The Mound: Omen Of Cthulhu is a new co-op horror experience based loosely on the work of H.P. Lovecraft and his short story of the same name. The Mound is set during the Spanish Inquisition aboard the Tempestad and follows a group of explorers in search of treasure and The Mound…
ACE Team, which is known for its story-driven single-player games like The Eternal Cylinder and Rock of Ages, has gone completely out of its comfort zone and not only taken on a horror title, but also co-op.
With publishing falling under NACON, does ACE Team have what it takes to take on cosmic horror and come out the other end unchanged?
What is Cosmic Horror?
For you to understand exactly what The Mound is and how ambitious ACE Team are to take on Cthulhu and the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, we first need to understand Cosmic Horror.
Rather than focusing on gore or jump scares, cosmic horror is about humanity’s insignificance to the scale of the universe. It’s about forbidden knowledge that often leads to madness or despair, and indifference rather than evil.
Unlike traditional horror, where villains can be killed, cosmic horror often ends with the protagonist being unable to overcome or even comprehend what they have encountered.
So, with our rag-tag band of adventurers setting out into the dense forest in search of treasure, how can you make a co-op experience make you feel alone and meaningless?
Expeditions
The core gameplay loop for The Mound is simple. Go to the island, collect as much treasure as you can carry, and return to the ship. Simple right?
At the start, we get a choice from four separate characters. There are no powers or abilities, just simple frail humans that look like they haven’t had a hot bath since, well, ever. Each character has a back story, but these are just cosmetic differences.
Next, we choose our task. Most of them require you to return from the island with a certain amount of treasure. Others have more significant success requirements.
Now it’s time to load up with supplies.
However, you can’t just take whatever you want. The captain releases certain equipment for you to use, which is shared amongst the group.
There is a mixture of weapons (both melee and ranged), healing items, and food. There is no point in someone taking the armour and a bow, seeing as you would hope they are not close enough to need it. Give the armour to the guy that has the sword, who will be up the front carving their way to greatness.
Then you need to choose where you will be landing on the island. At the start, there are only a few to choose from. If you can find the log-book from a previous expedition and return it to the boat, you will unlock different entry points.
The Mound of Madness
Once you are on the island its time to start exploring. The goal is to fulfil your end of the agreement and return to the boat.
There is no map and zero waypoints, so you feel like you are exploring an unknown Island. The longer you stay on the Island, things start to blur. It’s so easy to get turned around because everything starts to look the same.
Thankfully, you have an ox-drawn cart that leaves a trail of white dust behind it, so if you get lost, you can start looking for the trail.
The Mound is all about teamwork. If you get separated, isolation starts to become madness. The trees start to whisper, and their branches feel like they are reaching out to grab you. You see movement in the distance. Fantastic, I have found my team. Wait. Why are they moving weirdly?
Your eyes become your enemy. Hallucinations start to plague your vision, you hear your team calling out in the distance, so you start running towards safety. Just as you reach it, the ground gives way below you, and you fall into a pit of spikes.
While this has been going on, your teammates have been watching you running around, screaming, and then running into what is obviously a pit of spikes.
Each member of the team will see and hear different things. I was crouching down, opening a chest, and a teammate started wailing on me. I didn’t know what was happening, and I was screaming, WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? ITS ME!!!!. The Mound had turned off my mic, so they were unable to hear me. After we had failed the mission, they said I was covered in worms and didn’t look like me, so I needed to die.
Thankfully, when you do die, it’s not forever. If your body is not found, it will be absorbed by the Island. Then you come back possessed. You can see, but you can’t talk or control your character. So your team doesn’t know you are dead. Then all of a sudden, you unwillingly pull out your sword and bury it into their back. However, if they manage to notice you’re not talking, they can kill you again, and the possession is removed. You can then be picked up and popped in the cart for a revive.
