Cultist Simulator

[hoothoot]

Wait, Cultist Simulator is finished? Did they ever add more headquarters buildings? Did they ever add more to do at the HQ? Last time I played that was an obvious bare spot. Been half-assed keeping an eye on it but I don't recall them mentioning working on that, even though they did overhauls to expeditions and shit.

You can become a demi-god and fight other demi-gods now, not sure how much diff HQs are though.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Wait, Cultist Simulator is finished? Did they ever add more headquarters buildings? Did they ever add more to do at the HQ? Last time I played that was an obvious bare spot. Been half-assed keeping an eye on it but I don't recall them mentioning working on that, even though they did overhauls to expeditions and shit.

You can become a demi-god and fight other demi-gods now, not sure how much diff HQs are though.

Yup, I definitely noticed when they added that. I was just curious if they did the HQ stuff without me noticing since that seemed like an obvious spot that needed love (IIRC it even mentioned something about "We're going to add more here", though maybe I'm just mixing that with a forum post). I'll probably fuck around with it soonish anyway, haven't played since before they added the Dancer, so I may as well check it out after Priest and Ghoul are added and the game's "Done".

 

[Blaine]

In my view, the ideal route to take for this concept would be an extensive and slightly abstracted CYOA with some strategically implemented statistics and inventory/currency items. Each playthrough might take just a couple of hours, but if it's worthwhile to do eight to ten playthroughs, that's a lot of bang for your buck.

It's funny how the most common suggestion to fix Kennedy's vidya is to make them "Fallen London with less grind". This includes Fallen London.

It's worth noting that this is the first and only one of his games I've ever played, though I've heard of and about all of them.

Everyone seems to be in agreement that less grind/time-wastage is the way to go. Maybe he'll catch on before he drifts off into some other vaguely hipster-y pursuit.

 

[Jenkem]

two new DLCs came out today, the final ones...
https://store.steampowered.com/app/871651/Cultist_Simulator_The_Priest/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/871900/Cultist_Simulator_The_Ghoul/

 

[Perkel]

Well they are not final. There is new DLC in the works called EXILE.

Also i got this today and so far i am pretty fucking impressed. IDK what i am doing but i love atmosphere and subject of game. Gameplay also is kind of cool.

 

[Perkel]

Well got one ending. Became normal human worker lol. I really love how system interact and how game rewards experimentation. For an example death in game is pretty much mendatory because your body is for someone else start of their own journey. So for an example i died due to Dread accumulation and my next person was doctor who apparently checked out my body and found weird stuff that he couldn't leave.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Yep, and they claim the Exile DLC is the size the full game was at launch, so that's a cool surprise. Although Exile sounds like it's almost an alternate game mode entirely, so rather than dumping more options into the existing game it's more like a spinoff, but a spinoff classified as a DLC so I get it for free because of the early adopter deal.

 

[Xamenos]

Good to see that getting Cancelled did not end this man's entire career. I like his writing, if not necessarily the gameplay of his games.

 

[Perkel]

From what i play all DLC are integrated into main game or you can start them separately.
From what i have been playing each new life has basically new mechanics not available to other lives.
Like when you pick dancer only she has access to that work.

From what i read also there will be very soon community made tool to make mods for it. While basegame is imho great it should be great foundation for some decent mods. Converting cards and introducing new mechanics shouldn't be hard.

I would love to see it properly converted to some Lovercraft cosmic horror version. More jobs, more content etc.

There are some mods but most of them don't work due to game being updated recently and there is Exile on horizon.

Wait, Cultist Simulator is finished? Did they ever add more headquarters buildings? Did they ever add more to do at the HQ? Last time I played that was an obvious bare spot. Been half-assed keeping an eye on it but I don't recall them mentioning working on that, even though they did overhauls to expeditions and shit.

Each hideout you explore with your minions can be now converted to your HQ and each has something that gives you. Like church works as an sanctuary, Library has library etc.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

From what i play all DLC are integrated into main game or you can start them separately.
From what i have been playing each new life has basically new mechanics not available to other lives.
Like when you pick dancer only she has access to that work.

That was the previous DLC, Exile sounds like it'll be different according to the description. It'll be another single-legacy DLC, but rather than "I'm a X but I'm still largely ascending as normal" gameplay it sounds like it's going to be different. Like there'll be globe-hopping. Hell, just the size comparison shows that Exile should be a different beast than the rest of the DLC. Mod support could be cool but Cultist Simulator's gameplay is still relatively unfun even though I prefer it to the Sunless-games, so I'm not sure if I'd even play mods.

 

[Perkel]

I also think that main loop of gameplay should be less about doing in repeat activities but more about journey something like FTL or hands of fate. And it plays like that at the start which is the best.

Game just needs more content and mod support. Once people will get into modding it, it will be possible to to completely remove part of gameplay and make it more like FTL or other RNG journeys.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Cultist Simulator is having a free week in a few days https://steamdb.info/upcoming/free/

 

[Perkel]

Exile is around corner so they probably want to promote game before that.

