Cultist Simulator is a new card game, with elements of RPGs thrown in, all with a strong story focus all the way throughout. The game has been developed by Weather Factory, who has the same lead that created Sunless Sea and was originally released on the 31st May 2018. In this Lovecraftian-themed card game, nothing is as it seems, and every decision that the player makes could bring them success or pure destruction.
How to Download Cultist Simulator
You can download Cultist Simulator from either GOG.com or Steam. To proceed – click on the Download button at the end of this review.
The Game Review
In Cultist Simulator, the player takes on the role of a leader of a cult, a cult that has the powers to summon alien gods and bring destruction to their enemies at the drop of a hat. This particular leader is on the search for more unholy mysteries, strange objects, and knowledge that this world shouldn’t know. As time goes on, more and more individuals become suspicious of this cult and some hard decisions are going to be required from the player in this intriguing 1920’s-themed card game.
Laid out in front of the player is a table, ladled out with numerous cards, each with their own sets of information and possibly even demands depending on what point the player is in the game. With every decision they start to make, the more and more cards appear on the table, and the more decisions appear before them. With each decision, the player can expect a new piece of text that will reveal some more of their individually crafted story that is almost entirely unique to each run that gets played.
Similar to that of a roguelike, each decision the player makes can really affect the outcome of the game and the general success of it all. At all times of the game, the player is expected to manage their resources, which are needed to both keep them alive and progress in the game. Before too long, the table is going to be completely riddled with all of the player’s potential options, allowing them to shape the game in their favor providing they are successful.
The Lovecraftian story manages to portray both a very dark and relatively dismal world, where something much grander is going on that the player and the cult themselves don’t even realize. Cultist Simulator has a lot of rather adult themes that coincide perfectly with the Lovecraftian theme.
In terms of comparisons, Cultist Simulator isn’t quite like anything that’s been seen before. It takes the resource management of popular survival games and the ease of use that comes with card games and has blended them all together into a menagerie that is unlike many other games in the genre.
Even though Cultist Simulator features a rather dark theme, it’s what makes this game such a unique experience in comparison to many other card games. For anyone that’s comfortable enough with the unique horror atmosphere and can look past just how dark it can potentially get, there’s an incredible experience to be had with this title, one that not many other games could recreate.
