Cultist Simulator

Cultist Simulator is a game about grinding stories. Literally. It takes about 6 hours in a succesfull playthrough to beat the game and you will spend all of this time grinding tabletop cards to tell you story. It may be a story of a failed romance with your follower, a story about madness overtaking you on the edge of victory, a story of cat-and-mouse game with occult investigators and pesky journalists trying to ruin your life. The short snippets of text generated through card interaction will tell you of fighting depression in shady opium dens, sending expeditions to the furthest edges of Earth and dangerous journeys through lovecraftian dreamlands. There is not a single thing occult or eldritch that cannot happen in this game - all you have to do is devote your time to understand it's underlying mechanics. And grind, grind, grind those cards.

This game is not for everyone. Clearly. You have to be able to enjoy somewhat repetitive, but mesmerizing gameplay, hours of build-up and one slip-up leading to failure, no animations or flashy visuals whatsoever, etc. The main appeal of the game is slowly solving a puzzle (how do I get to that state or place or person or ritual or ending) while dealing with random obstacles thrown your way, all the while reading A LOT and being immersed in incredible lore. If you're remotely interested in occultism, secret societies, mythology or history, have patience and like (increasingly less and less over time) trial and error gameplay, this is probably for you.

Not really, but I couldn't resist. It's actually more of a story generator that lets you nudge things along until you actually grok what the hell is going on, and I've never played another game even remotely like it -- to be clear, it's absolutely not a card game along the lines of Magic, Gwent, etc. It is its own thing. And while the board can gat a little cluttered at certain points, it's a pretty cool system. If you enjoy occult horror and or the Lovecraft mythos, this does that. It does that really, really well. But you have to meet it halfway, and in order to tell its dark, morbid stories, they made it incredibly abstract. The cards on the board are just there to lend your imagination some material to work with. The writing is charming and dark, while leaving a lot to the imagination (important in storytelling, but not something you see in many games), the music fits very well, but the characters are pretty flat. It's not exactly a character drama though. My only real complaint with it is related to the Dread/Fascination spirals you can find yourself in way too easily. I tried to avoid reading any guides, but it was quick enough to find info on the mechanics I couldn't deduce. And yeah, it really sucks to have to use outside sources for explanation of game mechanics (with any game) but I don't hold it against Cultist Sim too harshly. Mythos stories never end well. It's the nature of the beast. This is probably not going to appeal to people who want a power fantasy to rip and tear through. I've played a game or two each month for probably a year and I've barely scratched the surface of what you can really dig into. It's really, really cool, and does its thing like no other game out there. However, it's very niche, and I think a lot of spontaneous purchasers who aren't looking for this very specific thing may find it a bit awkward and obtuse, especially due to how some key mechanics are barely hinted at, let alone actually explained.

I only picked it up because it was on sale like 70% off or something ridiculous like that. BUT! I was pleasantly surprised, and when I first got into the game, second try, after about 2 hours I couldn't stop playing for 6 hours straight and I was totally in that world of dark alleys, cobblestone streets, constant twilight and Lovecraftian town. This is the bare essentials, the mechanics needed for your imagination to create a believable, fantasy world for you to get lsot in. If it bites of course, unless the setting, the feeling of the game speaks to you that won't happen (for example if this was furry themed for furries I would not be into it, would never want to imagine myself get caught up in that degenerate world of weirdo social outcasts and sexual deviants and pe**s)

Cultist Simulator is a single-player RPG of Lovecraftian horror from The Weather Factory, a game of beautiful madness where characters fall down a twisted rabbit hole loving every minute of it. If you’re familiar with Lovecraftian horror, you might like this game. If you love the movie The Ninth Gate with Johnny Debb, you’ll probably love this game. You play a cult leader where magic is real and scary eldritch gods are strangely beautiful. You lead a group of followers to greater and greater occult understanding and power while fending off the madness and creeping dread that comes with it. Like The Ninth Gate, characters are drawn into a dark occult world as they research rare books and perform rites calling on otherworldly spirits. Seriously, this game IS that movie. However, we must speak cautiously here as, technically, Cultist Simulator is unaffiliated with it. This is a detailed oriented game. It comes with no instructions or tutorial. (Initially that is. Weather Factory has since written a Beginner’s Guide. Get it for free here) You have to tinker with it, experiment, and take copious notes. If this doesn’t appeal to you, run away as fast as you can. Players place “noun” cards in “verb” boxes to perform actions. Many cards have timers attached allowing them to expire or morph into other cards as the game clock advances. This is an adult game; characters can choose to (and probably will) commit dark deeds, such as sacrifice people to eldritch gods. At the same time, this is a clean game; the cards are cartoon sketches. There are no gory images or graphic depictions.No screams, blood, or moans of pleasure like some other games I could mention. I would have no qualms in recommending this game to 14-year-olds, provided they had a good grasp on reality. Really, go watch The Ninth Gate. You’ll get the idea.