“Only Your Tools and Your Mind Will Save You” — Big Bad Wolf on Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss and Its Six Endings

French developer Big Bad Wolf (The Council, Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong) returns to the market next month with Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss, a first-person narrative-driven adventure game based on H.P. Lovecraft's beloved cosmic horror mythos.

Unlike most Cthulhu stories, though, this one is set in the future, rather than the past. In 2053, with Earth's surface resources almost fully depleted, corporations begin scouring the deepest oceans, utterly unaware of the ancient horror they are about to awaken.

Noah, the main character, is an agent of Ancile, a secret division of Interpol that specialises in occult affairs. He is tasked with investigating the mysterious disappearance of miners in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. With the help of his AI companion, Key, Noah must explore the vast, ancient, labyrinthine prison of R'lyeh (an ancient, sunken city of massive proportions) and resist the creeping madness caused by Cthulhu's malicious influence.

Ahead of the game's launch on April 16, 2026, on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X, we interviewed Big Bad Wolf's Game Director, Tommaso Nuti, to bring you a few more elements to discover what the game has in store for fans.

How long did you spend working on Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss?

Tommaso Nuti: We started working on Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss during the first half of 2023.

Why did you pick this project after Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong, and why the Cthulhu IP?

Tommaso Nuti: With The Council and VTM: Swansong, we had already had the chance to explore themes of horror and the fantastic. Although we didn't immediately plan to adapt the myths of the Providence writer after our last production, Lovecraft's name was already circulating in the studio's corridors.

This choice felt like a spiritual continuation of our previous titles. Moving from the World of Darkness to cosmic horror allowed us to continue digging into the fantasy genre, but this time by tackling one of its cornerstones… perhaps deep down, without knowing it, we were already feeling the call of the Great Old One. Finally, the team at our publisher, Nacon, is truly passionate about the license, which helped bring the project into production.

There's actually a fair number of Cthulhu-inspired games that have been recently released or are in development. How do you plan to make yours stand out?

Tommaso Nuti: It would be presumptuous to claim that our game will dominate the competition, but we are convinced that it has a soul and heart of its own.

Our approach stands out first for its futuristic setting, which allows us to reinterpret cosmic horror through the lens of a sci-fi horror thriller. This modernity directly infuses the gameplay: we have adapted the classic detective tools (magnifying glass, notebook, slate…) into technological versions (sonar, energy system, vault). These are diegetic mechanics that do not break immersion and offer new and entertaining investigation tools.

From a narrative point of view, we offer an atypical duo for the genre: a human and an AI. The latter, by its nature immune to madness, offers a fascinating contrast to its partner's vulnerability. It is this duality, coupled with the real freedom given to the player in conducting their investigations and an arsenal of new tools, that lays the foundation for a unique experience.

Finally, our approach is one of a respectful adaptation, but one with real, strong stances. We have drawn from some of Lovecraft's most iconic short stories to offer our own vision, an interpretation that connoisseurs will, I hope, have fun recognizing. Our ambition was to offer a title that could surprise both experts and newcomers, with a true identity that will add its own small stone to the edifice… it will be up to you to tell us if we succeeded!

The Steam demo introduces what feels like a lot of investigation mechanics to you right off the top. I'm sure the puzzles you're asked to solve get more complex than what is featured in the demo, but are there more investigation-based mechanics introduced late in the game? How did you decide on the proper way to pace how these mechanics were introduced and taught to the player?

Tommaso Nuti: The demo presents the range of our mechanics, but it doesn't yet show their full extent.
Object manipulation, sonar frequencies, or the Vault are tools that offer great freedom of action, and they will reveal their full potential as the game grows in complexity. Players will also have the opportunity to customize their approach: by exploring our levels in depth, you can find perks and upgrade certain abilities at the expense of others. We will also "twist" some of these mechanics during the adventure… but I won't say more to leave you the surprise.

Regarding the pacing, it was fundamental for us that the learning of these systems be fluid and never break the immersion. That's why the first chapter allows you to familiarize yourself with the basics while remaining fully connected to the atmosphere and the narrative. From the second chapter onwards, we introduce the rest of the mechanics by linking them directly to the narrative stakes.

Even though the demo stops partway through, it's truly at this moment that the player finds themselves in an open environment. This is where you can concretely apply everything you've learned to investigate freely and discover that there are different ways to conclude an investigation.

It felt like it was possible to get stuck in a cycle of a 'big scare' or 'moment of tension,' followed by a long stretch of puzzle-solving that, depending on how long it takes the player to solve a puzzle, inadvertently stretches the time between scares and drops the tension in the atmosphere. Without spoiling anything, can you share how you tried to balance the pacing of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss' scarier moments within its puzzle-solving stretches?

