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Today we are taking a look at Cultist Simulator by Alexis Kennedy and Weather Factory studio, Alexis being notable as the creator of Fallen London and Sunless Seas.
Now if you’re familiar with Fallen London or Sunless Seas then you’ll have a good idea of what is on offer with Cultist Simulator, essentially a narrative based game based heavily on making decisions, sometimes tough, sometimes easy, but always with purpose. Cultist Simulator however, unlike the other games is a card based strategy game as opposed to the adventure, exploration style of the others.
Set in the 1920’s Cultist Simulator puts you in charge of a regular person, one that has been beaten down by the world and lacks purpose, just spending their days working in a soul crushing job, although the open of the game places you on their final day of menial work so you can receive your last pay and start your journey proper.
Now, the plot of the game is quite difficult to sum up, as the game is basically the next evolution of the choose your own adventure story; so you can drastically shift what will happen based on your choices (even waiting too long to make a choice is in itself a choice that will shift the story and your subsequent choices).
The main point of the game is to select an old god (from literary icon H.P. Lovecraft’s work) to worship and base your cult around, and then bringing the old god to the current world to take their rightful place, but how you choose to do this is up to you.
In case you were wondering about the whole “aren’t Cults inherently evil” thing: yes they are. You are the bad guy in this game – but that’s not how you see it, following the will of a higher power and all.
As a card based strategy game you have a board and cards, sounds simple enough, however as a video game there are plenty of secrets and surprises in store, the more choices you make the more cards appear which means more choices become available to you, after a few minutes of playing you’ll find yourself with a dizzying amount of cards, how do you use the cards though?
Well you begin with an “option” slot and resource cards, as you make choices you will receive more option slots, more resource cards and modifier cards, so you can drag a resource card into an appropriate option slot which will create a timer countdown while it processes, during this time you can read other cards, make other plays or if available drag modifier cards into the option to change the outcome.
As you can have multiple timers counting down at once, you never really are stuck waiting for things – but if you do find yourself wanting to speed things up, there is a speed modifier you can select at the bottom of the screen.
One terrifyingly realistic aspect of the game is that in order to survive and continue playing, you must expend wealth cards, this also means that you need to find ways to bring in wealth consistently so you don’t burn through it all, again you have multiple options for this that expand as you play, but your first way is to have your character work, this negatively impacts their health (which is something I can relate to before joining Sanitarium FM of course) so there are always ramifications to your choices, if you work to hard you could deteriorate your health, but if you work too little you could run out of money, in the same fashion there are things you can do that will raise your fame which could make it easier to gain new followers, but it will also make you a target for detectives (however you will need to break laws for the detectives to get any evidence against you) so again you’ll need to find the balance that works for you.
These things coupled together make the game surprisingly fast paced and tense, with new cards appearing all the time, some of them also with expiration’s of their own, so you always need to be on top of things if you want your cult to prosper and your god to awaken.
What seems like a basic and even boring game at first look is one of the deepest and most manic experiences I have had in a while, if you like H.P Lovecraft, reading, strategy and using your imagination then Cultist Simulator could be just what you’re looking for, the game has also seen fairly frequent updates since release so it looks like you’ll have a lot more options soon too.
I’ll leave you with a quote from the developers summing up the game:
Become a scholar of the unseen arts. Search your dreams for sanity-twisting rituals. Craft tools and summon spirits. Indoctrinate innocents. Seize your place as the herald of a new age.
Do you love money, but not all that annoying work that comes with it? Well why not take Cloud Imperium Games‘ approach, with Guinness World Records listing the sum of US$39,680,576 in 2014 as the highest amount ever raised for a game (2014 also being the first of many release dates promised), fast forwarding to 2018 they now have US$186,783,531, but still no game, nor signs of a release date.
