessment,” and the player is only to “observe and report.”

To aid the player in their efforts, they have access to two distinct tools – an on-board AI assistant named KEY, and the SONAR, which can be used by the player to track down clues, which in turn can then be analyzed in the Vault. Game director Tommaso Sergi had outlined some of the gameplay and story elements of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss earlier this month, noting that the studio wanted players to have “eureka moments” like they would in titles like Outer Wilds and The Forgotten City.

“From the start, our goal was to create a narrative detective where knowledge is the key,” he explained. “We wanted you to experience the same genuine ‘eureka’ moment that we all had in titles like Outer Wilds or The Forgotten City, when everything finally clicks, and the path forward seems clearer than ever.”

The horror game has been released to divisive reviews, with its aggregate score on Metacritic sitting at 70 based on ratings by 12 critics. While some have praised its polish and narrative, others have noted that it suffers from slow pacing that can potentially leave the player feeling frustrated.

Earlier this week, the studio had also released another trailer, this time around focusing on how the investigative horror game makes use of the PS5’s features. This includes haptic feedback and adaptive triggers from the DualSense controller, as well as support for 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Atmos through the console’s 3D audio capabilities.

Players who might be uncertain about whether or not they would enjoy the game can check out its free demo on Steam. Along with this, the studio had also released a trailer showcasing the opening minutes of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss back in February. And if you’re looking for more Lovecraftian horror, ACE Team is working on the co-op title The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu, details of which you can check out here.

For those who haven’t been keeping up with this one, it puts you in control of Noah, an occultist looking into the mysterious disappearance of miners on a rig in the Pacific Ocean. Your investigation is going to take you to some dark places, and Cthulhu seemingly lurks at the end of your road, ready to tear your mind apart if you let its influence overtake your senses.

The PS5 version immerses you in this frightening world with the DualSense’s haptics and adaptive triggers coming into play at key moments. Dolby Atmos support will have you right in the middle of it all if you’ve got a compatible set of speakers. We’re wondering if we’re brave enough for it under those circumstances, but immersive experiences like this are always a welcome sight.

If you’re planning on diving into the depths on PS5, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss launches on April 16th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

“From the start, our goal was to create a narrative detective where knowledge is the key,” explains Sergi in the trailer. “We wanted you to experience the same genuine ‘eureka’ moment that we all had in titles like Outer Wilds or The Forgotten City, when everything finally clicks, and the path forward seems clearer than ever.”

Sergi also showcases some of the fancy tools that players will have access to throughout their time in the game, like the SONAR and the vault. These tools can be used alongside each other to give the player a clearer idea of what kind of mysteries they might be dealing with. When it comes to the main setting of the game, Sergi confirms that players will get to explore areas that range from the submerged forest of New England to the city of R’lyeh.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is being developed for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Its story revolves around occult investigator Noah, who is looking into the mysterious disappearances of miners at an underwater facility in the Pacific Ocean.

The game got a trailer back in February that gave us a look at its opening moments. It helped establish the general atmosphere of the upcoming game quite quickly, and also provided a clear look at the kinds of threats players will have to deal with during their investigations.

Another trailer was released last month, providing an overview of the gameplay in Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss. This includes things like underwater exploration and how analysing clues works. The protagonist’s companion—an AI assistant named KEY—was also shown off in the trailer.

Interestingly, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss isn’t the only Lovecraft-themed game published by Nacon. ACE Team’s The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu was unveiled back in November 2025 and offers a different take on the Cthulhu mythos by focusing on co-op gameplay rather than a single-player experience.

The title involves teams of four players setting off to a mysterious island that is seemingly filled with treasures (and strange horrors). While players have the simple goal of getting their hands on as much treasure as possible and escaping from the island, things start getting complicated when strange creatures appear. Players can also start suffering from hallucinations, which can range from simply being jump scares to larger-scale ones that can convince you to kill your allies. It’s out on July 15th.

As for Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss, it’s coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on April 16th. A free demo is available now on PC.

