The best way to approach Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is to treat every conversation, clue, and unsettling visual as part of one connected investigation. Don't rush toward the next objective, don't assume a friendly character is telling the truth, and don't expect the game to reward you for treating it like a conventional action RPG. Big Bad Wolf's upcoming Lovecraftian adventure is built around investigation, dialogue, exploration, and psychological pressure, so your strongest tools are patience, observation, and a willingness to question your first conclusion.
Set in 2053, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss on Steam takes the mythos into a futuristic ocean setting. Humanity has pushed into the depths, but the discovery of ancient forces turns technological progress into a survival problem. The game is being developed by Big Bad Wolf, the studio behind Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong, and published by NACON. That pedigree matters: expect choices with consequences, layered investigations, and situations where information is more valuable than firepower.
One important caveat before we dive in: the game has not established a final public list of weapon damage values, skill-tree numbers, PC settings, or boss statistics. Any guide claiming exact rifle damage, sanity percentages, or guaranteed dialogue outcomes is inventing data. These ten tips focus on the systems and design principles publicly associated with the game, while clearly separating confirmed guidance from launch-day details that still need verification.
Start by learning what kind of game this is
Tip 1: Play it as an investigation-first adventure, not a shooter. The title's underwater setting and horror branding may suggest constant combat, but Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is presented as a narrative investigation game with RPG elements. That means the question is rarely just “Can I defeat this enemy?” It is more often “What do I know, who benefits from this discovery, and what am I missing?”
Before launch, the developers have not published a definitive combat roster, weapon table, or damage model. Don't build your expectations around an unconfirmed loadout system. Instead, watch for environmental prompts, evidence logs, character reactions, and dialogue changes. In a Big Bad Wolf production, optional information tends to shape how you understand a scene, even when it doesn't immediately create a new quest marker.
The futuristic 2053 setting also changes how you should read the world. A damaged terminal, diving apparatus, research document, or sealed section of an underwater facility may tell you as much about the conspiracy as a direct conversation. Slow down whenever the game places you in a new hub. Horror games often hide their most useful context in the space between objectives.
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View on Steammoz Store →Use a disciplined investigation loop
Tip 2: Follow the same three-pass routine in every location. On the first pass, identify the main objective and any obvious interactable objects. On the second, inspect side rooms, documents, terminals, bodies, machinery, and unusual environmental details. On the third, return to important characters with the new information you found. This prevents the classic mistake of exhausting a conversation before collecting the evidence that could have opened a better question.
Tip 3: Keep your own evidence chain. If the game supplies a codex, journal, case board, or investigation screen, use it constantly rather than treating it as decoration. If it doesn't provide a complete evidence tracker, make short notes yourself: names, locations, conflicting claims, symbols, and anything that seems connected to the oceanic mystery. A simple chain such as “person → motive → object → location” is often enough to expose contradictions.
Don't confuse a completed objective with a completed investigation. A quest marker disappearing only means the game accepted your immediate action. It doesn't prove you found every clue or asked every useful question. Players who enjoy the detective side of L.A. Noire's hidden evidence should use the same instinct here: inspect the scene before the story sweeps you away.
| Investigation pass | What to do | Why it matters | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass one | Find the objective and map the space | Creates a mental layout | Running straight to the marker |
| Pass two | Search optional rooms and objects | Finds context and evidence | Assuming scenery is unimportant |
| Pass three | Revisit characters and terminals | Unlocks better questions | Advancing after one conversation |
Think twice before every dialogue choice
Tip 4: Separate what you know from what your character suspects. Narrative RPGs become much easier when you stop choosing dialogue based on what you, the player, want to be true. A character may offer a confident explanation, but that doesn't make it reliable. If a response lets you challenge a claim, ask for proof, or bring up an earlier contradiction, those options are usually more valuable than immediately agreeing.
Keep an eye on tone. A sympathetic answer can preserve cooperation, while an aggressive accusation may reveal information quickly but close the conversation permanently. Neither approach is automatically correct. Before selecting a high-pressure response, ask what you gain: a name, access, a confession, a location, or simply emotional satisfaction. If the answer is only satisfaction, save the sharper line for a replay.
Tip 5: Save before major conversations when manual saves are available. Don't reload every minor exchange; that drains the tension and makes choices meaningless. Use a pre-conversation save when you are about to confront a suspect, enter a dangerous facility, or make a decision that clearly changes the investigation. The goal isn't to create a perfect route. It's to understand the consequence of a decision rather than losing an hour because you clicked through a conversation too quickly.
For players coming from choice-heavy games, Steamoz's Detroit: Become Human beginner guide covers a similar principle: a “bad” outcome can still be a meaningful outcome. Cthulhu stories especially benefit from imperfect knowledge. A clean victory would be suspicious.
Protect your sanity and control your curiosity
Tip 6: Treat psychological pressure as a resource problem. The Lovecraftian horror tradition is built around forbidden knowledge, disturbing revelations, and the limits of human perception. If Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss includes a sanity or mental-state system, don't assume every frightening event is merely cosmetic. Public material has not confirmed final sanity values, recovery rates, or the precise penalties attached to psychological deterioration, so avoid guides that claim an exact “keep sanity above 70 percent” threshold.
The practical rule is still clear: don't chase every unsettling object just because it is available. Search deliberately. If an optional interaction looks connected to the central mystery, record it and approach it when you have context. If it appears to be pure temptation, decide whether the information is worth the potential cost. Horror designers love placing the most fascinating clue beside the most dangerous choice.
