Oh man, I was putting off this review for a while. A big fan of the first game - Cultist Simulator here (consider myself to "technically" 100% it - just could not be bothered to grind the myriad of the samey romance achievements).

To cut strait to it - "funny library game" is a bittersweet, somewhat disappointed recommend.

The game is nice: cute artstyle, more exploration and unraveling of an amazing setting and gameplay is engaging.

I played it last short after the release week and has not been caught up on the updates much, so everything below relates to the experience from that time.

The flaws started to really show in late game - a lot of things became samey: lots of different skills and workplaces with very little unique usage for them, mechanic of visitors that felt underdeveloped and inconsequential.

But the worst things were: absolute logistical nightmare of trying to upgrade the skill to the higher levels (and read highest level books for that even) and the general lack of payoff for the entire lategame.

You could go nearly insane trying to max out most of your skills - but it's mostly meaningless. At least for the rooms and books there is an obvious payoff - new tools and lore.

But the biggest offender for me were the endings - not only are they tied to a random Numa season (at least this was the case on release), but are also extremely samey and shallow - to the point of feeling almost like reskins of the, like, 3-4 meaningful endings.

So, basically after doing everything I've wanted on my 80+ hour run I had to simply let the game run for several hours (or few in-game years) waiting for the ever so elusive Numa season, while trying to keep all the fleeting resources needed for the endings ready for the entirety of that several hours.

And after that ordeal the reward was a bunch of near identical endings that felt like the reincarnation of the grindy romance achievements from the first game.
Unironically, the most meaningfully felt achievement was the secret Solomon Husher one.
That was a breaking point for me, after which I gave up on this game for some time.

So, why is it a recommend? Well, almost all my negative points are concerning a very lategame part of the game.
And there is lots of room for improvement, so yeah, everything may very well be saved with a couple of dlcs.

After all, on the release of Cultist Simulator that lategame also had a lot to be desired, and two best playthroughs of it: Priest and Ghoul legacies, were among the last dlcs (Exile was also quite good).

Thanks for making it through this text wall of scattered opinion (I will most likely revisit it later after more content is added).
Have a great day!

Another great by Alexis Kennedy. If the idea of cleaning your house for occult mysteries by plying an unfortunate local at the pub with enough booze, stories and showing them this weird tool you picked before scuttling off to read like a hermit is appealing, look no further.

I'll start off by saying this is a very particular game for a particular set of folks. If interacting with the world around you to discover new things and unlock new puzzles doesn't sound interesting to you, I'd wait for a sale or look up some gameplay before buying (and I highly recommend buying this game).

It's an incredible puzzle game where the very first puzzle is figuring out how to actually play.

The game doesn't offer a tutorial outside of the very basic controls, and honestly? It's great. Not only is it a lack of handholding, it actually adds to the depth and mystery of this whole thing. Who am I, where am I, and what am I to do are the first things that will go through your mind. It's an incredible game where one of the best puzzles is figuring out how to interact with the world around you.

yes, yes, I'll review it, but first let me translate The Tower Falls. Ah, blast it, my Fet is fatigued. I'll need to get some mist-kissed water, and O no, night is falling. let me dream on this memory, and I'll get to it tomorrow. But I'll need to do something with the rest of these memories...

♥♥♥♥, how'd it get to be 4 am?

Slowly piece together an elaborate occult metaphysic, as proper nouns gradually resolve from meaningless to "Oh I remember the last book I read by that author, and the gossip surrounding their personal life and rumored illegitimate children," punctuated by moments of wonder when the significance of the place you are uncovering comes into focus.

Well, it took not quite 100 hours for me to half-explore Hush House and stumble my way to a basic ending... and I immediately restarted, to put what I've learned to use in pursuing a more advanced ending. So, yeah, I like it. That said, if you want to succeed here, you'll either need to take notes or use a wiki to keep track of everything you need to progress.

yes

This game has been a blast! I'm very much a completionist player and am someone who struggles with fast-paced games. This game has been really accessible even with my processing issues. The game does stagnate a bit once you get far enough, but it's fun to multitask and also have podcasts going on in the background.

1000000/10, exactly my type of game

pro tip, have notepad ready so you can copy/paste important text from the game, and keep track of things like unlocked recipes and books that contain useful memories

get this game, it will ruin your life (in a good way)

It is a damn good game. With flavors and other things that are not nice. It would be nice a way to take notes in-game. As some players have stated, they take their own notes, but that would make sense in the game itself.