Cultist Simulator

[Maryring]

Has anyone else tried this game? It's a decent puzzle game that does a fun job of sucking you into a world of occultism and creepygood writing. Though the game feels unfinished, it's a game I'll greatly recommend.

[BRC]

It is, I feel, the first game I ever quit despite enjoying it greatly.


I got very drawn into playing it, and I very much wanted to explore the game and its systems. The problem is, I'd get too excited, too invested in whatever goal I was pursuing at the moment, and forget to keep an eye on my Despairs.


It's a game where you easily lose by inattention. It's best played carefully and deliberately, remembering to step back and take stock of things so you can head off any loss conditions. But, the more fun I was having, the harder it was to remember to do that, up until the "Clear Despair's Or Die" thing popped up, and I didn't have any way to head off defeat. Losing in that way wasn't particularly fun.

[Narkis]

I played it for a bit, but it's not for me. While I enjoyed the premise, the atmosphere and the writing, the gameplay felt like spinning an increasing amount of plates all at once. It was only a matter of time before I started dropping stuff.

I probably would have loved it if it was turn-based, or much, much slower.

[Binks]

Got it for free in the Humble Monthly and had basically the same issue. Fun concept, engaging story, kills you in a heartbeat for making a mistake. Not my cup of tea, but for people that enjoy that sort of 'beating your head against the wall until it breaks' gameplay I'm sure it's a lot of fun.

[houlio]

I enjoy booting it up from time to time, but I usually will only get in the mood for it every couple weeks. I'm hoping that they continue adding in more ascension paths and finish a couple dead ends currently in the game (like, I don't think scholarship actually does anything).

[NRSASD]

Love it, but I completely agree with the criticisms. There's a reason the author of the game strongly encourages you to edit the save files directly to make it to the end.

I've won three times (only once without save editing), and after the first time it doesn't flesh out all that much more. Less discovering entire new paths, more pursuing the last few leads to squeeze every ounce of tasty narrative goodness out of it.

Haven't tried the new ascension path yet, but I will once I'm in the right mood for it.

It's definitely a game of spinning plates, but that's what makes it enjoyable. Near the end, between the Dread and Fascination trying to consume you, you just don't have the time to watch your health and funds. I always sell off as much as I can so I don't need to think about funds for that final push. It's brutal and exhausting, but that's part of the charm (for me at least).

[Eurus]

I eventually found it to be not too terrible to win... as long as you're extremely slow and methodical at the start of the game, building up enough resources to survive later, and you get into the right rhythm with getting rid of dread and fascination. Which is entirely at odds with the experimental, reckless approach that the game seems to otherwise want you to take. It ended up boring me to tears, honestly. The writing is great the first time or so that you read it, but it has the problem Sunless Sea had where you're going to be seeing the same stuff a lot.

Still, it's worth looking at just for being such a unique little toy.

[Maryring]

I played it for a bit, but it's not for me. While I enjoyed the premise, the atmosphere and the writing, the gameplay felt like spinning an increasing amount of plates all at once. It was only a matter of time before I started dropping stuff.

I probably would have loved it if it was turn-based, or much, much slower.

There's a pause button. Please don't take this as me trying to be coy. I've had a friend state the same and almost quit the game, but pausing made the game playable for him.

As for me. I find I can win the game reliably. It's only when I've had occasional terrible luck that I've even come close to losing, and at this point I've even won a major victory. I find those to be a bit more fun than the lesser victories, but either way I'm looking forward to the game coming out of it's unofficial early access. It seems like the game can become really great with modding.