ACE Team's The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu knows this very well. Shifting the setting of modern sci-fi horror to the oppressive, muggy jungle of the Conquistador era, this 4-player co-op extraction game is dripping with atmosphere and genuine frights.
While excelling immensely in making players scared of it, The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu struggles badly with the implementation of its gameplay elements. Released as a 1.0 title, the game seems more like a rushed Early Access project that lacks some quality-of-life features and defensive combat mechanisms. I've spent dozens of hours wandering around this cursed canopy, experiencing some of the most terrifying moments in modern co-op horror games and dealing with immense frustration.
Here is my review of The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu.
Atmosphere & The Madness System
To be frank, the environmental design and the "Madness" system are a masterpiece. Once you leave the cozy world of the galleon and start exploring the mainland using rowboats, the jungle becomes alive, hostile, and unsettling. Built with the Unreal Engine 5, The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu has great visual effects, including sound design that creates an environment where you are always looking over your shoulder.
However, the true genius of the game comes from how it uses sanity. Each time you get damaged or see any eldritch horrors, you will lose some amount of your sanity meter, and the game will start using your own perceptions against you. What is even better, hallucinations are not just screens filled with static; they are absolutely frightening and deadly. I've seen a huge moss creature appearing in a jungle clearing and disappearing right after I blink. Also, I have experienced the phantom proximity chat from my friends who weren't nearby me.
What is especially scary about The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is that you will be seeing horrifying monsters in the form of your fellow players. Since it is a game where friendly fire and lack of resources are key mechanics, having a system where you will be seeing your fellow survivors as horrific creatures is truly terrifying. And what is even scarier is the fact that dead teammates will resurrect as corrupted undead creatures that hunt you down. Psychological horror here is unparalleled, creating a level of tension that games like Phasmophobia or Lethal Company only touch.
Gameplay & Combat
Here is where cracks appear, and they are serious. The combat system in The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is extremely old-school and artificially slow.
You control heavily armored explorers, and you move in a way similar to how they move. You move like a tank stuck in the mud. However, the enemies here are extremely fast, aggressive, and relentless. The main problem is that this game currently doesn't offer any defensive mechanics. There is no way to block, dodge, or parry. If you enter the melee range and try to attack a creature with your sword, you will exchange a hit with the monster. It doesn't test your skill, it tests if you brought enough healing items to compensate the damage.
Ranged combat is also problematic. Guns are deadly, but it is extremely risky to use them. Every time you shoot your flintlock or musket, it makes an extremely loud noise that attracts all the jungle's horrors to you. Moreover, when the dynamic weather system starts raining, your flintlock simply stops working. It is a really cool mechanic, but sadly, it is poorly communicated since it is not explained in the prologue. As a result, newbies are constantly pressing the shooting button, thinking that something went wrong.
In case of being surrounded by a group of enemies or grabbed by a tentacle, you will simply sit helplessly watching yourself die. You won't feel outplayed; you'll feel cheated. Developers have promised that a blocking mechanic will be added in one of the post-launch patches, but such an important mechanic should be added to the game right from the start.
Progression & Quality of Life
In the genre of extraction games, the loot and progression systems tend to be quite rich. In this game, however, it is absolutely absent.
If you survive some run with a legendary flintlock and beautiful armor, you won't be able to stash this equipment. Instead, the extracted loot will dissolve into generic tokens and unlock permanent items from the shop. Since you can buy any item from the menu at any time, you will have no "gear fear". Also, meta-progression (character leveling) is extremely weak with small stat buffs, which you probably won't even notice. It makes your efforts wasted rather than invested.
Also, the inventory management is extremely poor. You cannot move items freely through your slots, and you cannot sort the equipment. Even such simple tasks as sorting your stuff have glacial animations that often get you killed in battle.
Performance & Crossplay
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is a demanding game. Running on Unreal Engine 5, it takes every resource from your PC. On my rig (RTX 4080 and Ryzen 7 7900), I could barely get 45 to 55 FPS with maximum settings on 2160p resolution. You are practically forced to use the upscaling tech (DLSS or FSR) to achieve at least 60 FPS, and sadly, it introduces minor but noticeable input lag to the game, which is already slow.
Crossplay is also a big issue. While this game officially supports cross-platform multiplayer between PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, there is no match code or friend code system. To connect to the lobby of a console player, you need to wade through the unfiltered global lobby. Also, proximity voice chat sometimes breaks in the mixed lobbies, making this game literally impossible to play.
The Verdict
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu has a beating heart of an absolute masterpiece. It does a great job with cosmic horror, psychological paranoia, and environment atmosphere. When everything is working, and you are screaming over spatialized voice chat to a friend whom you mistakenly think is a monster, you have a truly unforgettable co-op experience.
However, it is ruined by an archaic combat system, absence of quality-of-life features, poor progression system, and punishing optimization. Being sold for $29.99, it is sold as a finished product, but it plays like an Early Access beta.
If you have a dedicated group of friends who love horror and have the patience enough to overlook the issues, you can enjoy this game. However, if you want a polished tactical extraction game, you'd better wait for six more months while the developers fix this ship.
Score: 77 / 100
Pros:
- Masterclass in oppressive atmosphere.
- The Madness system and hallucinations are terrifying.
- Unique combination of nautical and cosmic horror elements.
- Great enemy variety.
Cons:
- Slow, frustrating melee combat with no defensive options.
- Loss of extracted loot eliminates the essence of the extraction genre.
- Demanding performance requires upscaling on modern hardware.
- Lack of basic QoL features.
Developer: ACE Team
Publisher: Nacon
Release Date: July 15, 2026
Reviewed On: PC
Genre: Co-op Survival Horror / Extraction