I don't understand the allure

[Fleshbits]

It looks to me like someone did the first 3 or 4 tutorials in Unity or UE4 and 2500 people decided to give him 20 bucks.

In just don't get it. Write some text in some boxes, make some timers, have the user click?

Is everyone really that bored? Maybe its time I get back to game programming.

[Arlen Tektolnes]

Here's my review of A Song of Ice and Fire: It's just some text 0/10

[Fleshbits]

Originally posted by Arlen Tektolnes:

Here's my review of A Song of Ice and Fire: It's just some text 0/10

Well, it really is, so that's an honest review. It's not an interactive strategy game.
Games are supposed to be interactive. Strategy games are supposed to be full full of deep decisions.

AFAICT from vidoes this game is simply reading text, matching symbols and clicking.
I don't see the depth, the strategy, or what makes it a game vs a book.

Of course, failure of everyone making videos to actually understand wtf they are supposed to do doesn't help a strategy gamer watching videos figure out if there is any potential for the firing of nuerons to be had.

[Dakuwan]

For me, it was the Lovecraft flavor. Enjoying it so far though.

[Driss]

Not bored enough to post on the forums of every game I am uninterested in.

[エロ音声作品学者]

i rate this troll attempt a D-minus

qq

[The Prophet]

have you every player golf. Thats boring. I dont get it you repetedly put balls in holes.

[Fleshbits]

I really wasn't trying to troll you. I genuinally wanted to know if there is some depth to this game that I not able to pick up on from watching videos of people whom admitedly, "dont know wtf they are doing." That's all. Don't take it personally.

[InstableMonster]

Originally posted by Fleshbits:

I really wasn't trying to troll you. I genuinally wanted to know if there is some depth to this game that I not able to pick up on from watching videos of people whom admitedly, "dont know wtf they are doing." That's all. Don't take it personally.

There is depth, there are mysteries to solve, you need to pay attention to what goes on and is being said on the cards. There are a lot of possibilities.

One game can go on for hours and as you play how you approach things change since every time you get further you will change your tactic to be more prepared and not meet an early demise.

Don't mock something by saying it looks like crap if you legit want info on it. Just say you havent found any pertinent i fo on the game and want to know more.

[Sir Trousers McPants]

Originally posted by Fleshbits:

I really wasn't trying to troll you. I genuinally wanted to know if there is some depth to this game that I not able to pick up on from watching videos of people whom admitedly, "dont know wtf they are doing." That's all. Don't take it personally.

if you weren't trying to troll, dont insult the developers and the people who bought the game

[Zorlond]

Originally posted by Fleshbits:

Don't take it personally.

The eponymous troll statement right there. Your cover's blown, dude, give it up.

[Sky]

Cultist Simulator is very meta. You are trying to learn secrets of ancient and godly beings.

There is no tutorial because you are just as new to this as your character. You know nothing of how to run a cult. The entire game is filled with mystery, "What happens if I do this".

I would say that this game is about as punishing as Dark Souls. You either learn from your mistakes, or you keep making mistakes until you give up.

Each card has an info box with icons, each icon has information. Read everything, and try every combination to find out things.

When you get far enough in, you realize that the game is a delicate balance of not dying, and furthering your research/cult.

[Gared]

Originally posted by Fleshbits:

I really wasn't trying to troll you. I genuinally wanted to know if there is some depth to this game that I not able to pick up on from watching videos of people whom admitedly, "dont know wtf they are doing." That's all. Don't take it personally.

I believe what you are saying, because my initial impression was kind of the same. I don't like card games and that's what it looked like. But I liked the premise, watched some no-commentary gameplay and, with Steam refund policy having my back, decided to give it a shot

At first, I felt confused, but the mystical narrative stimulated me to inquisitively push further, I was just interested in the mechanics - it seemed complex.
But the depth of the game was found in another domain whatsoever:

First and foremost it tells you a story.
For you I'll pair it with metagame of how it happens on the table.

My first character James Faraday worked as a junior clerk at the company, enduring the lashouts of his demanding boss. (I had to continuously carry my occupation card over to Work card and it had to consume Reason every turn - extra concentration and dedication - meaning I could not concentrate on anything else - or the performance at work and my pay would suffer)

In what little time was left for doing anything else he would take a walk around the slumbering city (Explore card) and at night he would have one of those vivid dreams (Passion on Dream and Sleep). But .. those were only dreams, the reality was pushing papers all day. And that strange old man left his strange notes for him after his death, but that's just a bunch of writing of dellirious old man. Surely, if James works hard he'll get a promotion, right? This is real, the dreams are just that - dreams.
So he decided to concentrate on his work and the day came when he got the promotion and increase in payment.
And so it continued for quite a while, looked like James really started to move up in the world a little, even though every day was just the same as the day before (at some point promotions stopped happening and Work produced a set amount of Funds cards)

But one day, he had this really strange dream of a door and a key, he woke up drenched in sweat, but shaken and excited (Dread card, Fascination card, and some occult card)
He went to work, but that imagery wouldn't leave his mind

One day he decided to try an draw one of his dreams (Passion card on Work card), the habit sticked and he started doing it more and more often after work in the office. (Drawing started producing mystical cards and occult cards, from time to time adding Contentment to counter Dread cards - as if drawing and painting eased his mind, vented his emotions, because stacked cards of Dread can ultimately kill the character)
But at some point he started spending more and more time drawing and painting his dreams to such extent, that he was late for work at the office once and then skipped the day competely. Boss wasn't happy (Occupation card converted to something like "Problems at Work" card), James promised his boss to get his sh*t together and worked diligently couple of days (Work card modified with Passion card to convice his boss and then Work + Reason to work hard)

But those visions of door and a key and a wall covered in symbols haunted his dreams
And later he met this strange girl Rose .. (it was an acquiaintance, but I pretended James really liked this girl, like a romantic interest. The game doesn't say specifically but all is open to interpretation)

Cut a long story short, he became a painter in the end, dropping the clerk card entirely. I stacked, like six or seven cards of Passion and a ton of Shimmering cards and mystical cards. At first James was barely scraping by, because drawing is very inconsistent in profits, his Health cards suffered turning into affliction card, at some point he almost resorted to begging in the street (had an option to use the card on Work). But his art got noticed, I imagine he made his way through to a gallery. His Health got better - at some point I stacked three of those healthy cards.

