Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is a Masterful Blend of SOMA and Resident Evil

3 weeks ago 9

Preview Cthulhu The Cosmic Abyss is a Masterful Blend of SOMA and Resident Evil

Published Feb 17, 2026, 12:00 PM EST

Covering the video games industry since 2017, with experience in news, articles, lists, and reviews (and I blame The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask for that).

If you are a fan of RPGs and want a third-person version: Tayná Garcia is a Brazilian journalist (but you can call her Tay) who ended up working with video games after finishing Zelda: Majora's Mask when she was a kid. With more than eight years of experience in the segment, she has been an assistant editor at Jovem Nerd in the past and is currently a contributor at DualShockers and a writer for gaming magazines for Editora Europa. Oh, and she may like Hideo Kojima a bit too much.

If there is one subgenre I am madly in love with, it is cosmic horror. I literally have a Cthulhu figure sitting right above the TV in my living room, so whenever a game draws inspiration from the Lovecraftian mythos, there isn't a chance in this world (and not even in other ones) I’m going to miss it.

And it is quite surprising how every title manages to bring a unique interpretation and a different story to the table by drawing inspiration from the twisted creations of H.P. Lovecraft. Each has its own merits (and slips, of course), from the suffocating atmosphere of Call of Cthulhu and the groundbreaking sanity system in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, to the unexpected blend of terror and coziness in Dredge or the retro charm of Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.

Best Cosmic Horror Games List Look Outside The Sinking City Bloodborne

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From The Sinking City to Bloodborne, take a look at 10 games that are heavily inspired by cosmic horror.

However, to this day, nothing has been able to dethrone Bloodborne, one of FromSoftware's greatest masterpieces for me, as the game that most perfectly captured the essence of cosmic dread. Well, at least until now, because practically out of nowhere, a worthy contender has finally emerged.

Into the Depths of Madness

Preview Cthulhu The Cosmic Abyss is a Masterful Blend of SOMA and Resident Evil 1

Developed by the incredible folks at Big Bad Wolf, who you likely know from their work on Vampire: The Masquerade — Swansong and The Council, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is an investigative title that doesn't just borrow elements from the Cthulhu mythos, but also dives headfirst into them – and quite literally, in fact, and you will understand why soon enough.

At the developers’ invitation (thanks, Nacon!), I was able to play through the first two chapters (which lasted over three hours) and attend a special presentation with the game's director, Tommaso Sergi. He explained that the developers' main intention was to try to imagine a world that expands beyond Lovecraft’s original inventions, which immediately made my experience with the game click. “We pushed this mythos a little bit, in the most respectful way possible,” he explained, showing a clear and infectious excitement for the project. But let’s start at the beginning.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is an investigation game from a first-person perspective that puts you in the shoes of Noah Williams, a veteran investigator initially tasked with finding a colleague who has gone missing out of the blue. Upon arriving at the last location she was seen, he discovers a scene of absolute horror and madness, filled with various nods to cults and the obscure. However, I’m going to stop myself there – the less you know about this part going in, the better.

The developers' main intention was to try to imagine a world that expands beyond Lovecraft’s original inventions, which immediately made my experience with the game click.

What you can and should know is that the search for his missing partner leads to a new, mysterious assignment that turns out to be an underwater research station that everyone believed to be decommissioned is actually very much active, and some seriously creepy stuff is happening there, as you might expect.

Basically, this station was researching a mysterious submerged city linked to an ancient, dark cult. And yes, if you are a fan of Lovecraft’s work, you already know we are talking about R’lyeh.

Preview Cthulhu The Cosmic Abyss is a Masterful Blend of SOMA and Resident Evil 2

That’s all the setup you need for the story. I only got to experience a small portion of it, but it already had a little bit of everything: plot twists, drama, terror, optional dialogue with various characters, and a ton of mystery.

What I found particularly fascinating, however, was the futuristic setting. The Cosmic Abyss is set in 2053, and it uses that timeframe in a clever way within the narrative because that provides context for several in-game elements, such as the fact that the protagonist has an AI companion (and finds space for some subtle criticism, by the way).

For instance, by featuring this voice assistant (which is called Key), the game turns the menu into a diegetic element – meaning it is a literal part of the game world, as the device Noah uses is exactly what you interact with as a player. Oh, and even the difficulty settings, of which there are two in total, are justified through the AI, since one of them serves as a more relaxed mode, offering extra assistance and softening the more punishing mechanics.

