Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is the latest Lovecraftian horror game to hit the market, but beyond its horror elements, it is first and foremost a puzzle game.
Of course, the fun in every puzzle game is solving the puzzle that the developers have put in front of you, but it's also understandable if you need a hint or two. This guide, and the other six on their way, will take you through each chapter of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss.
For more on Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss, check out my review. You can also check out our PC optimization guide to get the best performance out of your machine.
Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss - Chapter 1 Guide
NOTE: The nature of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is that there are many clues you could find, many paths you can go down. These guides will only show you one (or two if the chapter has a Low and High corruption variant) way to progress, focusing on key moments mandatory for progression.
The first chapter of Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is designed to introduce you to the gameplay loop the game will run through for the rest of its six chapters, beginning with how you'll be trying to pick up, manipulate, and move through the environment to reach new areas, discover new clues, and use what's in the material world to impact the more occult nature of R'lyeh.
Once you arrive at Mei's place, you'll head left at the door to find a way inside so you can unlock the front door for Elsa. You'll head left from the front door and move a plant out of the way in order to crouch under some debris and find a path inside the house to the second floor.
Once you're inside, head to the first room on your right before going downstairs to find Mei's phone. You'll also find other objects inside Mei's room you can examine on either bedside table. Picking them up and examining them are part of the game's opening tutorials, so take your time to learn the flow of manipulating objects.
After letting Elsa in, you'll be tasked to look for more information about Mei. To your right, in the room where Elsa is digging into Mei's research tablet, you'll find a stone that you can pick up and analyze. This is where the game teaches you how to analyze clues to reveal Sonar frequencies, that will in turn help you discover more clues.
In the next room, you'll find a partially completed image made up of pages stuck to the wall. The pages required to finish the image are on the floor in front of the image and on the desk to your left. The final image is the third image in the gallery below, if you need a reference.
After completing the image and speaking to Elsa, the next part of the chapter kicks off when you head downstairs to the basement. Move towards the kitchen and turn left and you'll find a long black cord to follow that'll lead you downstairs. Once there, walk towards the door behind the stairs and a cutscene will begin.
It's worth noting that there are plenty of things to interact with along the way that'll prompt more dialogue from Noah, Elsa, and Key. There's also voice recordings from Mei to find, and notes of hers to read. You can and should interact with all of these, since the name of the game is always having as much information as possible. But, on the flip side of that is the fact that you don't need to solve every mystery that Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss throws at you. It's important to be able to parse which information is more world building and which information is actively helping you solve the task at hand.
Once you've been into the basement and discovered the organic matter, Elsa and Noah will deduce that it is some sort of portal, and you'll be tasked with finding a way to open it. You'll notice it bears some resemblance to the image you put together below. To open the portal, simply find the correct rocks and place each of them in the proper slots on either side. The second and third images in the gallery below are the correct rocks, for reference.
After you've opened the portal, a cutscene will play, after which you'll take your first steps into R'lyeh. Walk to your left, and another cutscene will eventually kick off and close out the chapter.
There are no upgrades or collectibles to find in this chapter, so taking all the time you want exploring is more about taking the time to learn as much as possible about the different investigation mechanics. There are more coming, and the game front-loads everything in one big shot between the first two chapters, so it's important to get as comfortable with each new mechanic as it comes.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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