 

[Perkel]

I found some screenshots from Exile. Looks like they are going away from survival aspects which is imho good change.
Edit: or maybe not. Seems like it is using different kind of resources.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Cultist Simulator going for 50% off + play for free for the next five days :D

 

[Perkel]

Exile expansion has been released.

 

[Perkel]

Ok after playing about hour with new expansion:

They completely fixed resource mechanic for this DLC. Previously you used health passion and reason as payment for stuff which in return had to be cared for (you had to grow them, accumulate vitality glimmer etc which was just tedious) moreover time used up your resources which were actually hard to generate without knowing ins and out of system and even then you had to go hard at making funds sand using your followers correctly.

This time resource is you life. You have 77 years and some actions require you to pay for stuff with your life. You can't recover that life (or at least i can't do it now). Health was replaced by wounds system. You accumulate wounds you can heal with years. If you accumulate 7 wounds you ded. Those years are not used up as times passes they are finite resource but something that doesn't go away on its own.

Thanks to this change game in much more about decision making than constant hurry because your resources are running out. Cash is present but having no cash doesn't give you game over. Cash is treated as assets you can spend to get various things not as means for surviving next day.

As for DLC itself it is chase themed. Someone is pursuing you and you run away from place to place. You accumulate traces, assets etc. then pursuers come and they start to steal those assets or try to wound you then you either do something about them in various ways or you run away to new location with barely any assets.

I would love for this resource mechanic to be used for rest of game. It completely fixed tedium stuff. There are still mechanics that are time dependent but they are more like outcomes of your actions rather than clock that is pushing you or you are dead.

 

[Jasede]

Thanks for reminding me to give this game another try! I kind of like the hipster writing in it and the Exile thing seems like what it was missing.

 

[what am i doing]

Thanks to this change game in much more about decision making than constant hurry

I find it to be the exact opposite. The main game is very much about decision marking; you can generally play optimally by being very cautious. Yes, funds get used over time - but they're easy to acquire and you can spend a bit of time to gain a lot of them then ignore funds for a while. In Exile, conversely, you are in a constant hurry and there is no "correct methodical decision" like there is in the main game. Most things you do generate Traces, and even if you sit and do nothing the enemy will find you. In fact they can show up immediately when you arrive at a new city. So it's more of a mad rush to stay ahead of the traces and grab whatever you can on the way, where the base game is about carefully, methodically building up your resources and managing threats.

 

[Jasede]

Wait, I got the game for free? The DLC? How come?

Edit: ah, if you bought Cultist Simulator in the first week of release you got all the DLC for free. Neat!

 

[what am i doing]

After completing some Exile victories my overall verdict is still that the main traces mechanic is pretty shit, but the DLC as a whole is pretty good. Unfortunately, most of the difficulty comes from traces. Without them - and you can neuter them really easily by getting a bit of Obscurity and then holding the Obscurity stack so the enemy can't do anything except try to magnetize them (which they can't pull), get more traces, or call in reinforcements, who also can't hurt you - it's utterly without any kind of challenge. Then again the base game also doesn't have much challenge - but you can still die from Dread/Fascination overaccumulation.

I think Exile victory mainly revolves around doing a fast tour of the map to pick up a few weapons (Biedde's Blade, Imhullune Tectrix, and Ebrehel, the Ragged Sword), or at least Ebrehel and something else while levelling up your Edge lore at shrines and getting a few followers. Then you call up your Foe and try to take him out with Lore + Weapon attacks before he takes you out, after which you can do some more exploration with zero danger. So you kind of want to do an arc from Munich (as you want Jannings for his Heart aspect to run doctor's practice), to Krakow, through Russia and down into the Middle East; ultimately the eastern half of the map is where you get your weapons, the western half is more for making money. By that point you should have everything you need. Followers are generally needed to hold him off; I suspect their ability to survive against him is based on their aspect (so Edge and Forge followers are less likely to die than others) but ultimately you can throw all of them at him, some will just die while buying you time (I lost Vasil immediately against him while Orsolina held him off two or three times unharmed and then I finished him off); I guess you can also uncover Weaknesses but I never bothered with that. May do it next time. There are also other victories like three flavours of Edge ascension or becoming a Name of the Velvet, but I haven't done them yet so I don't know if they're easier or harder.

Overall I like it, the new lore and items are great (especially the way much of it ties into the base game, meeting some of the same characters and such), the travel mechanic is cool, I just wish they'd gone with a different "difficulty" than traces RNG. I think that if you enjoy the base game you'll like Exile. If you didn't like base Cultist Simulator you'll probably not like it. Though your mileage may vary. It's like a sequel more than DLC, for the amount of content.

 

[Serious_Business]

Been playing this as a true horror game, working every day until despair crushes me

One day Glover and Glover will recognize my value. My Glover you are such a great employer, in fact I have to say if you would accept this modest token of my appreciation, that you are a great man, a true beacon of civilisation, Mr. Glover I am so glad to work for you nothing would please me more than more hours in the office I am so privileged to be here

 

[Matalarata]

One day

Don't worry, you perfect wagie. The game has you covered. Curl up your hands in a familiar shape and all that...