Fortune and Glory…and monsters
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is a visually impressive extraction/horror/adventure game, that has players running plunder missions for a greedy Captain. Based on the novella The Mound from H.P. LoveCraft, the developers at Ace Team did make a few changes, now the Mound isn’t in Oklahoma but instead in a jungle set in 1652. From the initial landing on the island the eerie atmosphere is palpable, there are unsettling noises in the distance, players will see hulking creatures who seemingly disappear behind thin trees; it’s all very mystifying and scary at the same time.
While The Mound can be played solo its clearly made for co-op play, if you are familiar with Lovecraft works then you know that character’s sanity usually plays a lot into things, and this game is no different. The longer players spend time in the jungle, the more it will begin to feast on their sanity. This presents in some really interesting ways, one of my earliest experiences was when I saw what I thought was treasure but when I approached it, I instantly fell into a spike trip. The island will make players see things that aren’t there, now if I was playing with friends they would have seen the spike trap and could have warned me, yet by bot companion just watched me take damage.
MSRP: $29.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $24.99
At its base level this is an extraction uh, I guess we can say shooter because there are muskets and flintlocks. Players will begin on their Galleon just off the coast of the island. After choosing a mission the next big choice is what weapons to take. Inventory space is not unlimited and players will only have a limited selection of weapons and things to take on each mission. These items are shared so if you are playing in co-op (and you really should be) you will have to discuss with the team to figure out who’s going to take what. Weapon choice is really important because the weather can affect you in some rough ways, if it’s raining your muskets will usually misfire and you will be stuck fighting some weird worm, humanoid monster by swinging the musket like a bat. And it doesn’t help matters that The Mound is a really difficult game, especially solo.
Not only are there many different enemy types but there are also illness and debuffs. For instance, if players stray too far from the group they will be hit with isolation, that will make them more susceptible to the island’s tricks. Like I said, it can make you see things that aren’t there and even create clones of your party. So, you could be standing next to who you think is one of your team until they grab you and stab you in the gut. That’s really where the horror elements come into play, sure there are creatures, big and small but there are lots of human sized zombies, what I assume is a millipede that just multiples when you kill them and lots of other crazy stuff. There wasn’t a lot of jump scares which is fine with me, I think the atmosphere, music and overall vibe is what really sells the “scary” for me.
As players navigate the moody jungle you can’t ever forget that your reason for being here is to grab all the loot. As players move through the world they will find lots of goblets, trinkets and other treasures to bring back to the captain. All of this was thrilling and fun for a few hours, but after that the game stops feeling fresh and feels really repetitive. Maybe it was because I was playing solo but between the difficulty and the repetitiveness, I was indeed losing my sanity. Enemies are tanky and before players get some levels under their belt they can’t block or deflect attacks. Once they are upgraded though they will unlock abilities and improve their stats.
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu isn’t a bad game by no means, I enjoyed my time with it. But it’s a game that’s built for multiplayer, and while players can enjoy it solo; I feel its at the sake of actually not experiencing all the game has to offer. If there was anything that I would say is ‘wrong’ it would be the difficulty. The enemies can be pretty hard and they have some attacks that just lock on and can’t be avoided and it feels cheap at times. For fans of extraction games this one is something a little different, I’d really recommend playing online and not solo; your sanity will thank me.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
