Chilean developer ACE Team is bringing their signature surreal creativity to Lovecraftian horror with The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu. The gameplay reveal trailer premiered during the Xbox Partner Preview on November 19, 2025, showcasing visceral first-person co-op gameplay where up to four players venture into a cursed jungle searching for treasure while fighting monstrous creatures that manipulate perception and reality itself. Based on H.P. Lovecraft’s 1940 novella The Mound, this cooperative survival horror launches Summer 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC, published by Nacon with Xbox Play Anywhere support meaning one purchase covers both Xbox console and PC versions.
ACE Team’s Weird Pedigree
For those unfamiliar with ACE Team, they’re one of the most eclectic developers in the industry. The Chilean studio created Zeno Clash, a surreal first-person brawler set in a bizarre alien world where you punch mutant creatures. They followed with Rock of Ages, a tower defense game where you roll giant boulders through historical periods to crush castles. Then came Abyss Odyssey, a roguelike platformer mixing Chilean mythology with procedural dungeons. Most recently, they developed SolSeraph, a god game meets action platformer hybrid.
This wildly varied catalog demonstrates ACE Team’s willingness to experiment with genre mashups and unconventional ideas. The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu continues this tradition by blending cooperative survival horror with psychological manipulation mechanics in ways most horror games avoid. Reddit discussion following the reveal expressed shock that ACE Team was behind this project, noting they might be gaming’s most unpredictable developer.
The Source Material
The game adapts The Mound, a novella H.P. Lovecraft ghostwrote for Zealia Bishop between December 1929 and January 1930. The story follows a narrator investigating a mysterious mound in Oklahoma where a ghostly Indian sentinel allegedly guards something beneath. The investigation reveals an underground civilization called K’n-yan populated by immortal beings who once ruled the surface but retreated underground after the Ice Age.
These K’n-yanians achieved technological and psychic powers beyond human comprehension, including biological modification of conquered races, reanimation of corpses as slaves, and dematerialization at will. However, their immortality led to moral decay and sadism as time-dulled senses required increasingly depraved entertainments to feel anything. The novella explores themes of forbidden knowledge, civilizational decline, and humanity’s insignificance against cosmic entities.
While the game clearly draws inspiration from this source, it relocates the setting to a cursed jungle rather than Oklahoma plains. The treasure-hunting expedition replacing the novella’s investigation creates gameplay justification for repeated runs into danger. The psychological horror and reality distortion elements translate Lovecraft’s cosmic dread into interactive mechanics rather than just atmospheric storytelling.
Four-Player Cooperative Gameplay
The Mound supports one to four players in cooperative first-person gameplay. You form a team of explorers boarding a galleon to prepare for expeditions into the cursed jungle. Between missions, players select weapons and equipment from their ship before launching into the wilderness searching for treasure and the legendary gates to an underground world containing unimaginable riches.
The gameplay trailer showcased frantic combat against grotesque creatures in dense jungle environments. Players wielded firearms including rifles and pistols while coordinating to survive overwhelming monster attacks. The first-person perspective emphasizes immersion and vulnerability as Lovecraftian horrors charge from foliage or emerge from darkness.
Weapon variety appears substantial based on brief glimpses. Beyond standard guns, players access melee weapons and specialized tools for navigating environmental hazards. Resource management plays a role as ammunition isn’t infinite and supplies must be scavenged or rationed across the expedition.
The deeper you penetrate into the jungle, the greater dangers you face. This suggests difficulty scaling similar to deep rock galactic or other cooperative survival games where pushing greed for better rewards creates risk-reward tension. Knowing when to extract with your current haul versus pressing forward for legendary loot becomes a crucial team decision.
Psychological Horror and Altered Reality
What separates The Mound from typical co-op shooters is how supernatural forces don’t just hunt you, they distort your perception of reality. The gameplay description emphasizes that borders between real and illusory blur, sowing doubt and paranoia among your group. This creates the core psychological tension where you can’t trust your own senses.
Examples might include seeing teammates as enemies, hallucinating monsters that aren’t there, or experiencing entirely different versions of the same location simultaneously. These perception-altering effects test cooperation because players must communicate constantly to determine what’s real. If you see your friend pointing a gun at you, is that actually happening or is madness corrupting your mind?
The description warns that one poor decision or misplaced shot could turn missions into disasters, suggesting friendly fire is enabled and shooting hallucinated threats that are actually teammates creates catastrophic consequences. This raises stakes beyond simple survival against AI enemies into social dynamics where trust erodes under pressure.
Sanity meters or madness mechanics likely track how reality distortion intensifies. The longer you spend in the cursed jungle or the more horrific things you witness, the worse hallucinations become until distinguishing truth from fiction grows nearly impossible. Managing this psychological deterioration adds strategic complexity beyond managing health and ammunition.
