In a bit of an unexpected announcement, the god-based MOBA Smite will be adding the madness-inducing Cthulhu as its next character. This is a significant departure from the usual norm because while Smite is no stranger to gods among its roster, what with that being its entire shtick, this will be the first time they've added a more contemporary deity. So the big question is - could this mean that even more modern characters, including other elder gods, are in the running now?

Whatever the answer may be, Cthulhu's Smite incarnation will be capable of driving enemy gods insane, causing them to experience a variety of negative effects - including a brand new set of audio/visual hallucinations. Cthulhu will also be able to prey on the madness of the other gods, and should he manage to successfully break their minds, will even become permanently stronger.

This is likely to be quite necessary for Cthulhu's survival as he will be noticeably larger than the vast majority of the usual gods, though not as tall as Jormungandr. However, things will become even more ridiculous during his ultimate as Cthulhu will drastically change his appearance and become by far the largest god in Smite that's also still able to actually interact with the map like classic characters. In other words, expect Cthulhu to be a true avatar of chaos!

As for what exactly he looks like in-game, that still remains to be seen, but you can get a bit of an idea of what the Smite team is going for through the recently posted teaser trailer. Have a gander:

Cthulhu will be arriving to Smite at some point this June, though no release date has been confirmed just yet. You can learn a little bit more about him, as well as the team's reasoning behind his design, over at the recent dev blog.