Cultist Simulator Anthology Edition

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4.1/5

( 6 Reviews )

4.1

6 Reviews

English & 2 more

Overall most helpful review

Posted on: May 28, 2020

nn7klfdn2ld

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 2

Magic and Mystery

While the core gameplay is fun, the real magic is in the mystery. The game will not explain to you how any but the most rudimentary mechanics work; you will need to figure that out for yourself by experimentation. If you are careful, failed experiments may only result in minor setbacks such as decreased sanity or health; if you are careless (or unlucky), you will die (or worse) and find yourself beginning a new game. But death often brings the consolation of interesting lore tidbits, or of starting the game with a different backstory and different starting resources. The other part of the mystery is the lore. I recommend *not* using the wiki until after you have enjoyed the game thoroughly. Instead, keep a journal, take screenshots of interesting things you find. Remember that not every source of information is equally reliable... If you are willing to invest the attention and mental effort, the secrets and hidden truths of the world of Cultist Simulator will slowly yield to your determined investigation. And that sense of discovery, of having pieced together at least part of the puzzle for yourself - that really is quite magical. Practicalities: The main game has many hours of content, with three primary paths to pursue and several variant endings for each, as well as 'New Game +' options that unlock when you successfully complete one of said paths. The paths are mutually exclusive, so you'll have to try them one at a time. The DLCs add new playstyles with unique mechanics, new endings, and many additional details about the game's lore. The Dancer DLC in particular adds a lot of content, and the just-released Exile DLC looks like it will add quite a bit as well. The Ghoul DLC reveals a bit about the distant past of the setting, while the Priest explores the power of doors... Please note that Christian players may find the Priest DLC and the Grail ascension in the main game a little uncomfortable, as they borrow and alter Christian symbolism in particular.

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Posted on: December 18, 2019

TheSymphony

Verified owner

Games: 796 Reviews: 121

Heed the call of the Mansus...

This game is definitely not for everyone. It you enjoy reading, puzzles, and cards... then this game is right up your alley. I feel like this entire game is an interactive H.P. Lovecraft novel where you are solving puzzles to reveal the next part of the story, and instead of pages you are having the story revealed to you through cards. The mechanic is simple enough: resource management using resource cards. Balance your finances, health, and sanity while trying to unlock the secrets of the world of Dream. Start a cult, amass a following, explore strange locations, try to relax when possible, all while trying to stay ahead of those who would hunt down your cult and turn you in to the authorities. This game is difficult. I still have not reached a good ending... Be prepared to run into Despair, Hunger, and possibly Prison... a lot. But, I keep going back because I am constantly learning how to stay a live a little longer, which cards mixed together yield what result, and which paths lead to success or failure. The DLC's are basically different characters with slightly different starting mechanics. That's the main difference between characters is how they start: what job do they have, which resource will be their main focus, etc... The DLC charcters increase the difficulty a bit by adding different starting jobs than the vanilla ones. Oh, yeah... and many of the cards disappear if you can't find out how to use them within a certain time period. So, the whole time your fighting multiple clocks. (Here's a hint... PAUSE AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN!!! You can pause and put cards where you want them, then restart the clock. It helps. I tired my first two runs without realizing I could pause. Needless to say my first two attempts ended badly...) Great game, but again, not for everyone. Don't buy this game if you hate reading, or cards, or solving puzzles. Also, the music is fantastic, and the soundtrack comes with this Anthology edition! Get it. It's the best deal.

