Worshippers of Cthulhu
The fact that Worshippers of Cthulhu launched into early access on my birthday was just icing on the (birthday) cake for me. I am a fan of city builders, having been introduced to the genre ages ago with Sim City and going on to enjoy other titles like Open TTD (not a city builder, specifically, but very similar in feel) and, of course, Cities: Skylines. I love fiddling with roads and infrastructure and seeing the little simulated people moving about town. Doing some of that while plotting to end the world is just a bonus.
I have been a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos since about 8th Grade. I had heard again and again about "Lovecraftian this" and "Lovecraftian that" in horror genre magazines like Fangoria when I was in Junior High. One day I was in a bookstore with my dad looking at the sci-fi/fantasy/horror section and I saw that name: Lovecraft. I was just like, "Holy shit! There it is!" I, of course, begged for the book and, happily, permission was given.
The beginnings of the cult. Note the very many houses necessary for all the homeless cultists.
I wonder what would happen if I carved my initials into a follower?
As a naive youth I simply couldn't comprehend Lovecraft's blatant racism. When he wrote about subhuman monsters, I thought he was being literal: actual monsters. Sometimes that was even true. It would take a long time and a revisit to all of those old stories later in life to see it for what it was.
There is a desire to separate the art from the artist and appreciate the contributions to the genre without celebrating the sorts of misanthropic fears that led to their creation. That said, the private fears and hatreds of the man are set aside in Worshippers of Cthulhu in order to appreciate that macabre art in interactive enjoyment. Indeed, the primary narrative device that helps guide you at the beginning of the game is a Black man. A certain kind of irony there.
But what about the game?! Right?
Well, it's pretty great. If you are wondering if it's worth the price of admission and also ready for prime time, the simple answer is "Yes." Stop reading this and go buy it. It's only $25 and a steal at that price. If, on the other hand you need a bit more information first, by all means read on.
Worshippers of Cthulhu is part city builder and part strategy game. The city building is light. There are not a lot of fiddly details and most of the building is straight forward. Buildings and roads are laid out in a grid with roads being constructed instantly and with buildings requiring the efforts of a dedicated construction unit. This is handled by a builder's hut that sends forth a crew around the map to bang up your structures pretty quickly once they arrive on scene. I'm not sure what the maximum range of the builders is but I can say I haven't reached it yet. The only real downside is if you want something built quickly you have to wait for the crew to walk the whole way there.
Roads are required to connect every building with the central structure in each of your cities. This central structure provides some materials storage and acts as the interaction point for various story beats where a situation will require a decision to be made with sometimes known and other times unknown consequences. Even the known consequences that seem better initially may not be the best course in the long run.
The view from the top... of the hall of ceremonies. You can enter this view and walk around, seeing your growing city from nearly ground level on all sides.
Come on, baby, light my fire! Try to set the night on fire!
About to commence the sacrifice.
Homes are required to house your workforce. You will be building a lot of them. Cultists require one house each and will not perform any work until properly accommodated. Once given a roof over their heads, these villagers can be assigned to your various resource gathering and production facilities.
The visible population of your city is not reflected by these employable peons or the overall population of your burgeoning village. All the people walking around are primarily set dressing.
And boy, is that set dressed!
Atmosphere is great! From moody music to creepy sound effects to surprisingly good voice acting, the whole feel of the game screams bleakness and insanity. It's always raining, and the color palate is all shades of gangrene and bile. It is truly wonderful and evokes the spirit of the fiction that inspired this title at every turn. Either a good portion of the budget went to the art department or they found someone who works awful cheaply because the aesthetic is really top notch.
The almost sketch-like quality of what one might take for frenzied paintings in the throes of insanity is very much in the right frame to depict the morbidities and madness of the Cthulhu cult. I have not seen the same image twice with every decision point marked by a unique work of art. Maybe once I have played longer I may run into the same images again as in games like Stellaris, but so far there have been no repeats. You do see some of the same images in loading screens, however.
As this game is in early access and I am only seven hours in, there is certainly the possibility that it can't hold my interest or that the basic gameplay loop eventually falters as cultist needs multiply and you end up building the same buildings to meet those demands over and over across multiple islands. At the moment, however, I'm quite smitten.
A pair of cultists with your advisor standing in the ever present rain.
Temple, reeducation center, and so many houses.
At the most basic level cultists have needs and meeting those needs increases their devotion. Increased devotion leads to increases in Faith. Faith is one of your basic currencies and is required to perform certain actions. More cultists and happier cultists increase that income faster, unlocking new tiers of structures as your income level rises. The other currency used to unlock new structures is Eldritch Favor. This is gained through the use of a ritual (and sometimes other ways) and unlocks buildings in each tier and is occasionally necessary for their construction. You will be performing the ritual that rewards you Eldritch Favor a lot. Happily, once you set up the ritual it can complete itself automatically, freeing your attention for other duties after you have seen the culmination of the ritual enough times to be bored with it.
Speaking of boredom, Cthulhu's boredom – or, rather, his loss of Patience – is potentially lethal. It's that scary red bar at the top of the screenshots. I have not yet run out but I am led to believe it is game over should that red meter ever go empty. I may have to just let it run to see what happens but I'm enjoying my currently successful run so I'm not willing to just let it play out quite yet.
Summoning a horror.
The Cthulhu's Patience feature is actually optional at this state. You can just check a box and it will stop declining, though that removes the sense of foreboding the fickle mood of the Great Old One might otherwise inspire. Conveniently this feature does not factor into the game during the earliest of the tutorial tasks and only becomes a looming threat once you have your bearings and can do something about appeasing the god of your cult.
In a similar manner to the city building being light, so far the strategy is similarly light. Don't expect some RTS multi-clicking, attack-move, control group action. There are only a few units, two that I've seen thus far, and you are limited to only controlling a few of them at any time. They also cannot remain in the human realm forever and dwindle away, constantly losing health from the moment of their summoning. Both of the summonable horrors are seagoing entities, one a melee unit the other ranged, that team well together against the warships of various sizes that patrol the waters between your islands. These boats may occasionally approach your beaches so stationary guns set up for defense are eventually necessary. But, thus far, that's all there is. There are no soldiers, no airforce. You won't be staging large scale battles between opposing armies. Just the enormous monsters fighting boats and picking up the survivors for reeducation or sacrifice.
Human, and occasionally dog, sacrifice are features of this game. Slaughtering sheep and collecting the blood is necessary for certain rites that demand blood sacrifice. This is a dark game. It should be, Lovecraft's world was never intended for the squeamish. You will be making decisions that lead to the summary execution of captives and sometimes carving symbols into the very flesh of your followers – in a graphically impressive mini game, no less! The Steam page in the store requires an age check to view for good reason. This one isn't for the kiddos unless they are weird kiddos like I was. I would have loved this game as a teenager.
If you are looking for something interesting, moody, atmospheric and dark, this one might be for you. Again, it's city building light; strategy light. It cannot scratch the same itch for urban planning that Cities: Skylines does or for strategy in the same way that Warcraft III might. Don't go into this looking for what it isn't. This game is about leading a successful cult whose goal is to end the world of humanity and usher in a new age of monsters. If that sounds fun to you, I can tell you that even though this is still only early access, the game is very, very impressive even in its current state and I am looking forward to all the ways it improves in the coming months and, possibly, years.
Cthulhu fhtagn!