Beginner’s Guide to Cultist Simulator
Any reviewer will tell you that the fun of Cultist Simulator is the mystery. The plot contrasts with its ornateness and variation in the development of events, although initially it seems extremely simple. A group of people from the 20s of the last century, for various reasons, begins to strive to search for dangerous, unknown and … forbidden secrets, inspired by godless, but so interesting rituals and the desire to get everything that a dark soul that has embarked on a new path in the service of long-forgotten gods.
The motivations of the characters in the story can be radically different. Someone trying to unearth the secret of his father’s death goes to his rich friends interested in the occult arts, someone lost his job and instead of chasing past enemies, decides to be imbued with their distorted judgments and, under the guise of his past reputation, create a group of like-minded people, and who – it’s just that day by day, dying in a routine, he decides to interrupt the vicious cycle of being and devote himself to something great. It seems that their fates are not similar, but they all know what they want from life in the future – to be a cult, command a cult, serve a cult for the glory of the dead gods.
Agreed, the mysticism of Howard Lovecraft’s novels is really felt here, only in this case it is not directly stated about the already well-known favorite horrors of the Abyss, and you really do not know what to expect from the future of your cabal, and behind every turn there may be a new story about a simple a mortal man who has come to replace the ashes of past successes in the field of the occult.
The gameplay consists of manipulation of cards on a small playing field. First of all, it must be said that the game is tied to the cyclical nature of its actions, which must be repeated from time to time in order to comply with game conventions. Each cycle of actions is calculated by a certain amount of time spent in seconds, and depending on the manipulations performed, you get result cards, both positive and negative. It doesn’t matter what action you take, because any of them can affect both the character and the future of the game as a whole.
The actions themselves are divided into the basic needs of the character in sleep, learning something new and working to provide himself-beloved with everything necessary. Further, in moving towards your main goal – the creation of a large-scale cult, you will be able to discover new opportunities for interacting with the environment, whether it is direct exploration of the world, the search for the true path in dreams, communication with various interesting and not very people, and so on.
The game is quite difficult at first, because it doesn’t have any training from the word at all and you have to think of everything yourself, but very quickly the intuitiveness of actions replaces misunderstanding, and dragging and combining cards on the field becomes meaningful. So do not worry, the game can be mastered quickly enough.
The cards have several varieties depending on the application, interaction with the character and the world around him, or the effects that the game has on him. The main cards should highlight the state and life situation of your character, and more specifically, points of health, mind, emotions and financial security. Health, as the name implies, allows you to feel in good health, fight illnesses and work at thankless manual labor for a penny, eventually turning overwork into a typical everyday part-time job.
Emotions, on the contrary, allow you to give yourself completely to something creative, finding new inspiration in dreams, drawing beautiful pictures that will attract the attention of both people on the streets and the authorities who suspect you of some kind of heresy.
There are also cards of occultism, which are opened over time in various searches, subsequently making it possible to further develop the forbidden arts and, as a result, create your own group of people who bow to any of the hidden knowledge. You can recruit followers, perform various rituals, find artifacts and new documents, strengthening the power of the cult.
If you are a fan of board games, novels with tons of text or branching plot twists and turns, then this project will undoubtedly fall into your field of vision, but for the majority it simply does not stay in their heads for a long time and they will turn their attention to other games.
As a result, we have an interesting hybrid of several genres. This game is something new and unknown, like an interesting secret to learn.
