Astrologaster Review

The University of Cambridge, with the support of the European Union, created Astrologaster, a simulation of a 16th-century English astrologer’s life. The game is based on the notebooks of Dr Simon Forman, an occultist and herbalist who worked in London during the time of Elizabeth I.

According to the plot, Dr Forman lives in the midst of a plague, and all the city’s nobility come to him for advice. First, officials and secular ladies complain about involuntary urination and flatulence, and then they ask to solve problems in their personal lives and domestic conflicts.

The growing fame of the hero allows him to expand the range of services – after all, you can ask the stars not only about medicine. But also about where the priest could invest honestly earned shillings, how to solve the personal problems of young visitors and domestic conflicts of the townspeople. The plot is not to blame for the monotony of situations.

The reception usually looks like this: a visitor enters the office, gets to know you and sets out the essence of the problem, and then it’s up to the stars. A conditional sky map with several constellations opens. Near each – according to the advice for the client. Your task is to randomly choose one of the options and enjoy how the astrologer will explain his decision to the guest.

You probably already guessed that there is no serious simulation in entertainment – it is rather a generator of comical situations in the scenery of Shakespeare’s England. The game is divided into tiny but variable episodes of 5-10 minutes – just right for short sessions on public transport or during a lunch break. However, it will take at least 20 hours to complete the entire campaign.

Every little thing is exquisitely done: nice graphics in the style of panoramic book illustrations, narration with the help of musical verses performed by a live choir, excellent dialogues, professionally voiced by a dozen actors. Astrologaster is an outlandish mix of pretentiousness, interesting setting, weird gameplay choices, and nebulous pseudoscience. To some, it will seem like a viscous swamp, where the devil will break his leg, to others – a puzzle for all time. But everyone will agree that her charm would be enough for a dozen big-budget hits.

The guy himself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Forman