Cultist Simulator guide - 9 tips for hastening your descent into madness

Cultist Simulator encourages experimentation. But that can come at the cost of turning away those of you who find it all a bit much. So, let's go over the very basic basics of how Cult Simulator works.

Each of the cards in front of you has either an action it can be used for, or a slot to accommodate a card. Simply double-tap the available cards and they'll be automatically allocated, or tap them once to find out where they can be played. This latter ability is vital even into the later stages of Cult Simulator, so use it often! You start off with 'Menial Employment' a card that grants you funds, but will use up your health.

Each card action progresses in real time, so you'll need to unpause to proceed forward. Be aware, however, that some cards may decay and disappear entirely if you leave them for too long. And some may transform into something you really don't want, or which will be automatically used for events (keep an eye out for the magnet icon on certain slots).

At its core, your job in Cult Simulator is to manage your Health, Reason, Passion and Funds. The beginning three are all used for various daily (and dangerous) activities, while Funds are naturally vital for staying alive and spending on any activity that would reasonably require money. Being hurt, having your sanity blasted and other events may actually remove certain assets, meaning you'll need to get them back by completing the same activities.

Certain activities such as physical labour or study will allow you to increase your cards by offering decaying cards, Vitality for example, that can be used together to give you one of the non-decaying cards (three vitality for one health etc.). But be aware that these also decay, and you'll eventually get to a level where these cards will decay before you can accrue enough of them. That's when you need to get a little more 'creative' with increasing your attributes.

You'll start off with a number of Action Cards that either decay (sometimes renewing), or require you to play cards to gain effects, these include:

• Work
• Time Passes
• Study
• Dream
• Explore
• Talk

Certain action cards will pop up which will disappear after time and represent something of either a Doomsday Clock or a 'use it or lose it' moment. Starvation, for example, when you have no money and the Time Passes card decays. While Founding Principles gives you a limited window to decide on the guiding principles of- well, you'll find out.

Being proactive is something to be encouraged. After all, a bad dream can easily become a much direr thought. And just because something isn't bad now doesn't mean an event might not pop up with a magnet that automatically grabs the card and transforms it into something much worse. Suspicions, for example, can't get too high or you might find yourself facing some difficult questions when the policemen arrive at your door.

The best possible example of this are Fascinations. These cards can be obtained by any number of actions, from reading certain books to painting use a strange dream as inspiration. It's not bad...at first. But fascinations represent your mind wandering to strange places, and if three of these cards are pulled in at once your mind snaps accordingly

Ideally, you'll want to counter these more dangerous cards. For example, Dread can be countered by Contentment, a card which you acquire by having a good night's rest (helped along by some suitably Victorian-esque medication). It's always better to proactively counter cards like Dread and Fascination rather than wait for them to decay.

Time Passes will start off being the most frustrating actions. It grabs Funds and if you don't have enough you'll slowly accrue Hunger and lose Health. Early on, you'll want to secure stable employment - or become an artist or writer - and get enough Funds to keep yourself comfortable. Remember, Funds don't decay.

Later on, Time Passes will be much more precious, and you can tap it in order to see which card you'll receive when it refreshes. Use this to strategise and prepare to take advantage of opportunities or limit threats.

As it turns out, not everyone is on-board with your pseudo-evil scheming. And of these hunters one of the most persistent and dangerous is that of the detective. If you keep accruing suspicions such as Mystique and Notoriety, then eventually the detective will begin acquiring Evidence. Worse, they might acquire Damning Evidence, enough to put you away for your fell deeds.

Here's a trick though. Use your Mystique or Notoriety as a subject for painting, which you can do by working using your Passion or Imagination. You don't even need to complete it, as if you need use of these cards you can simply collect it before the painting is completed (although AFTER the hunter leaves).

The Pause Button is your friend, so use it wisely. While you may start off with a relatively manageable deck of cards after a while things get very complicated. It's a bit of a Marmite (love it or hate it) mechanic, but part of dealing with Cultist simulator is keeping all your metaphorical eldritch ducks in a row.

There's absolutely nothing stopping you from taking your time to trawl through all your cards (remember that 'tap to see where it goes' trick from earlier) and make decisions. You can easily sort and stack cards, so having a section for 'wait to decay' and one for 'use it as soon as possible' is an easy one. Once you're satisfied you've done all you can, you can either just start the timer again or even use fast-forward, although I don't recommend that unless in the most dire of circumstances.

Not sure what to do with a card? Use your Study option to find out new actions and even receive new cards for doing so! You'll also want to do so with any occult texts you might find (or 'find') because some may require you to learn languages or acquire certain resources to decode them.

Books also provide Lore Fragments, a vital resource that relates to the various principles you'll find for each type of cult. These can even be upgraded into new, dark and mysterious forms or perhaps used for painting and writing. Just be aware that publicly showing off your knowledge of the occult is an easy way to get a visit from the detective.

When you unlock the Explore action you'll find that there's plenty of new places to visit, as well as shops. Using funds you'll be able to acquire the aforementioned books and eventually create your own occult library worthy of Aleister Crowley.

You'll also find a swathe of new places to er- enter. Although you'll need the help of some friends to do so. These areas can offer plenty of resources such as books or other valuable treasure to help your occult journey along.

One of the best things you can do is go into Cultist Simulator with the intent to experiment and push your character to the breaking point. Try and go without a job, or paint yourself into madness. Explore cryptic crypts without the help of your friendly neighbourhood cultists, and fall afoul of the law.

There's no such thing as a 'perfect' session of Cultist Simulator, but the only way to know what to look out for when playing is to experience it for yourself. That way when you do knuckle down to go for the endgame you'll have experience under your belt. This is the one time where the fast-forward option can really come in handy.

Forming bonds with other characters can be vital, letting you make friends and even start relationships. These are also vital because you can't just pull in any Tom, Dick or Harry to start your cult. Although there is always the option of shoving an uncooperative cultist into the cupboard.

When you do actually kick off the cult you'll have access to a vast number of new options. These can be everything from getting your cult to help you in exploring areas of the city, or even getting rid of that troublesome detective. Naturally, there're rituals but- well, you'll have to discover all that for yourself.

So jump into Cultist Simulator today and discover the path to revelation or madness, and the joy of painting with fascinations.

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Cultist Simulator