Mean, green, and far from lean (he's an incomprehensibly massive elder god), HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu has become a cosmic horror icon for good reason. Much like breaking free from R'lyeh, the monster has long been freed from the shackles of novellas to become a multimedia sensation. And yet, the Cthulhu mythos has always struggled to make the leap into video games. Hear me, then, when I say that Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is one of the best, with detailed investigation mechanics that tempt you to corrupt your mind with the unknowable – perfectly fitting the tone of the source material.
Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss isn't perfect. This cosmic horror mystery is often fiddly to interact with, can be a little dense, and has some technical issues and grumble-inducing sporadic save points. But, like the script in the Necronomicon, developer Big Bad Wolf Studio (who also made the excellent and underrated Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong and The Council) has crafted a detective story that can be dangerously compelling. When you're nose deep in unravelling what happened to the doomed undersea expedition protagonist Noah is on the trail of, losing yourself in a huge mind map of potential clues, it's enthralling.