Star Citizen has been compared to No Man’s Sky during the early days of their campaigns and rightly so, both were space exploration simulators that promised massive scopes and then delivered huge delays, however No Man’s Sky has actually come out, with an approach more similar to Canon Films, No Man’s Sky raised money for a pitch, developed aesthetically pleasing promotions and then released a sub par product to the disappointment of everyone involved (unfortunately lacking the Canon Films unintended charm), since the release the game has been worked on and re-released on consoles, with each new version being closer to the original promise, what a stupid move, Hello Games (makers of No Man’s Sky), didn’t know what they had, and the clever people over at Cloud Imperium Games’ have picked up the slack, draining money from eager fans, wanting to believe their perfect game will come to them.
Another, somewhat closer comparison to be made is between Star Citizen and Frontier Developments’ Elite Dangerous, Kickstarted 6 months or so before Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous promised a massive open world, space simulation, but they made one serious mistake, they hired people with a vague understanding of how to make games, so when the promised time came, they had a playable game and their hands were tied, they would have to release the game and say goodbye to the crowdfunding revenue stream, they fought valiantly with some DLC releases, but alas they fell into the same pitfall, with both major DLC updates providing more actual gameplay instead of just the hope that Star Citizen provides.
But the main difference between these three is that, Star Citizen isn’t a game, it’s an idea, it’s hope, it’s a religion, you donate money for the idea of something greater than yourself, helping them build and grow, putting your trust with a higher power (developer Chris Roberts, or should it be Christ Roberts?), without the expectations of a personal gain, in favor of the spiritual gain you receive from knowing you’ve helped these fine people achieve something, not something you can use, but something.
But how can you continue to help these people fund their sweet lives doing nothing but crowdfunding and making hollow promises, sorry that was a type, I meant helping them create the future of space simulation and the most glorious game of all time, well you can buy plots of land in the virtual world for the mere pittance of US$100, but that’s not really enough, you can dig deeper, for only the cost of a reasonable car (US$27,000) you can purchase all the DLC for the game that doesn’t exist, why not jump over there and take a look now? Oh wait, you will need to donate US$1000 for the privilege to view this amazing deal, or you could send a message to CIG’s staff and they might be nice enough to give you a free look at how much money you could have the chance to give them.
Enter the Aperture Science Enrichment Center and experience Bridge Constructor Portal – the unique merging of the classic Portal™ and Bridge Constructor™ games.
Deep within the test chambers of Aperture Science, a new branch of research and development is initiated. Welcome, Trainee, to Bridge Constructor: Portal.
From developers, ClockStone Studio, and published by HeadUp Games, comes a new addition to the puzzle-based universe of Portal.
The task is simple enough. Build a bridge to guide forklifts, transporting obviously important Aperture Science Sciencing Materials, from a starting position, to an end position.
The challenge comes from an increasingly abstract level layout, alternating start and end positions, adversarial gun turrets, and of course, the iconic portals.
The level progression moves at a comfortable pace, which provides a good opportunity to practice each time a new element is added to the game.
There are 60 test chambers to work your way through, with two levels of challenge; build a construct that will handle a single truck, or put your engineering abilities to the test, and successfully help a convoy of trucks traverse the chamber!
A vaguely wobbly bridge might suffice for a single truck, but that wobble might throw off the trajectory of the third driver of the convoy, or there might be insufficient support in your build, and the whole thing might come crashing down; sending you straight back to the drawing board!
Aesthetically, the game takes much of it’s style from the Aperture Science infomercials that introduced new mechanics in Portal 2, and it adds a unique charm to the game that instantly makes you feel like you’re back in the Aperture testing chambers.
Tutorial assistance, and comments from GLaDOS further add to the game’s appeal.
The user interface is minimalistic, yet incredibly functional, with controls that are easy to master, and in the main menu, there is a section for additional tips to improve your constructions.
Available on Steam, Mac, PS4, XBox One, Switch, and Mobile devices; Bridge Constructor: Portal is a well-designed, easily accessible, and ingenious little game, full of charm, and challenge, that is well worth checking out if you enjoy physics puzzles, or are a fan of the games that preceded this one.