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Posted on: January 23, 2021

FrenchyEve

Games: 505 Reviews: 3

clever unforgiving and addictive

This game is truly original in its mechanic . Easy to understand, hard to master, with very little in game guidance. Yet once you've solved some of the puzzles about what to do next / how to achieve a specific goal, the answer almost always makes sense (at least in the occult world) The game purpose : to run an occult cult while trying to achieve enlightenment. All the actions are done through tarot-like cards, and 5 actions (work, dream, study, talk, explore) . You cannot run an action multiple time at once (so no "working" 2 jobs at once for example), and they all take time to complete : time management is critical in the game ! So time is the essence, but the game don't require any fast reflexes : you can pause at will I am well aware that this game is a niche one : you will probably love it or hate it. Beware, the look of it may make you think it's a casual game you can play for 30 min now and then to relax (like you would a game of Solitaire or other cards), but it is definitely not. You need to put your mind to it, remember what you learn as you progress, and if you're hooked to it, it's completely addictive, because of the timers. So you're always waiting for one more action to finish, one more card to be revealed, one more book to be read... I actually won't play the game on week days now, because i had too many instance of starting it after dinner "just for an hour" and only managing to drag myself away from it at 2 AM (and having a hard time getting to work on time the next morning...) so now it only eats my week-end time. But hey, with the current pandemic, i have an excuse to dodge social invitations, other than "sorry, can't come over this evening, have a Cult to run ! " A last note about the DLCS : Exile is the largest and change the game a lot . So it's really nice to renew your interest once you have beaten the base game, but save it until then , cause you have to relearn everything. The others just add new path to enlightenment.

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Posted on: October 14, 2021

CatR

Verified owner

Games: 412 Reviews: 50

Should have been a short story

(Copied from base-game review as this is just a package deal and functionally the same product.) The art is beautiful, the music makes the atmosphere, the presentation is overall nothing short of wonderful. It is one of the few times I've really felt that me, as a player, have become immersed in the story. However the gameplay itself is a fairly simple adventure game with the context of your actions largely stripped away. Rub thing on thing. Did it work? No? Try different thing. Work? Okay, try thing in the new thing. This in of itself is not a problem, not every game needs to be mechanically deep, this certainly doesn't need to be to be enjoyable. My biggest problem is that the game board lacks basic organisational tools like card spawning in a user-defined place for organisation. That and that you have to move the mouse more than in a first person shooter, I had to stop because my wrist was hurting too much at times. The board is a mess and you have no tools to counter-act it, unlockable or otherwise. But the absolute killer is that the game is filled with routine grind that never ends. It is not deep, it does not change, it is not interesting or rewarding; the same few actions simply allow you to continue playing the game. Grinding the same action repeatedly should not be a game mechanic past the introduction; it directly contradicts the exploration element. This game has little substance past the dressing and flowery dialogue. A good plate-spinning game should reward you for your performance, not reset you to square one because one out of your 28 plates fell.

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Posted on: June 30, 2025

Planescaper

Games: 466 Reviews: 12

Management Madness

Play if you like to write a journal of your failures as a Lovecraftian cult leader to slowly unravel obscure game mechanics while under constant threat of going insane (in both worlds). Pros: seriously deep details to dig into. DLCs push it even further while the last one turns the game upside down testing your skills to the limit. Keep track of everything you learn and by no means look up the wiki, it would spoil all the game has to offer as the gameplay loop itself is barebones at best. Use headphones to soak in the atmospheric soundtrack. Cons: - Rogue-like misunderstood: They are strong when teaching you to make the right calls in an ever changing environment. Here each run is the same and mastering the early and even mid-game just turns those parts into a grind after you got literally cursed without warning. This makes loosing feel unnecessarily punishing and forces extra cautious and thus slow gameplay. A normal save system would have incentivised exploration way more than bragging about a missing manual. Iron mode achievements are not unheard of either and would have turned hard-but-punishing into hard-but-fair for the initiated. - Minimalist presentation: simple card art, bland text boxes, and a myriad of tiny symbols - only rarely did I find something inspiring for what it is. You better bring a vivid imagination to piece it all together. A strong narrator could have turned this around, but you will hear not a single word. - Poor optimization: Everything crucial is based on sharp timers, but you can't jump to the next event. Only pause or accelerate time. Further, you have to keep order on the game board manually. There is only one drop-off zone where all the clutter gets dumped. Even repetitive tasks can't be set one auto-repeat but require constant attention. Combined with the grindy nature of tasks this turns cult leadership into a tedious management job. Luckily, all this could be remedied with mods - if you had full access to a certain workshop...

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Cultist Simulator Anthology Edition

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