Cthulhu: The Cult Must Not Die by LaserPanzerWal
Your cult is in the process of finally summoning the great Cthulhu! But your enemies have tracked you down and are trying to prevent you from reaching your goal and killing you all. Keep the cult alive!!
Downloadable versions for Windows, Linux and MacOS have been added and can be downloaded via itch.io (see links below). Note: MacOS has not been tested due to lack of hardware and was added for your convenience. Please notify us if it is broken.
READ BEFORE PLAYING!
How to play: The cultists must survive long enough to summon the dark lord. As long as any cultist survives, you included, you can win. Left mouse button to move, right mouse button for attack. Perform combos by waiting for the cursor to turn red for a follow up attack. If enough combos are chained, you will perform a high powered attack that damages all enemies around you. Miss the combo and you will abort the attack.
Some enemies will only be incapacitated. Move to them and attack to sacrifice them and gather their souls. Bring their souls to the altar to speed up the summoning of the dark lord and heal yourself.
Don't worry if you die, your life is nothing to the dark lords. Another member of the cult will take over. Only the summoning of the dark lord matters. The cult must survive!
Note: The cursor does not seem to change to the custom cursor used in the game for MS Edge users. This makes combos rather hard to perform. If you use Edge browser, you may want to download the native version instead. The issue seems to be based on the browser and there is not much we can do about it.

Changelog:
1.0
Initial Release
1.01
Fixed bug where enemies wont leave spawn
Fixed bug where enemies stop attacking the player
1.02
Fixed bug where game would crash after 8 waves
Fixed bug where enemy aggro was determined wrong
Fixed bug where player would heal completely on any amount of souls sacrificed
Ratings
| Overall | 1405th | 3.413⭐ | 122🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 2127th | 2.817⭐ | 122🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 1888th | 2.933⭐ | 122🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 1039th | 3.738⭐ | 122🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 273th | 4.311⭐ | 124🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 452th | 3.712⭐ | 120🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 1680th | 2.415⭐ | 108🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 668th | 3.688⭐ | 122🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 137🗳️ | 91🗨️ |
@kevin-meissner @pathus22 @MrsTari i think we will do a post jam version with more polished gameplay. it was to less time to test :)
I had some problems fully understanding how the combat system really worked though, maybe there's not enough visual cues and feedback to let the player know what's happening, and movement is a bit jarring. More enemy variety is always a plus too, though I of course understand the lack of time.
All in all, there's great potential in here. Very well done!
Nonetheless great game you made during Ludum Dare!
Combat is hard to understand but it's fun when you understand.
@remus-rain we really did all the graphics and music during the jam. i streamed most of the time on twitch and in my videos you can see the progress.
https://www.twitch.tv/turritom/videos/
@remus-rain btw I composed, orchestrated and produced the music and the sound effects during the jam.
As Toxicon said, very busy days for all of us working on it! ^^
I did notice a bug where the enemy AI would get stuck just a bit beneath the cultist on the right most side, not able to attack or do anything. Also, there was an incapacitated enemy that I somehow could not take a soul from...
After playing for 8ish minutes, the game crashed...
Regardless though, I had fun! I like this game a lot.
The same goes for enemy variety and effects, we have assets for it prepared but didnt get them implemented in time.
We will definitely release a more polished and optimized post-jam version with the yet missing features and an easier to understand combat system. If you like the game concept, stay tuned!
On the other hand, I find it a little frustrating that the movements cannot be done while maintaining the click and that the impression of touching with an attack is made long after the request to attack.
In terms of mechanics, it has been mentioned earlier, but I also found that the combat system probably needs polishing. I wasn't sure if I was actually making any damage, even though I was technically attacking - I could see the animation. The enemies seemed to be a lot stronger than me, so maybe I was doing something wrong but :see_no_evil:
I would've loved to be able to move/dodge or maybe stun/block the enemies. Basically, I wanted to feel stronger than them and I felt I was completely overpowered.
I did like a lot the fact that you're not just one summoner. You're them all because the goal is to complete the ritual. It's a bit different to the usual die/respawn or die/restart. It's a die but continue. Nice entry!
However the combat doesn't feel good, it needs to be more interactive. Also in terms of waves and general pacing I didn't feel like I had much an of an impact.
I think with some polish it could become a much more interesting adn better game.
It's like, pretty cool.
thanks for playing our game. The combat is hard to understand at the moment :) in the current version you are not allowed to click several times with the right mouse button, because it will stop the attack again and again. only if the mouse cursor turns red, you can click again and the combo mode starts. it gets stronger the more often you get the red cursor and click correctly. i know it is not really user friendly. for this there will be the post-jam version later with improved combat system and many other stuff.
For a jam game, the art is really nice, the animations are smooth, and I really liked the atmosphere! A little more story would have been nice though, given the game's inspirations.
I feel like it would be nice to have a little bit more to do other than just combat. Maybe in the segments between waves the player would have to do some kind of short mini-game to help speed up the ritual. That way, the player doesn't get burned out on the combat so quickly.
A nice entry for the jam, definitely keep this one going post-jam!
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn...
I like the combat system, I just felt like it lacked a bit of feedback when managing to hit the "sweet spot" - I know, I know, nobody has time in gamejams ^^
I also felt like the camera movement could have been improved, for example if you press rightklick and drag, that you move the camera until you let go - so like the camera doesn't always have to be at your character, which can also potentially lead to danger if you don't pay attention - kind of like in League of Legends, you know?
The sacrificing stunned enemies part didn't make sense to me at first -an indicator would be nice and for one enemy it didn't work :( in the end I was just fighting enemies and no more soulds to harvest - noooo :(
All in all a good accomplishment for 3 days, good job! :)
As a quick bug report-- I had a collision issue which pushed me quickly some yards towards the center where I fell off the level.
Combats need more work, took me a while to figure that I had to hold the right mouse button to attack. But overall is a really good game.
I exploited the game by leaving out one enemy and playing tag with him while I wait for the summoning process, sometime later I just let the enemy get stuck so I can stay at one spot and wait :D
One thing that would need more polish are the controls and the gameplay code like collision detection (or rather the setup of colliders on the models). I didn't manage to launch a combo attack during my plan (I wasn't even sure if I need to be clicking all the time, or just click once on an enemy), and it happened quite frequently that my cultist was standing near an enemy (facing them), the attack animation played, but the enemies did not get any damage. And, in a similar fashion, enemies turned away from the cultist managed to hurt him all the time.
But overall, you've done a great job!
I see the stuff about the red cursor and not repeatedly clicking, but when you're just awkwardly standing there being repeatedly stabbed by multiple assailants one's instinct is to click as much as possible in the hopes that something will work, and right now it's difficult to tell if you've correctly "hit" an assailant or not. Adding more complexity on that front will definitely make things more rewarding. I also only had two enemies become incapacitated, allowing for the soul sacrifice bit, everyone else just died and disappeared, so some further balancing there might also be good.
Adding health bars to the individual characters would also be a nice addition, that way you can really see what kind of effect you're having. But great atmosphere, and the idea of the cult members being part of an interchangeable whole is a fun dynamic. Hope you get to work on it further!
The game might need some polish, specially with regards of controls, but you can tell there's a lot of work here for a jam game.
The HTML version has some performance problems. Frame rate seems low and the music has a lot of noise. So, I downloaded it and it played smoothly.
The other issue I found is that text and UI in general are too small. Is it because I'm playing on a Mac with Retina display?
This is one of my favourite games so far.
Great work!
This is of course going to change in the post jam release where we will make sure the UI scales properly
interesting entry here. on one hand; it looks very polished and very well executed.
but I think it lacks in game play. as you cannot strategise and do a lot of tricks.
to me the game would be more fun if it was way faster. the enemies will take two hits. instead of three. and it should be faster. and of course my health should be lower.
also what is the deal with the souls? are they totally random? I think I had two or three waves without souls.
I think right clicking again should not cancel your attack. I was clicking at first to attack but I kept clicking and nothing happened.
I know this is a jam game and you wanted to do much more in terms of gameplay, maybe more enemies or more abilities. just giving you feedback on my experience.
I really liked the graphics and the overall vibes here. good job!
As others above said, the game sure needs more feedback overall, concerning the fighting mechanics but also the spawn events and overall progress, so we don't have to circle around the room again and again !
You could probably speed up most battle animations and tweak transitions a bit !
Anyway, good entry !
Somehow (possibly an issue on my end) it was very laggy in fullscreen, but windowed worked very well.
The gameplay was solid, too.
I was kinda sad I couldn't see the monster we had summoned, but that was a gut reaction, I completely understand the problem of too little time in a game jam ^^
Congrats!
Graphics are great and the audio is fine as well. Had no complaints there. Gameplay was just fine and it was nice to combo the silly unbelievers (investigators, I bet) to death.
It would be nice if the altar didn't always get all my souls but only took as much as it takes to heal me to full. I gathered 8 souls before I went to sacrifice the first time and it just took them all. Later I sacrificed one soul and compared - and really, the altar severely overcharged me earlier :laughing:
In HTML version I had a lot of hitching audio (I'm on Firefox). So I played the standalone Windows version - everything was fine there.
Thank you for this experience, it was fun to be a cultist of the Elder God. And now to take over Arkham, and then - the World. Muaahahahahaha.