Tommaso Nuti: This pacing is largely achieved with the sonar and free exploration within the different levels. Imagine you've been exploring an environment for twenty minutes, investigating a setting that now seems familiar to you. Suddenly, you find a new clue that unlocks a new frequency. Once combined with the sonar, it reveals traces left by a creature all around you. Instantly, the place you thought you knew changes its nature and immediately becomes hostile in a new way.
If you connect this with that strange audio log you listened to earlier, or with that torn limb you discover in the control room a few moments later, the tension arises from your own way of investigating.

This is just one possible scenario: you could have discovered these elements in a different order or missed some to follow other leads. It was important to us to give players control and allow tension and twists to emerge from a personalized progression linked to the investigation.

One of the key trademarks of Big Bad Wolf is branching narratives. How has this feature evolved in Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss compared to The Council and Swansong? How many endings are there in the game?

Tommaso Nuti: For this title, we want to push the feeling of playing an investigation, not just being told one. This desire has transformed the way we have infused choices and consequences into the game. Building on the experience gained from previous games, we have created situations where choices are not displayed by the game but emerge from the players' will.

There are several ways to conclude the investigations offered within each chapter. The more curious you are, the more you pull on the threads that will allow you to understand what actions you can take and thus make informed decisions. We do not present the player with explicit choices; it is up to them to understand their environment and uncover their own possibilities. This actively contributes to the feeling and fantasy of playing a true occult detective, where your choices depend solely on your investigation.

In total, there can be 6 different endings, mainly based on the character's level of corruption, not to mention the different ways to solve the investigations throughout the game.

How does the Sanity system work? Were you inspired by similar mechanics in specific games?

Tommaso Nuti: In our game, corruption progresses in three distinct ways:

• Scripted moments: Strong, unavoidable narrative events that raise every player's corruption in a scripted manner.
• Investigation resolution: Your choices in solving an investigation directly influence your level of corruption. Some paths preserve the character's integrity, while others push them irremediably towards the abyss.
• The cost of knowledge: The player can choose to accept a dose of corruption in exchange for energy points, which are necessary to deepen the analysis of certain clues.

The level of corruption mainly influences the game's endings and the resolution of your avatar's narrative arc. During the game, its impact affects your character's upgrades and build. Some abilities can transform, improve, or, on the contrary, break as your corruption level rises or falls.
It's a dynamic system where your corruption gauge becomes a resource that actively shapes how you manage your resources and skills. Play hastily or rush, and you risk running out of energy, missing out on upgrades or consumables, or worse, concluding an investigation phase by performing an action that brings you closer to the edge. It is precisely there, in the shadow of your blind spots, that the Great Old One awaits.

Although we didn't have direct references, we were inspired by the philosophy of certain titles like Red Dead Redemption 2. Like their karma system, our gauge reflects the player's actions without displaying a precise score. This helps preserve a sense of mystery about the Damocles’ sword hanging over the character.

What is the extent of action in the full game?

Tommaso Nuti: We want to put you in the shoes of an occult investigator exploring a universe that is completely beyond them. That's why we ruled out combat from the start. However, the absence of combat does not mean the lack of danger.

Many things can kill you in R'lyeh, whether it's the ruins themselves or the creatures that inhabit them. No conventional weapon will be of any help here; only your tools and your mind will allow you to overcome the adventure. To survive, you will have to understand the rules that govern this world: either by accepting them or by bypassing them using your wits.

In the demo Q&A, you wrote: "The main story takes between 10 and 15 hours to complete, with much more content for players who want to fully explore the game." So, are there side missions/investigations? How long would it take to complete everything?

Tommaso Nuti: As we've mentioned earlier, the game rewards curiosity above all. More than side missions, it is the depth of your investigations that defines the length of the experience. In each chapter, you will investigate very freely within open areas. If you choose to follow one lead while neglecting certain clues or areas of the map, you will progress faster, but you expose yourself to hasty conclusions that can lead you to make a bad choice and will increase your corruption level.

On the contrary, taking the time to explore every nook and cranny and uncover all the mysteries our levels are filled with will allow you to make informed choices and preserve yourself.
This is our primary lever for extending the experience. Added to this is the search for upgrade components for your equipment. These components are carefully hidden in the environment, which adds a treasure-hunting dimension to the adventure.

Many games made in Unreal Engine 5 have struggled with optimization. What have you done to try to mitigate issues like stuttering in Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss, especially on PC?

Tommaso Nuti: Stuttering has many causes, but we have profiled a lot and removed, as much as possible, synchronous loading or Pipeline State Object compilation during gameplay.

Thank you for your time.

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