Cosmoctopus board game tackles cosmic horror without invoking Lovecraft

polygon.com:

One of the biggest launches at this year’s Gen Con is not the sort of game you’d normally expect to be as celebrated as it is: Cosmoctopus. Designed by Henry Audubon, the creator of the hit board game Parks, it’ll be released widely on Aug. 18. Polygon had a chance to play the game in advance of this year’s Gen Con in Indianapolis, and we found it to be a surprisingly cuddly take on cosmic horror.

The game centers around the worship of the titular Cosmoctopus, an eldritch deity from beyond the stars whose tentacles reach through the inky darkness of space to touch those he deems worthy. Each player is a follower of the Great Inky One trying to prove their devotion to him through their works on Earth. You’ll gather cursed artifacts, read the forbidden scriptures, listen to his dark whispers, and study the sky itself in order to make the world ready for his return. The winner is the first follower to pull all eight of his tentacles through the nebula and into our world.

The layout of Cosmoctopus itself is probably the most innovative part of this game. When you’re just learning the rules, you’ll use a simple three-by-three grid to move the Great Inky One around. But after you’ve become familiar with the mechanics, the game suggests more complex shapes, like an X, a circle, or a numeral three. An optional game mode adds in the Cosmic Bridge, two gates that can connect two Inky Realms. This can be used to teleport between two points on the grid. That feature alone has the potential to give this game a lot of replay value.

There’s four kinds of cards to use (scripture, relic, hallucination, and constellation) that each tie into the different resources (ink, coins, whispers, and stars, respectively). You only get cards and