And I feel that is the perfect cue to talk about the gameplay, as the experience literally unfolds through constant, deep investigations.

SOMA Meets Resident Evil

Preview Cthulhu The Cosmic Abyss is a Masterful Blend of SOMA and Resident Evil 3

With this heavy investigative focus, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss relies entirely on environmental puzzles and thorough exploration to build an atmospheric experience, avoiding traditional combat and direct confrontations with enemies.

And, for me, this formula blends perfectly with the game's premise, which spices things up with maritime exploration and claustrophobic level design. Navigating the station's narrow corridors and facing the overwhelming vastness of the ocean outside works brilliantly to build tension and a fear of the unknown – literally the primary pillars of any cosmic horror story, according to Lovecraft himself, when he claimed that “the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

Combined, these elements made me feel like I was playing a brilliant hybrid of SOMA (with its suffocating loneliness, thalassophobia, and existential dread) and the environmental puzzles of the first-person Resident Evil titles (with hunts for lost key cards and reading disturbing notes left by researchers who clearly thought messing with unknown creatures was a good idea).

But despite reminding me of these beloved titles, The Cosmic Abyss still carves out its own unique identity by giving you the space and the well-crafted mechanics to play detective with a surprising amount of freedom.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss relies entirely on environmental puzzles and thorough exploration to build an atmospheric experience, avoiding traditional combat.

While you do have the guidance of a main objective at the top of the screen, the game essentially hands you the tools and expects you to figure things out on your own. You can interact with a vast number of objects and notes, rotating them to search for hidden clues, storing them for later use, or even pinning them for quick reference (which, honestly, was a lifesaver for me during the demo, as my short-term memory isn't exactly my strongest suit).

Furthermore, you can perform a deep analysis of points of interest using the Sonar system, which is crucial for your investigation. It works in a very straightforward way: imagine you need a specific key card to open a door, but you just found one that doesn't work – you can analyze it, and the Sonar will highlight the locations of similar cards nearby. It essentially functions as a detective mode, but it is highly personalized and never automatic; you have to program it to find what you need.

And with so many investigation mechanics at play, the screen could easily become cluttered with too much information. However, the HUD in Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is spotless, elegant, and functional, using minimalist icons that offer only what you need at that specific moment.

My only real complaint regarding the toolkit is the Vault. It functions as an investigation board where you can link clues, persons of interest, and discover notes to solve puzzles or determine your next move. The concept is great and reminds me a lot of the Mind Place in Alan Wake 2, but the layout didn’t feel intuitive at all. I have to confess I struggled with its design before I could fully understand how everything worked, unlike the other mechanics, which I picked up almost instantly.

Regardless, with all these tools at your disposal, it is incredibly easy to feel like a true investigator, and the cosmic horror twist is what provides the main charm to the entire experience.

On top of that, there are several other systems vital to the gameplay, such as an energy bar to keep Noah healthy and agile (which is recharged by injecting an alien mushroom into his arm, which is completely disgusting, I love it). And there is also the Corruption, which works as a (in)sanity mechanic – since I only played the beginning of the game, I couldn't see its most drastic effects yet, but it seems to affect Noah’s perception and mess with his senses.

The Final Verdict: A Dive Worth Taking

Preview Cthulhu The Cosmic Abyss is a Masterful Blend of SOMA and Resident Evil 6

That was everything I felt while playing Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss. It truly is an atmospheric horror experience designed for you to dive into its madness and take your time, since the puzzles will genuinely make you rack your brain while solving them, and there is a wealth of fascinating lore tucked away in the texts you find along the way.

There are several things the director, Tommaso Sergi, mentioned during the presentation that have stuck with me because it promises even more than what we can expect from the game. He noted that the game will feature multiple outcomes and endings, and that we should expect our AI companion, Key, to provide a contrasting point of view to the protagonist’s.

It is incredibly easy to feel like a true investigator, and the cosmic horror twist is what provides the main charm to the entire experience.

Sergi also promised 12 hours of playtime to reach the end (one of them, at least) and emphasized that the freedom aspect was intentional – the developers want players to feel like they are writing the story themselves rather than just playing through it.

Hearing those details and having so much fun with the demo made me fall in love with this crazy project immediately. It is a compelling blend for any horror enthusiast, and I can't wait to lose a few sanity points when the full game arrives on April 16, 2026, for PC (via Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.