At first he was just this super-creative person, started accumulating Notoriety cards an masse, continuosly drawing his dreams and his beloved Rose.
At some point, in surge of inspiration, he decided to finally go to that shady book parlor and buy some esoteric literature (book store card on Exploration card + Funds). So I got a book of esoteric poems, some rare forbidden book and a book written completely in some ancient foreign language - like Aramaic (which I still don't know how to translate).
James started studying those in his free time only to find out that his dreams got even more intense - actually, he started literally TRAVELING the dreams - the game board changed to this huge map of different locations in the dream world - each containing pieces of knowledge

At some point his work started featuring those mystical visions - his popularity exploded (I had, like 5 to 8 Notoriety and 4 or more mystical cards on the table simultaneously!). Rose started getting into this esoteric stuff too.

This post is probably getting to long, because the story is full of small details

Just let me say, that, a Weary Detective card started following me around, consuming notoriety and especially Mystic cards to produce stronger and stronger Evidence cards. At that point James read volumes of esoteric knowledge and delved deep into the teaching in which I had to sacrifice Health cards to uncover - because obviously it had to do with the lands of the dead, spirits and small offerings of blood. James created his little society with Rose who joined him and another woman, using that Key (or something like that) Teaching as Doctrine. There was also a fortune-teller woman who briefly jumped on a "let's have a dark ceremonies" bandwagon. Together they travelled to St.Agnes hospital and an abandoned monastery to uncover knowledge, returning with weird books in latin and scrolls (which I still don't know how to translate)

In the end, Rose died in an unfortunate event, that other woman dissapeared after going after the detective and the mysterious fortune-teller woman was a temporary card (I'd guess she could be like a shady member of a bigger cult watching over James' progress - she provided a hefty bonus). Despite all attempts to hinder that "pesky" detective he finally maganed to make a very strong case and the famous artist got locked behind bars, which was an end of the game.

Now I'm playing a new game, as that very "pesky" detective Doug Adler, who got my first game character behind bars.
He's got this "James Faraday Case File" as one of his starting cards
Doug started getting weird dreams too and now tempted to sift through James' case. Something keeps bothering him about it (the case file gets carried over to temptation and desire card every cycle, if I try ignoring this Case File card for a while. For now I'm countering it with Reason card, to willfully stay away)
The detective is working on another case of this maverick woman, who's obviously of an Edge Doctrine teaching, so he better watch out. As I understand the Edge aspect lets you kill targets much easier

So, I hope this lengthy reply answers your question as to why people are so carried away by this seemingly simple card game with minimalistic UI

[Thor]

I think you are missing the strategy point of cards games: Magic the gathering is a lot of text on cards, but actions have consequences.
Literally EVERY tabletop game is text written on paper.. realy youn don't understand how they work?


Other than that, this game has a marvellous Lore, it almost looks like being written by Lovecraft directly.
Interacting with this kind of story is really pleasant and intriguing, if you like it

By the way: try making something similar with UE/Unity , 3-4 hours will not even allow you to understand where everything is in the editor :D

[Fleshbits]

Originally posted by Thor:

By the way: try making something similar with UE/Unity , 3-4 hours will not even allow you to understand where everything is in the editor :D

I'll do you one better.
My graphics engine is on github
https://github.com/ChristopherPisz

Originally posted by Thor:

Literally EVERY tabletop game is text written on paper.. realy youn don't understand how they work?

No. every game is not text on paper. Some games don't have any text at all. Boardgames, or otherwise

Text in quads is the absolute easiest things to program up in a game. Thats why you see so many inide games just chalk full of text and quads. You can literally google it and do it in 4 hours or less. I'm sorry, but what I see from this game is just super easy to program up. Especially, if you use an engine to where it isn't required to program it up at all. That's all I was saying.

If people are satisfied with nothing more than a good story, kudos to them. Story doesn't hook me on games. Strategic depth does.

So, it sounds like the game is essentially a good story book and whern you guys are describing it, I hear about story depth. I really haven't heard anything about strategic depth. Beyond reading and using reading comprehension, how does the game cause nuerons to fire?

If I was to describe any TCG and try to tell someone how it was strategic, I might say something like:
1) You have to find synergy between cards. Sometimes there are synergies that require combinations of 3 or 4 or 5 cards for great impact, rather than just 2.
2) You have to find openings in timing windows for your moves to be effective
3) There are more than 5 different cards mechanics beyond attack and defend, each with its own set of tactical patterns
4) Building your own collection over time through well positioned trades is a huge part of why people play.
etc
etc

All I've heard from you guys on this game is:

1) You have to read the story

What strategic depth is there?
I get that you click on cards that do somehting in the story, but what decisions are you making beyond whether or not something makes sense in the story line?

[Nimrod]

Dudem just go and play something else... You are actually wasting everyones time - you wont change your mind, and at the end of the day - it doesnt really matter. At all.
No one gives a ♥♥♥♥. If you cant find something for yourself here, no one else will.
And yes, thats trolling.