Worshippers of Cthulhu and Morimens thoughts

In the past week I restarted my efforts to work on the KIY series by reintroducing myself to the themes and stories of Lovecraft. Two games popped up on my radar, Worshippers of Cthulhu and Morimens. Worshippers is the definition of a classic colony game. You're given an island frought with eldritch connections and an abundance of mist and are tasked to lead a group of cultists to build a town befitting of their god. You manage food production, worship ceremonies and mark your cultist's backs with markings like a bloody etch a sketch. I don't know why the game has such poor reviews on Steam. It doesn't do anything particularly bad but it doesn't do anything new either. Take away the haunting atmosphere and the rituals and you'd have a normal colony sim. There's nothing new in terms of expanding the lore of Lovecraft. The game follows the strictest paths towards Eldritch horrors with a lead towards darker aspects. As in similar games you're given tasks to accomplish and buildings to erect. In between these chores are the needs of your constituents for food, clothing, and basic necessities. Then there are the events that pop up and ask the player to make a decision which is either added more to the colony or killing someone. It almost feels as if the game is trying to be edgy rather than let the horror creep in under your skin. Because you are the leader of a cult worshipping Cthulhu, there's no mystery about whether or not the gods are real or a figment of madman's imagination, killing one of the key aspects of Lovecraftian horror. Everyone agrees that there is a tentacled god in the mountains waiting for sacrifices. No one doubts or questions the strange happenings as anything other than their god's will. I've played games where you take control of a cult before and any tension in them is lost in this game without doubt. The blatant belief takes away from the game's story but this was probably the point the developers were going for. It would have been more interesting if you had to constantly show wonders and signs to your followers and dive deep into the evils behind the cult you lead. Instead everyone gets along in an evil tone. Maybe this is why the game is receiving such low scores. I found nothing wrong with my few hours playing this game but I didn't find anything that would make me want to 100% the game.

By contrast, I found an interesting gacha game called Morimens. Gacha games roll out random rewards for the player after a period of time or can be hastened with purchases. What struck me was that the game is going for the typical anime school trope where your character is indoctrinated into a sect that fights back the nothingness that comes from the mythos. It's as if they are fighting for their existence. Props to the dev team for starting the game with a quote from Lovecraft that I had never seen before. Most devs start with a known quote such as "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons, even death may die," or something similar. Actually, did I get this and the other game's opening quote mixed? It's possible because I know one of them started with a quote I hadn't seen used before. Morimens asks the player to battle insane monsters who want to drag you into nothingness using a silver key to connect to warriors at your command. The characters you have access to make this a girl gacha game meaning you're collecting girls to add to your battle harem. But the characters aren't trashy as I expected them to be and the references to Lovecraft are subtle rather than blown out of proportion like in Worshippers. The silver key is a rare reference that I applaud for the developers to add as a crucial tie in to the game's mechanics. I rarely play gacha games because of how they demand a lot of time or money from the player but this game has caught my interest. I look forward to writing more about this game as I dive into the lore behind it.