I truly believe that creativity is the most important element of any video game, and Cultist Simulator by developer, Weather Factory, and publisher, Humble Bundle, definitely surpasses its peers in that respect. That said, this game is so unique and complex that I found it to be quite challenging to understand. When you first begin playing, you are thrown immediately into the action without any directions—and although I admittedly have a personal preference for tutorials, I believe this game in particular needs explicit explanation. The basic premise (I think) is to drop cards into one of the main action categories, which include Work, Study, Dreams, Explore, etc., and consequently generate more cards. The cards can be people, places, or emotions such as Passion, Erudition, and Reason. The cards you need to constantly generate are health and funds, which are automatically used up over time and essential for your survival. When first starting off, the Work category is the most important because it allows you to earn a steady income. I first started putting “Passion” in Work, and I became a painter, but my funds were meager, which I found amusing. If you apply more practical cards to Work, you can work up to a more serious, lucrative occupation. You can even start practicing the dark arts if you want to take the more sinister path. Some cards can be put into more than one category, and other cards can be combined and used simultaneously to generate unique combinations of cards. For example, you can put “Auction Shop” in the Explore category and add an item to auction it off for money. Some cards have unique characterstics; for example, if you have the card “Restlessness” and you wait too long to use it, it becomes “Dread.” Because there are endless card and category combinations, each game can result in vastly different outcomes.
Clearly, this game has strong storytelling, but there were still some aspects that I found confusing. Occasionally, I would have multiple cards at hand but none of them would fit in any of the available categories, so most of them would eventually disappear and leave me with nothing. Other times, I would drop a card in the category, and it would only generate more of the same card, resulting in a closed loop. And sometimes no matter what card I used, I could not generate funds or health, which subsequently led to my demise. Obviously, I was simply missing a crucial rule or process of the game, but I was never able to figure it out in time. The most frustrating thing was that I really admired the game’s premise and wanted to go deeper into the story—I just wish I understood the game on a higher level so I could devise and follow a meaningful strategy. Perhaps the mechanics of the game will be more self-evident to seasoned card game experts, but as a relative beginner, I was by and large lost and confused. Difficulties aside, I still have to applaud Cultist Simulator for taking risks and executing beautiful graphics and design. If anything, it draws you in with its dark and provocative narrative, encouraging you to persist beyond the confusion and understand its deepest mysteries.
Rating: 7/10
Watch the Cultist Simulator Launch Trailer:
Cultist Simulator is available for PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam.
PC Review
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Overall Score - 7/107/10
From the moment I first played Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy on the original Xbox, I have always had an avid curiosity and enthusiasm for video games. I admire their ability to immerse us in completely different worlds, and I am always eager to see how they integrate the newest breakthroughs in digital technology to make virtual reality feel real. I am currently a senior at UC Berkeley, but when I'm not studying I always make time to play Xbox One with my younger brother.
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