Tip 7: Take visual and audio anomalies seriously. A flickering light, repeated sound, distorted reflection, unusual shadow, or change in ambient noise may be a warning rather than atmosphere. Stop moving for a moment and scan the environment. Check whether the effect follows you, belongs to a machine, or marks a nearby interaction. This habit is useful in any dark exploration game; Steamoz's PC troubleshooting guide for Intergalactic Fishing also highlights why stable visuals and readable scenes matter when environmental information is important.
Explore the ocean like a hostile maze
Tip 8: Learn the difference between a route and a safe route. Underwater facilities are naturally good at hiding orientation. Corridors look alike, lighting can be unreliable, and story events may alter familiar spaces. When you enter a new area, identify a landmark: a bulkhead, elevator, damaged pressure door, unique monitor, or large piece of machinery. Use it as your anchor when returning from side paths.
Don't burn through every consumable or activate every device immediately. A locked door may be more important after you obtain a code or learn a character's identity. A machine that seems like background scenery may become relevant after a conversation. If the game gives you a way to mark locations, use it. If it doesn't, screenshots and short notes are surprisingly effective.
Pay attention to pressure, visibility, and sound. A deep-sea setting can turn movement itself into a risk: rushing may attract attention, reduce your ability to notice clues, or push you into an encounter without preparation. The safest route is often the one that lets you observe first. That sounds obvious, but oppressive horror environments are designed to make players hurry.
Build around information, not imaginary damage numbers
Tip 9: Don't plan a “best build” until the final skill system is documented. The public information available so far does not confirm exact skill names, upgrade costs, weapon scaling, armor values, or a finished class structure. That means a build guide promising a specific S-tier weapon or optimal stat spread is not trustworthy. At launch, inspect the entire skill menu before spending points and identify which upgrades improve investigation, dialogue access, stealth, survivability, or tool efficiency.
If the game presents separate investigative and combat options, prioritize versatility during your first playthrough. A bonus that opens additional conversation information may be more valuable than a small damage increase, especially if many encounters can be avoided or reshaped through knowledge. Likewise, an upgrade that improves resource efficiency can outperform a flashy ability if the game repeatedly sends you into long, isolated sections.
| Priority | Look for at launch | Best early use | Why beginners benefit |
|---|---|---|---|
| S-tier priority | Dialogue or evidence access | Conversations and investigations | Reveals options before commitment |
| A-tier priority | Resource efficiency | Long exploration sections | Reduces waste and backtracking |
| A-tier priority | Stealth or detection tools | Hostile encounters | Creates alternatives to direct fights |
| B-tier priority | Raw damage upgrades | Confirmed combat arenas | Useful only if combat is unavoidable |
Recheck the menu after every major story chapter. Narrative games often introduce new abilities or reinterpret old systems gradually. Spending everything in the first ten minutes is rarely smart. If respecs exist, save them for when you understand encounter design rather than using them to chase a hypothetical internet meta.
Prepare your PC before entering the abyss
Tip 10: Optimize for clarity and consistency, not maximum spectacle. The final PC requirements and performance profile should be checked on the official Steam listing once they are posted. Until then, don't rely on guessed minimum specs. A horror game with dark underwater environments can look acceptable at a high average frame rate while still suffering from stutter, poor shadow detail, or crushed blacks that hide clues.
Start with a sensible 60-frame target if your hardware can sustain it. Lower volumetric effects, screen-space reflections, shadows, and post-processing before reducing texture quality; textures usually preserve object readability, while volumetrics and reflections can be expensive in underwater scenes. Keep motion blur low or disabled if it makes environmental scanning difficult. If the game offers a brightness or gamma calibration screen, use it carefully: raising brightness too far can flatten the intended visual cues, but a screen that is genuinely too dark is a gameplay problem.
| Setting | Recommended starting value | Likely performance impact | Visual trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | Native display resolution | High | Best image clarity; use upscaling if needed |
| Textures | High if VRAM allows | Low to medium | Preserves readable documents and surfaces |
| Volumetric effects | Medium | High | Less fog and light scattering underwater |
| Shadows | Medium | Medium to high | Reduced contact detail and atmosphere |
| Reflections | Medium or low | Medium | Water and glass may look less convincing |
| Motion blur | Off or low | Minimal | Cleaner camera movement and clue reading |
Use a frame limiter if uncapped performance swings wildly between corridors and scripted scenes. Stable delivery feels better than a counter that jumps from 90 to 42 frames per second. If you encounter crashes, verify files, update your GPU driver, disable overlays one at a time, and check the developer's support channels before deleting saves. For broader PC advice, Steamoz's Hunt: Showdown PC fixes offers a useful troubleshooting mindset.
What to watch for on launch day
When the final version arrives, verify the details that are currently unknown instead of trusting recycled previews. Check whether the game has manual and autosave rules, whether dialogue choices can be reviewed, how sanity is represented, whether missed clues can be revisited, and whether difficulty changes enemy behavior or only damage values. Confirm the actual skill names, equipment stats, accessibility options, ultrawide support, upscaling technologies, and shader-compilation behavior on PC.
Also pay attention to patch notes. A narrative game can receive balance changes that affect resource placement, encounter timing, or performance without changing its central story. The official Big Bad Wolf website and NACON's official site are better sources for confirmed updates than anonymous social posts.
The biggest advantage for a new player is simple: resist the urge to solve the game before you understand it. Investigate every location in layers, question confident characters, preserve your strongest resources, and accept that some answers may make the situation worse. Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is at its most compelling when curiosity and caution pull in opposite directions. Let them.