Cultist Simulator
Main game
3.15 average rating based on 196 ratings
- Developers
- Weather Factory
- Publishers
- Weather Factory
- Platforms
- Android, Linux, Mac, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS
- Genres
- Adventure, Card & Board Game, Indie, Role-playing (RPG), Simulator
- Themes
- Horror
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Cultist Simulator?
Related Content
Solid Gameplay, but can be a WikI game
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version
Honestly enjoyed my time with the game with only having a minor victory (through DLC). I had fun trying to survive with different jobs and attempting strategies to win.
My main issue with this game is that while the beginning of the game can be explained through game play, but it comes to a point where the player may have no idea what to do. I have hit the wall multiple times and when talking with friends who have played the game they told me to look at the wiki. While not all "Wiki games" are bad games there is a flaw within the game play because of that.
Over all not a bad game the atmosphere is amazing there is just that flaw on how to win.
Hathanta's review of Cultist Simulator
This is a pretty intriguing game, but the mechanics just don't do it for me. A playthrough can take hours and then all be for nothing because you lost concentration for a few seconds. Just now I was on maybe my 5th game in a row and felt like I really had it down.. two hours in... and then suddenly died because I was too focused on one part of the screen. Also no automation - dragging the same cards endlessly around to the same boxes every other minute was getting pretty boring. I might go back to this in the future but I'm not thrilled about it right now.
PuReaper's review of Cultist Simulator
Incredibly complex and intersting game. It can be very confusing and can require a lot of trial and error to figure out if you dont use the wiki. But what makes this game so great is the writing. Alexis Kennedy, the writer for this game and one of its two developers, just has this way of making even the normalest sentences sound interesting. The entire world of the secret histories he created is just incredible, so much so that it has a trpg set in its world. Just like the character you play as you slowly learn more and more about the secrets of the world. If you enjoy well written games (or even books since this game kinda feels like playing a book) give this game a try and check the wiki if youre stuck.
Two more points I couldnt fit into the text. This game has inspirations from Lovecraft but it does its own thing mostly. You wont find Cthullu or Aszathoth which can be important for some people looking for some more original games that dont reuse old storys/characters. Secondly, even though this game has Simulator in the game, it is not one of those bad glitchy …
Incredibly complex and intersting game. It can be very confusing and can require a lot of trial and error to figure out if you dont use the wiki. But what makes this game so great is the writing. Alexis Kennedy, the writer for this game and one of its two developers, just has this way of making even the normalest sentences sound interesting. The entire world of the secret histories he created is just incredible, so much so that it has a trpg set in its world. Just like the character you play as you slowly learn more and more about the secrets of the world. If you enjoy well written games (or even books since this game kinda feels like playing a book) give this game a try and check the wiki if youre stuck.
Two more points I couldnt fit into the text. This game has inspirations from Lovecraft but it does its own thing mostly. You wont find Cthullu or Aszathoth which can be important for some people looking for some more original games that dont reuse old storys/characters. Secondly, even though this game has Simulator in the game, it is not one of those bad glitchy Unity Simulator games.
Maybe fun if it's your thing
For a more reliably good time, consider checking out Sunless Sea or Sunless Skies.
Too Esoteric.
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version
I'm going to be honest: I don't get it. I feel like I was starting to catch on after about an hour or so, but I just didn't care enough to keep going. The concept is intriguing, but the execution is confusing.
I'm in my fourth playthrough and still struggling. I keep dying from lack of funds and illness from dread and not being able to generate contentment at the right time. It's a bit tedious and I guess I don't get what the end game is here.
Played briefly on Steam free trial. I had little idea what I was doing and found the gameplay to be needlessly tedious. Checking each card to see what can be put where and just putting in whatever would fit to see what would happen, the stupid pop up message about "you can't put that card there" that blocked my cards, and the fact that I could not read a lot of the text without moving it closer to the bottom of the screen due to the weird angles. I did manage to start a cult about watchers and light or something, and recruit 2 pawns. I ran out of money and could not seem to get more despite spending health and passion on work all the time; running out of money should never be something that happens without player agency. Then I died from disease. I had an injury from spending health to work and was resting on that injury. I had about 5 seconds between when my injury was healed to when the disease would kill me, and I sat back thinking I got this. Did I have to manually put the health into the disease thing to live? …
Read MorePlayed briefly on Steam free trial. I had little idea what I was doing and found the gameplay to be needlessly tedious. Checking each card to see what can be put where and just putting in whatever would fit to see what would happen, the stupid pop up message about "you can't put that card there" that blocked my cards, and the fact that I could not read a lot of the text without moving it closer to the bottom of the screen due to the weird angles. I did manage to start a cult about watchers and light or something, and recruit 2 pawns. I ran out of money and could not seem to get more despite spending health and passion on work all the time; running out of money should never be something that happens without player agency. Then I died from disease. I had an injury from spending health to work and was resting on that injury. I had about 5 seconds between when my injury was healed to when the disease would kill me, and I sat back thinking I got this. Did I have to manually put the health into the disease thing to live? Or did I need vitality instead? Don't really care. The concept of the game is kind of interesting but the execution is far too abstract, tedious and random for my enjoyment.
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Cultist Simulator - First Impressions
What a pleasantly great make-your-own-story card game. While the fundamentals of how the card systems work aren’t too hard to grasp, I found myself quite enjoying this addicting balance and interesting decision making that came into building your own cult and living with the terrible short sighted decisions I made along the way. I managed to get the mundane job ending within the first hour, which was funny considering how little of a point it makes. I have a bit of misgivings on the luck factors (I had the passion->opportunity cards cycle SIX times, what a time waste) but overall it’s very good and very cool. Shelved of course for now, I look forward to going back to it later.
At first I didnt love this game. I actually quit it, said 'not for me'... but a couple weeks later I heard a podcast called Three Moves Ahead where they discussed a similar ambivallence about Cultist Simulator... and somehow, through the experience, I and the podcasters talked ourselves back into it, and it was one of my favorite games of 2018!
If you arent feeling it, let me give you this advice: dont worry if you dont know what you're doing.
You're dealing with inhuman reasoning and dream logic. It /shouldn't/ be easy to understand initially. Over time, however, you will come to understand the world on its terms, not on yours.
The intriguing mechanic and supernatural trappings made me really want to like this game. On paper, it ticks all the boxes that pique my interest. Yet, for reasons that I cannot pinpoint, it just wasn't engaging. Exploring the various systems in the game and piecing hints together to figure out how it worked was enjoyable, but the actual gameplay was unexpectedly repetitive and unsatisfying.