Fhtagn! - Tales of the Creeping Madness

You are a cultist and you try to prepare for the big ritual that will end the world! … only, things don’t go as planned. Sometimes. The game pokes fun at everything Lovecraft, and if you know your lore a little bit, the events may be even more hilarious. Which cultist hasn’t had the problem to try to hold in a fart during the ceremony? Organize a bake-sale at the Church of Starry Wisdom! Get gifted a monkey-paw and reap the consequences! The game is even funnier if you play it with friends. The rules may be hard to get during the first run, but luckily the game is meant to be played multiple times, because you gather more Elder Signs to spend on insight into the various rituals you are trying to perform. A toast to the end of the world! Yeah, I still remember that I accidentally burned down the Witch’s Hut, so that it was unaccessible for the rest of the game. Sorry! :( P.S.: As I have played this game at a friend's, I have zero hours shown, also due to offline play.

I really like this game. Admittedly at first it seemed pretty confusing,but I came back to it read the rules and started to have fun. It has mods also which surely will extend gameplay.

It's alright. Is it for you, though? It's themes are Lovecraftian. But, if you're looking for existential dread, scare your pants off, Lovecraftian horror, this isn't it. You might be able to tell from the cartooney art style that this is a comedic, satirical, take on Lovecraft. Cultist Simulator does have a somewhat cartooney style; but, I understand it does get the creepy vibe going. I do get the sense from Fhtagn! that the dev' is a real fan of Lovecraft, what with the frequent references to places, and things. There are people making Lovecraftian games who I think have never cracked open a book written by the owner of the cat named "♥♥♥♥♥♥". (Don't get me wrong. Neither have I. Tooo scarey for me.) Even so, the sense of the themes of genuine horror, and the veil concealing the truth of reality don't translate to humorous stories. This is just a game, by fans, for fans, to have a little fun with. Writing of fun, what sort of gameplay is it? The essential gameplay loop is simple enough. You select one of two tasks at a location. (In multiplayer only one player can use a location per round, similar to other "worker placement" games such as Lords of Waterdeep.) There's a standar…

In the spirits of games like The YAWHG and The Monster Prom Series, this is a 1-4 player party game where you take turns going to locations in the city; but this time you're cultists trying to perform a dark ritual to awaken the elder gods. While this is a fantastic game for playing with friends, it has some severe issues. Where the game is strongest is using the Lovecraft Mythos in order to let the players wreak some havoc, in all of the events you are typically doing evil or bad things; so the merry chaos helps the atmosphere. The gameplay is pretty easy to pick up, you just visit a location and make some choices. My issues with the game however are notable. Many events repeat, and some are very unclear on what's happening. There's no artwork for events, so it's a bland read sometimes. Rarely you might get a special buff or debuff, but that seems to be the only way to get something like a henchman or inventory item; primarily it's just stat gathering. For a game about the mythos, they missed a trick not being able to gather artifacts that had artwork. The final mechanic, taking places for the ceremony, is needlessly complicated and hard to understand. Everybody takes a posi…

Good but quite hard for this genre.

Great hidden gem.