As somebody who spends a great chunk of their time “meditating on my goal of earthly knowledge” and “studying esoteric philosophies”, I’m excited to see that digital board sport Cultist Simulator will supply me the possibility to do each. It’s an upcoming sport from Alexis Kennedy, the previous inventive director at Failbetter who labored on Fallen London and Sunless Sea. Cultist Simulator begins you off dwelling a standard humdrum life, then sends you off right into a darkish world of perverse rituals and unspeakable terrors. Just like video games journalism, then.
As the trailer beneath reveals, you’ll be able to delve into that world on May 31st.
To be extra particular, you:
“Play as a seeker after unholy mysteries, in a 1920s-themed setting of hidden gods and secret histories. Perhaps you’re looking for knowledge, or power, or beauty, or revenge. Perhaps you just want the colours beneath the skin of the world.”
The advertising and marketing blurb additionally calls it a “roguelike narrative card game”, which has me intrigued regardless of the plain variations between this and Slay the Spire. I’m unsure I’m utterly offered on that minimalist UI, although there some neat touches like that eye on the “reason” deck that often winks at you. Wait, is it winking while you solely have one eye and shut it, or blinking? One of the “unholy mysteries” you’ll have to unravel, maybe.
It jogs my memory of the board sport Arkham Horror, and never purely due to the shared Lovecraftian theme. Both takes on surviving in a world of cosmic horrors appear to contain a pressure between environment and fiddly numberwang. It’s a arrange that I can see falling aside with out persistently good writing and a robust dedication to tying each mechanic into the theme, although Alex Kennedy has already proven he’s a dab hand at that type of factor. I’ve already noticed one card that demonstrates precisely what I believe is required: “Despair is the wolf that devours thought. (You can defeat despair by feeding it contentment, otherwise it will destroy you when it reaches 3 dread or injury)”.
Budding cultists must wait till May 31st. Developed by Weather Factory and revealed by Humble Bundle, it’ll be on Steam, GOG, Itch.io, and Humble.