Puny Human
As I mentioned before, you have no superpowers or abilities. You are very much a pathetic, weak, insignificant, weak, human. Did you say weak twice? Yep, I did. To emphasize how weak you are. Sure, you might have a sword or a bow, but what can that really do?
The answer is not much. Against one or two enemies you might be able to come out on top, but any more than that and you will be consumed by the forest. Your weapons are weak and often break after a few hits, the enemies will throw themselves at you, taking off significant chunks of health. There is no block or parry, it’s frantic swinging until one of you falls.
Deafening Silence
Where The Mound shines is the use of audio. The Island feels alive, and breathing. Everything makes a noise. Your footsteps, the clanging of your armor, the groaning of the trees. Wait, was that the trees? Once combat is engaged, it’s really a fight for your life. The yelling of your teammates draws more attention. Someone fires off a musket that sounds like a cannon. That draws more attention. Suddenly, you are overwhelmed, and the only choice is to run. But run where? If you do not have enough treasure, the ferryman will not allow you on the boat until you have fulfilled your end of the bargain. So back out you go to certain death.
Some expeditions you might not see a single enemy. Others you are overwhelmed mere minutes into your exploring. Such is the way of the Mound.
Difficulty, Progression and Solo Explorers
The difficulty is where The Mound loses me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying hard is bad, I love Soulslikes and will always attempt harder difficulties. With The Mound relying so heavily on communication, if you are playing with randoms who don’t talk, it’s an almost pointless endeavor attempting the harder quests. It has this artificial difficulty spike that seems to come out of nowhere and punishes non-communicating squads.
Each time you return with a logbook, you can start closer to the middle of the Island. Which has an increased difficulty attached to it. Your sanity is more fragile, and the enemy density is higher, and because combat is so basic, it leads to failed run after failed run. With my 33 completed expeditions, there were uncountable failures.
When it comes to progression, The Mound doesn’t really have any. Sure, you gain XP that levels you up, but because there are no abilities or weapon progression, the XP means nothing. You upgrade your inventory space so you can carry one more piece of treasure, but it holds no other advantage. Anything that you bring back from a successful expedition is also lost. So there is no hoarding good weapons or equipment to make the next journey a little easier.
If you are solo, the game is completely different. It becomes you sneaking through the jungle, avoiding everything until you go mad and lose. You do have one computer-controlled companion, but they are useless. They get stuck on trees, don’t pick anything up. Run straight at enemies when you are trying to sneak past them and generally make the game harder than it already is.
Disclaimer: This review is over 10ish days before release, so I had a mixture of solo and non-communicating squad mates that made the journey hard. I’m hoping once The Mound is released and more people are playing it will become a lot easier.
Journey progression is tied to your account. Meaning if you join another team and get closer to the Mound, you will have to do it again on your account. Which is also a bit of a turn-off.
Performance
For an indie developer’s first attempt at a co-op game, it ran very well. I never had any server issues. I played The Mound on Xbox Series X. The audio was incredible; however, the visuals were a little hit and miss, with textures popping in and out, and clipping issues, but nothing major. The way the game is designed, I couldn’t tell if there were meant to be invisible enemies or not. The character models are a little rough, and seeing gloves whether your character wears gloves or not is a little weird.
With the combat being such a major part of The Mound, weird hit boxes and you being locked in an execution animation while the enemy you are supposed to be executing is killing you can be a little frustrating.
Verdict
So, does ACE Teams do The Mound and Cosmic Horror justice? Absolutely. But with little seen progression and brutal difficulty spikes towards the middle of the game, it really will test your patience and put your friendships to the test.
If you are into horror and have a great team of friends to play with, The Mound is going to be an incredible experience full of joy and frustration. However, if you are a solo player or are going to rely on joining randoms, you are going to struggle with the difficulty of The Mound.
To leave you with a quote from H.P himself “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”
The Gamer Social Club was supplied with a review copy of The Mound for the purposes of this review
The Mound was reviewed on the Xbox Series X
The Mound will be released on the 15th of July 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC (via Steam)
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