Being in a cult sounds horrendous. You’re at the wills of an ironclad hierarchy who consistently shift the goalposts in order to keep you subservient. Running a cult, though? That’s where the fun is at. Whispers of the Eyeless tasks you with doing just that to bring order to a city, though the Darkest Dungeon-esque execution means you’ve got your work cut out for you.
In the dark fantasy game, your target is Aranthor, a city that’s moved away from the Dead Gods. How dare they. Your mission in Whispers of the Eyeless is to remind them all of the true power behind these ominous entities, all played out through a classic, hand-drawn, turn-based RPG.
To begin, you have to start pilfering around the place, tackling guards to gather resources. Gradually, you get more powerful, and you can recruit others to help you along the way. As your minions grow in number, you can assign them missions of their own, serving particular gods you wish to appease. Meanwhile, you need to figure out how to spread your message. Regular masses? Or something more intense to really encourage dedication? Neither choice is easy, so choose well.
Everything plays out through menus, dialog, and some character animation as you delve deeper and deeper into your calling. It’s a sprawling new PC game, one that offers similar unassuming depth to Darkest Dungeon or the underrated horror game Iratus: Lord of the Dead. These projects tend to have cult-like followings of their own – see also Hades and Hollow Knight – so it won’t surprise you to hear Whispers of the Eyeless finished a crowdfunding run at 500% of the original goal.
There’s a fascinating arc to the development as well, because it comes from Venris, a notable Total War: Warhammer 3 modder who created ‘Simply Fun Overhaul,’ an incredibly popular mod within the playerbase. He’s made Whispers of the Eyeless under the studio Evil Gingerbread. It’s always pleasing to watch someone in modding make the jump to creating original games, and Venris has come out with something surprising and clearly demonstrative of their talents away from strategy games.
Whispers of the Eyeless is out now on Steam Early Access. Alternatively, have a comb through our lists of the best roguelike games and the best zombie games for more ways to torment yourself and the living in general.
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