Game review: Cultist Simulator

Pretty sure the detail that makes this game a proper simulation of being a cultist is the level of devotion it sparks that makes time completely meaningless. (Also known as: wait, why is it suddenly past midnight?)

More seriously, Cultist Simulator is basically a deck building and resource management game. Your character's own health, reason, passion, and money are the primary resources (augmented later by your disciples, occult tools, and esoteric lore once you manage to find any of it). Oh, and you have to manage your fascination with the occult and your existential dread in order to stay sane... and you have to watch out for entirely mortal hunters who don't like sharing a city with someone dabbling in the forbidden arts (or the various supernatural creatures such a person summons) for some strange reason.

Despite the cards you accumulate being one of the primary mechanics, there's also some real-time strategy elements, because all the actions you do with those cards function on timers. Some of those timers will force you to use cards - you'll keep losing the funds you need to pay for food and shelter as time moves on, for example. Other timers simply dictate how long it takes for your actions to bear fruit, so if you don't watch out, you'll occasionally find yourself in need of a resource with no way to actually produce it in time. Most of those timers range from 30 to 90 seconds (there are a lot of minute timers), which is probably why the game burns time so fast. There's always something new coming up in just another twenty seconds or so; it adds up quickly.

The game does a great job of being very strange and mysterious; its lore really does evoke the feeling of hunting after unusual and unknowable things. Unfortunately, some of those unknowable things are basic aspects which in any typical game would simply be explained in a tutorial. While I appreciate there are thematic reasons not to do that in this game, it leads to a lot of false difficulty and confused fumbling while you try and figure out exactly what the game is expecting you to do next. I think it's still worth it, but I won't deny it's a bit frustrating.

Now if you'll excuse me, my cult's enemies grow ever more persistent. I need to get back to summoning some eldritch horrors to send after them.