It’s a perfect blend of the Bridge Constructor series, and the unique sci-fi world of Portal!
What was old is once again new, HD remasters and remakes have been a thing for many years, with many games taking years to develop, produce and port to other gaming consoles including PC ports, plus with technology advancing so rapidly in that time, many studios release “ultimate editions” of their games a few years later with upgraded HD graphics, but fans still cry out for the classic games of their childhoods, it was only a matter of time before the studios took notice, having the rights to the games and a built in fanbase, HD remasters are a fairly sure bet when handled correctly (such as the recent Crash Bandicoot and Shadow of the Colossus remasters), and with the recent release of the Tomb Raider film adaption, it seemed like the perfect time for Lara Croft’s original adventures to receive a long overdue makeover.
Test footage released by Realtech VR the third party company in charge of the remaster, seemed to be well received, so why was the remaster canned? Well the simple answer is, because it wasn’t sanctioned by IP holders Square Enix, it seems wires must have been crossed somewhere as all the work done on remastering the early Tomb Raider adventures, was done without the knowledge of the studio that own the rights.
The official statement released by Square Enix is as follows “While we always welcome passion and excitement for the Tomb Raider franchise, the remasters in question were initiated and advertised without seeking approval. As such, they were never officially sanctioned, ensuring fans receive high quality gaming experiences is at the heart of our mission as a company, which requires all projects to go through proper channels.”
As per their statement, Square Enix have not ruled out a remaster for their iconic heroine, and the time still appears right to push forward on one, assuming the next company to try, actually gets permission first, it is said “it is far easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission” but as true as that statement can be, when it comes to copyright law, playing it safe is always the best option.
Willy-Nilly Knight is the great story, based on the legend of King Arthur. Immerse yourself in a single-player, isometric, story-driven RPG with real-time gameplay and turn-based combat, set in the colorful fantasy universe. Will you find the power to save the world in the war of gods? Find your answer.
Developed by Russian Indie label Double Dice games, Willy Nilly Knight is their first full game release: a single player, isometric, turn-based tactical RPG set in an Arthurian themed fantasy world.
The combat in the game is very standard for the S-RPG or T-RPG genre, with each character, ally and enemy alike taking turns to move, attack, use an ability or use an item. All of these actions will use AP – or Action Points – which are displayed at the bottom of the screen, so as long as you have AP remaining you can select any combination of options during your turns.
Winning the battles gives you a few items, coins and some experience which goes toward levelling up. This provides you with an ability skill point to learn or strengthen an ability, and a stat point which you can spend on one of the base stats to improve your character by adding more health, attack, defence, and so on.
In between battles you can explore the world, collecting items from hidden (or not so hidden) caches and talk to people for more back story, sometimes picking up a new quest or objective to achieve. The game also has autosave enabled and it creates multiple files so you can reload from an earlier point if you make a mistake, or want to try something else.
The setting and plot of the game is nothing entirely new as a basic fantasy story taking place within the Arthurian legends. You control Arthur, a boy who wakes up and assumes he is dreaming because the world is fantastical, then pulls a sword from a stone and then proceeds to save a damsel in distress. You later learn this is your second character Guinevere. Arthur gradually starts his journey, where he finds that the Gods of this world are waging a war and wish to use his power as one of their weapons.
The game is somewhat lighthearted in tone with bright colourful characters and locations. Even the darker dungeon setting is still quite family friendly, with no real violence or offensive content. It feels like a game that could be enjoyed by a younger player, assuming they have the patience to plan out their battles, as going in guns blazing and just hammering the enemies is not likely to work for long against enemies that match or exceed your own power.
Overall, Willy Nilly Knight doesn’t really bring anything new to a long standing genre, with familiar settings, story, enemies and battle system – but it does pull them off quite solidly, coming off as a warm, family friendly little adventure.
