Cultist Simulator is how Sunless Sea’s creators play with cards and reality

Weather Factory’s Cultist Simulator has a straightforward name, but the game itself isn’t so easily defined. It’s interactive fiction that trades in digital cards. It’s filled with intricate text describing otherworldly events, but players are urged to make quick decisions by ticking clocks. It’s a roguelike, where death is final and characters and items arrive in mysterious, randomized ways. After a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, the developer’s debut effort is slated for a May 31 release on PC.

Failbetter Games founder Alexis Kennedy and Failbetter producer Lottie Bevan started the studio to experiment further with narrative games. And Cultist Simulator does have the hallmarks of Kennedy’s previous works like Fallen London and Sunless Sea, both of which feature Lovecraftian gothic terrors and cryptic adventures. Likewise, Cultist Simulator is set in an enigmatic world that seems to exist in a reality fractured by some ineffable force. And your role in the matter is vaguely defined — you can choose to start a cult and chase mysteries, or you can live a quiet life and retire peacefully.