This is, without a doubt, the first candidate for the goty for me.

First of all, it is THE spiritual successor to "Cultist Simulator", the game I've spent more hours that I'd like to admit, and the one which enchanted me for digging deep into the whole "card roleplay" thing.
Second of all, it is a true RPG. You can play the protagonist as you want, from pious jihad enjoyer to a ravenous sinner who kills and r-s for ♥♥♥♥♥ and giggles, to noble Sinbhad-style rogue everyone likes to a chtonic avatar and you can interchange almost every storyline near-endlessly. I'm over 100h in, having done most of the endings (which include magician + hardmode with insight endings + extra cards), and I still find new events and sudden card interactions.
Yes, you can gift a double-dildo to a Sultan. Yes, it will break and become a nun-chuck. It will be called "double dragon".
While the Cultist Simulator is somewhat serene and is about knowledge of the world, Sultan's Game is about people ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ each other over for a number of motives, constanly. It is about corruption, honor, faith, day to day life, a lot of things, most of which are written well enough to be a separate anime arc. Most of the characters are written well enough to be "at least" an arc villain.
There are some downsides - the UI is clunky (stacking events on map, cards refusing to go to different tab, quests and events bugging like characters duplicating, way too few music tracks so it kinda feels like torture of listening them on repeat for 20+ hours (or the weird silence of the "god" events which is even worse), but all of that is patchable. What is amazing - is an incredibly (although with some typically-chinese cliches which don't quite fit, but that's okay) deep and complex to play. I do have a love-hate relationship with the narrators, rerolling golden conquest for golden conquest, or giving you the worst possible event at the worst possible time, but at the same time the feeling when you are confident enough to draw 5-6 sultan cards in order to trigger the right event knowing you can resolve them all - that's superb.

TL/DR: - A roleplay experience first and foremost, one of the better written narratives I've seen since Cultist Simulator (in some cases actually better). Hate it so much (buy it, please support the proper ENG localization)

Seemingly simple gameplay with just enough depth mingled with just enough of a story line to keep you coming back for the next day and the next day. Decisions matter and depending on your decisions, you make friends, enemies, kill off potential friends, make enemies your friends, make friends your enemies, a great sandbox of decision causality.

A mix of board game and RPG that explores dark themes and forces the player to choose not between good and bad, but the lesser of two (or more) evils instead. When I first stumbled upon this game I immediately fell in love with the art and the dark story concept, but I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy the gameplay. That worry was gone almost immediately once I actually started playing.

The gameplay is seemingly simple at first, but as you play on you realise that it is far more complex than the tutorial makes it seem. Most of all it is absolutely captivating and despite its turn based nature it feels dynamic and...suspenseful? It's kinda like trying to solve a puzzle with a ticking time bomb on your back and you don't know how much time you have left. I also love the rather grim and dark setting, that is in fact way darker than I initially thought. I was surprised by some of the choices and the following consequences that the player has to deal with, so much so that the trigger warnings actually feel appropriate and needed this time.

The biggest letdown, for me, at the moment is the English translation. It's not terrible, nor nonsensical MTL gibberish, but it is difficult to comprehend at times and it feels unnatural, which breaks immersion and takes away a lot from the narrative experience. I hope the TL gets worked on in the future, because I would love to see this game shine!