Cults and Daggers

I just can't recommend it now and that's a shame because this game has all the foundations to be a classic. The concept is fresh and the potential is almost limitless but the UI makes it just about unplayable. A simple single screen summary of what happens to each cult for each turn would really help. It's silly to be getting reports slowly scrolling by about disciples you've already been told have kicked the bucket. Even setting up the game is a bit of a mess.

Whats the point of the sould of the world? The AI just rushes all the sites even if it has no chance of winning which just end the game. Why is it included? Its hard to play a game that abruptly end when you have virtually ability to stop it. I want to like this game, a lot of novel stuff here but its hard to play a strategy game where luck is such a huge overall factor in winning. I still recommend this game but be prepared for some frustation and confusion.

The game is okay. However, it is definitely not worth more than $15.

This is an unusal game. Don't expect high grafics or an intricate storyline. In this game you control subjects of a cult and it's your job to spread it to cities, fight the upcoming darkness, sabbotage your or even kil your rivals and gain as much points as possible. It's complicated, difficult and very interessting. I really liked this game, but i can see it's not for everyone. I would recommend that you first watch some gameplay footage before you buy it.

Huge rip-off. It is so bad and this is one of the problems with steam no refunds. Steam becomes a great mechanism to drop your garbage. I can see that the game looked like it was in a rough, minimal state, but this is absurd. Enjoy my $30. I hope it buys this fatty, one person developer a heart attack from McDonalds.

I really don't like writing negative reviews because I consider games a form of art and I believe artists should generally be respected, even if we don't particularly like the art made, because it's an expression or even extension of the artist's soul. Well, since there's none of that here I don't mind criticizing this game. "Cults and Daggers" could have been a great game—maybe even a masterpiece—had it been made by, say, Paradox and not a single person who seems to have lost his passion for making games. That person is Rod Humble, a veteran game developer so there is no excuse for such a massive disappointment. This is somewhat infuriating given how unique the idea behind it was: control the destiny of a cult over a span of 7 ages, between the death of Buddha and the birth of Christ, to prevent the vengeful Elder Gods (angry over their worshipers' waning faith) from destroying the world. There's no other game on the market like that! So, what went wrong, you ask? One could comment on the dated, freeware graphics used or the clunky gameplay and user interface (both of which could be easily and inexpensively fixed by hiring a freelancer to revamp them) but, honestly, both of those problems could have been totally overlooked had the creator put some genuine passion into the game. What I mean is that this is not a game as much as it's the skeleton of a game, a beta or proof-of-concept basically. Aside from the premise, there's no storyline to speak of: you either succeed at averting destruction or you get a game-over screen. Considering how much information is available both on the net and in any public library about the various types of cults of antiquity or earlier (e.g. the antediluvian fertility cults of prehistory that produced Venus figurines, Roman military cults like Mithraism, mystery cults like Orphism or those that worshipped the "mother goddess" Cybele, syncretistic Greco-Egyptian cults like that of Serapis or the Thracian/Phrygian/Greek cult of Sabazios, fertility cults known for their alleged sexual excesses like that of the "Good Goddess" mentioned by Juvenal, etc.), the game could have utilized that historical knowledge or been inspired by it to create a unique setting and atmosphere that would have drawn the player in and transported him or her into an unforgettable world. Instead, everything in this game—from the cults to the cult leaders to cities—is generic and absolutely lifeless. The only difference between the cult that you've created versus the others is the profile pic you select and the minor bonus you get from picking your power (e.g. more likely to convert nobles, more likely to convert peasants, better hiding ability for your disciples, etc.). You then spend the rest of the tiresome game taking turns in which you send disciples to various cities and take actions in order to boost your presence or hurt the presence of other cults in order to accumulate a certain number of points and win the epoch. You can proselytize, set up a temple, assassinate rival disciples, commit blasphemy and try to blame another cult for it, engage in occult rituals (which is one of the few cool things in the game but even that gets tiring after the novelty wears off), etc. However, because there's no flavor text or anything special about your cult or your rivals' cults, you don't really feel all that immersed or invested in the outcome. "Oh, I lost this epoch?" "Ah, looks like I won this epoch. Great..." The best way to explain how it feels to play this game is to imagine playing a fantasy-themed children's board-game, but completely alone. That's the level of enjoyment you'll get from this game, if not immediately then certainly after a few hours of repeating the same actions over and over. Just try watching more than 20 minutes of game-play on YouTube, if you're skeptical about any of my claims. You'll probably want to give up after a few minutes. That said, if you really want to try this game out for yourself, I'd normally say, "Wait for a sale"—but the developer doesn't believe in sales. This game is $30 and will likely always be $30. (Many years ago someone on the forums asked if he'd ever put "Cults & Daggers" on sale but, although he promised he would do so, it looks like he changed his mind because, aside from never having done so since the game's release in 2015, he also deleted the post where he said he would!) Do I think this game can be salvaged and become worth its price? Yes, with a lot of work and inspiration, definitely. Do I think it will be? Sadly, I don't, especially considering its last update was in 2016. Luckily, for you, I bought this game so you don't have to.

It's difficult to thumbs-down this. But for the price... I expected not quite the level of wonkiness in the game. Basically the game says "please put up with my quirks and strange behaviors, and you'll enjoy playing me." And if the game-play was really that good, I would have enjoyed it. But I'm afraid that balance is right on the teetering edge - so some people will enjoy the game and forgive the technical issues, and others like me will not. "Okay Frank -- what's so bad?" - I can't select a better resolution in the game options, so I can read the teensie-tiny fonts that show what events happened on the last turn. "Go change your Windows resolution." Yeah ... well... okay I did that. No I'm not going to do that every time I play. I'm sorry. Please fix your UI. Were you waiting for a bad review before fixing it? Consider yourself served. Not everyone has the eye-sight to read tiny text - and this game makes me squint. - There is no history of events for each turn - so I can't look back in time and see what happened to my cult over time - what turn some character died, etc. If this history existed it would let me read it whenever I liked, and remember happenings and add more attachment to the characters. - The map jumps around at the beginning of the turn - apparently to show events that happened. But the animation doesn't freeze the mouse. So when I'm trying to move around the map, I get it tugged away from me. If there's going to be a "this is the animation sequence of the new turn start" - make it more obvious that it's a little mini-movie and don't let the player do anything with the mouse while the animation plays. As it is, I feel like I'm battling some bug in the mouse control as I wrestle with it. So what's to like? - The music and art are great. - The city names are shown in large print when you hover over them - which seems a bit like a geography lesson "remember where the cities are" mini-game. If that was the intent (to make it a mini-game) then that is not bad. - There are a lot of options - enough to inspire the courage to try certain strategies. Generally this game seems to be hiding a sophisticated and interesting rule-set and game-play mechanism. It would be a pity - but it seems like an inevitability - if new players are prevented from adopting and exploring this game due to technical issues and a not well thought-out learning curve.

Really amazing game, especially on hard difficulty, I just love it