However, it has given us a better look at how we’ll be spending our time in the depths. The mysterious collapse of an underwater mining facility in the Pacific Ocean is the catalyst for an investigation into something very sinister that’s going to need a lot of painstaking research to fully uncover. You do that by analyzing clues, which consumes the limited energy that you can recover by collecting organic resources scattered around the area.

While that part sounds all right, Cthulhu’s corrupting influence is something you need to watch out for as the lines between reality and illusion blur, and you cannot trust your own senses. Fortunately, KEY, your AI assistant, is there to help, and your onboard SONAR is going to be quite useful in scoping out the areas ahead of you as you make your way further into the depths.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss launches on April 16 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

You play as Noah, an investigator of the occult, looking into the disappearances of miners at an underwater mining facility in the Pacific Ocean. The year is 2053, but Lovecraftian horror continues to weave its morbid magic in a world that does the sub-genre’s themes justice. The story begins with a montage of events that set up a clear sequence for Noah to follow as he descends into the depths of R’lyeh. His sanity – and all of ours – is going to be tested, and Cthulhu lies in wait, tightening its grip on the player.

Noah isn’t alone, though, as Key, his AI companion, is by his side, assisting him in a myriad of ways while serving as a lone voice of comfort in the darkness that he’s about to dive into. Cthulhu: Call of the Abyss is going to be featured at the next Nacon Connect alongside other titles if you’re looking to get another glimpse at the title. Until then, you can check out the latest trailer below.

Each character has their own backstory and abilities but can be customized depending on one’s play-style. Along with investigating environments and sneaking around, there are extensive conversations and choices to be made. Several morally questionable decisions may arise, and you can switch between each character throughout the story.

Of course, this isn’t the only World of Darkness title currently available. Sharkmob recently released its free-to-play battle royale title Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt for PC and PS5. Paradox Interactive is also working on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 which had faced several delays before being assigned to a new, unknown studio. It’s currently in development for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

As part of the Ventrue clan, who are a classier breed of vampire, Galeb often wears a blue suit with rings. He’s considered the oldest and most powerful vampire in Boston, especially after the other Elders departed, and serves as the Prince’s right-hand man. Nevertheless, he’s fairly weary after everything that’s happened and also feels the pull of the Beckoning.

To better showcase Galeb’s ability, he has a fourth Discipline (the others get three) which provides higher resistance to physical and mental attacks. Despite his status though, there’s a lot of “pent-up anger.” Where it ultimately takes him remains to be seen.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is out on May 19th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch. Digital pre-orders are currently live and you can check out the last trailer here.

Digital pre-orders for the narrative RPG are also live on all platforms. Those who pre-order gain a pack of alternate outfits but console owners also gain instant access to Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York. Swansong’s role-playing mechanics seem more complex in comparison though, as a recent gameplay trailer showcased.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC via the Epic Games Store on May 19th. It will also release at a later date on the Nintendo Switch. Stay tuned for more details and gameplay footage in the coming weeks.

Central to what you do and how you progress in the game will be skills and attributes, displayed on each character’s character sheet, which, when upgraded and evolved, will enable more actions, from persuasion to getting past locked doors. Meanwhile, disciplines are vampiric powers that players can use in various ways, from one discipline that lets you render yourself invisible (and other objects, if you upgrade it), to another that heightens your senses and allows you to see potential futures.

According to Big Bad Wolf, collectively, these skills, attributes, disciplines, and how players choose to unlock and upgrade them present a vast number of options to players for how to play the game and progress through any given scenario. Interestingly, however, using skills and attributes uses up willpower points, and using disciplines fans the flame on your vampiric thirst for blood. Players will have to pick the right time to hunt victims to quell their hunger, because if you want too long, you might lose control of your character.

Meanwhile, there are traits, which are negative or positive effects governed by success or failure in various situations or by the decisions you make, while talents are described as “side goals” that will reward players if they stick to certain play styles. The more that talent grows, the more you get better at those actions- so you could potentially also get better at controlling your hunger.

There’s plenty more that is highlighted in the trailer, and collectively, it definitely looks intriguing. If executed properly, a game that’s offering engaging role-playing end proper choice and consequence mechanics can be hard to say no to. Here’s hoping this one can pull it off. Check out the trailer below.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong – originally due out in February – will launch on May 19 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.