I vividly remember the first time my cousin and I played Outlast. “It’ll terrify you,” she said. “It’s like that FEAR game we played, but worse.” As we climbed into Mount Massive Asylum, sneaking our way through its corridors, there’s that iconic moment where a body drops from the ceiling. We quickly switched the game off and watched Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg play the rest of it. Yet, investigative horror games are a genre I can’t help but go back to – despite the inevitable screams and panic, there’s so many thrills lurking in the dark. Channeling Red Barrels’ finest, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss puts a Lovecraftian spin on the traditional fare, and it’s got me hook, line, and sinker.
You are Noah, an investigator working on behalf of Ancile, a secret division of Interpol that deals primarily with matters of the occult. You’ve been sent to inspect a site in the Pacific Ocean, where a group of miners have mysteriously gone missing. Accompanied by Key, your AI companion, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss thrusts you into the heart of R’lyeh, an ancient prison hidden beneath the waves where the horror game‘s titular antagonist lies in wait.
While we haven’t seen any gameplay yet, the Nacon Direct trailer above shows Noah having some form of nightmarish vision. He acquires an eerie tome from inside a ragged old cabin, filled with ominous red light, before he’s swallowed by the ocean and transported to what is, presumably, R’lyeh. As he looks to the sky the towering figure of Cthulhu glares down at him, then we cut back to his Interpol living quarters, where everything seems to be normal again.
From Nacon’s description of The Cosmic Abyss, it feels like it’s part puzzle game part choice-driven RPG. You’ll also have to resist the whispering madness of the Old God, however, implying that there’ll be some form of sanity mechanic akin to Amnesia and Outlast.
The Cosmic Abyss is the brainchild of Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong developers, Big Bad Wolf, so I suspect that the investigative portion will look quite like that (hopefully with slightly better character models). As someone who will always have an affinity for Swansong, though, I’m excited to see how The Cosmic Abyss plays out.
Nacon has confirmed that Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss will release in 2026. You can wishlist it right here.
In the meantime, however, check out our list of the best detective games if you’re looking to channel your inner super sleuth. Alternatively, here’s a rundown of all of the upcoming PC games for 2025 and beyond.
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