In the past, I have played plenty of games by NACON and had nothing bad to say about them; unfortunately, there’s that old saying, “There’s a first time for everything”, and this is one of them. I still wish to thank NACON and ACE Team for the reviewing opportunity, and I hope my criticism will help improve this game moving forward.
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is a Lovecraftian first-person survival horror PVE where players take on the role of Spanish explorers who are seeking the mythical “Mound” on an undiscovered island that even the Spanish crown knows nothing about, allowing you to claim the treasure found on this island for yourselves…if you survive.
Now, onto the game itself! When it comes to the controls for the game, you can learn them quickly, but at the same time I feel there could still be some more features, like jumping, as the game’s environment appears to have plenty of choices of ways to cover terrain. One thing I really don’t like about the controls for this game, you can’t turn off the vibration.
Sound-wise, the soundtrack, voice acting, music, and effects are good. The game’s art is pretty decent as well; I just wish there was some consistency.
Gameplay-wise, this is where a lot of issues come in. First off, the game is multiplayer, BUT you can play solo, and like many other games that do this, they punish you for it. You can pick one of four characters, which means nothing as each one has no perk or special abilities, and if you’re going solo, they give you a bot teammate. Instead of the three other characters joining you, it’s just one random dude who all he does is die or get possessed and attack you.
The point to the game is to gather treasure to bring back to your ship, along with other items of value such as food and equipment. You can also find survivors from previous expeditions to bring back to the ship as well…and nothing comes of it. I was hoping that by rescuing one, I gained another bot teammate, but NOPE. The game claims difficulty is scaled by the number of players, but I can say that’s BS as I get my ass kicked hard as the enemies are crazy strong and the weapons you use are very weak (and breakable).
Overall, The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu is hard to gauge whether I like it or not, as it’s an extractor horror, something we’ve seen a lot more of recently, and the gameplay issues leave a bad taste in my mouth as a lone wolf gamer. I want to like this game, but with what’s mentioned above, if they can improve the gameplay so that it’s actually playable for solo players, my mind can be changed. On my scale of 1-10, The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu, with its crashes, useless bot teammate, crazy difficulty, and punishing attitude, is a 6.