Lovecraftian Atmosphere
The developers specifically cited H.P. Lovecraft’s oppressive and unpredictable atmospheres as inspiration. This suggests environmental storytelling conveying cosmic dread through architecture, sound design, and visual details hinting at incomprehensible forces beyond human understanding.
The jungle itself serves as an antagonist, actively working against explorers rather than passively existing as backdrop. Trees might shift position when you’re not looking. Paths could loop back on themselves defying spatial logic. Weather patterns and day-night cycles might respond to your actions in unnatural ways.
Creature design embraces Lovecraftian principles of forms that shouldn’t exist, biology that violates natural law, and entities whose very presence causes mental damage. Rather than jump scares, the horror comes from sustained dread and the gradual realization that you’ve entered territory where human rules don’t apply.
Publisher Controversy
Reddit discussion noted that publisher Nacon was involved in a controversial situation with Frogwares over The Sinking City. Nacon allegedly released an in-development build of that game without Frogwares’ consent in an attempt to appropriate the title. This led to legal battles and the game being pulled from stores before Frogwares eventually regained control.
This history creates skepticism about Nacon’s business practices among some community members. However, it’s worth noting that publishers and developers are separate entities, and ACE Team’s involvement suggests this is a legitimate project rather than similar circumstances. Still, the controversy colors perception for players familiar with that situation.
Community Reception
Reactions to the gameplay reveal split along predictable lines based on opinions about cooperative horror games. Enthusiasts excited about playing Lovecraftian horror with friends celebrated the announcement, while others expressed fatigue with the current trend of multiplayer-focused horror titles.
Common criticisms noted that many players prefer solo horror experiences where isolation enhances fear rather than cooperative games where joking with friends undermines tension. Concerns about AI companion quality if playing solo emerged, with comparisons to Left 4 Dead’s bot teammates that follow you around mindlessly.
Supporters countered that cooperative horror creates different but equally valid experiences. Watching friends succumb to madness, struggling to communicate when reality fragments differently for each player, and making desperate group decisions under pressure generates unique horror that solo games can’t replicate.
ACE Team’s involvement generated optimism even from skeptics. Their track record of weird, creative games suggests they’ll implement psychological mechanics in novel ways rather than copying existing cooperative horror formulas. If anyone can make four-player Lovecraftian horror work, it’s the studio that made a tower defense game about rolling boulders through history.
Platform and Release Details
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu launches Summer 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. Xbox Play Anywhere support means purchasing the digital version on either Xbox console or Xbox PC app grants access on both platforms, adding value for players who game across devices.
No previous generation console versions were announced, allowing ACE Team to leverage current hardware for detailed environments, complex AI behaviors, and potentially sophisticated reality-warping effects that would be difficult on seven-year-old systems.
The Summer 2026 window narrows the previous vague 2026 release estimate revealed when the game was first announced in March 2025. Expect a specific date as development progresses and Nacon coordinates marketing around the launch.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does The Mound Omen of Cthulhu release?
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu launches Summer 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. A specific date within that window hasn’t been announced yet.
Who is developing The Mound Omen of Cthulhu?
Chilean studio ACE Team, creators of Zeno Clash, Rock of Ages, and Abyss Odyssey, is developing the game with Nacon serving as publisher.
How many players does The Mound support?
The game supports one to four players in cooperative first-person gameplay. You can play solo or team up with friends online.
What is The Mound based on?
The game is inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s 1940 novella The Mound, which tells of an underground civilization of immortal beings beneath Oklahoma. The game relocates the setting to a cursed jungle.
Does The Mound have Xbox Play Anywhere?
Yes, purchasing the digital version on Xbox console or Xbox PC app grants access on both platforms through Xbox Play Anywhere.
What makes The Mound different from other co-op horror games?
The Mound features reality-distorting mechanics where players experience different hallucinations and can’t trust their perception. This creates paranoia and trust issues beyond typical cooperative survival horror.
Can you play The Mound solo?
Yes, the game supports single-player, though it’s designed around cooperative play. Expect AI companions if playing alone, though their quality hasn’t been demonstrated yet.
Conclusion
The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu represents ACE Team’s most straightforward genre adherence in years, eschewing their typical mechanical experimentation for cooperative survival horror. However, their commitment to Lovecraftian atmosphere and psychological manipulation mechanics suggests they’re bringing unique ideas to a crowded space. Whether perception-warping gameplay creates genuinely unsettling experiences or becomes gimmicky frustration depends entirely on execution, something we won’t know until Summer 2026. For players who enjoy cooperative horror and trust ACE Team’s creative vision, The Mound promises Lovecraftian nightmares you can share with friends. Just remember: when the jungle turns against you and madness sets in, that monster you’re shooting might actually be your best friend.