It was a bit unclear how I could avoid being hit by the attackers. It seemed like I'd accidentally cancel the attack by right clicking again too soon after.
Unfortunately combat feels weird for some reason. Most of the time I didn't even know if I was doing it right, but I managed to win anyway.
But there's 2 thing that I can say, it looks amazing, gorgeous, I love the Diablo vibe, the music really adds mood to the game.
Nice job \o/


1 - Mecânicas, Aprendizado e Fluxo:
Muito interessante a união entre a ideia de proteger a base (por assim dizer) e as histórias do H. P. Lovecraft. Ainda mais quando o ponto de partida é estar ao lado dos que buscam convocá-lo ao nosso mundo.
A jogabilidade ficou atrapalhada por conta do travamento constante do jogo (a música e o gameplay sofreram bastante com falhas desse tipo, mas o jogo teve as soluções necessárias para não impedir de avançar mesmo assim).
Aprender a jogar demorou um tempo, fui entendendo aos poucos sobre movimentação, ataque na hora certa, puxar ou não inimigos enquanto eles atacam outros evocadores, utilização dos pontos de alma para recuperar um pouco a vida e muitas outras coisas.
Aprender demorou, ms deu para jogar; já a questão de me tornar bom em jogar demorou mais (só mais para o final que eu fui ter novos insights que poderiam fazer do começo algo mais fácil).
O fluxo de jogo me pareceu bastante balanceado; eu gostaria de jogar sem tanto travamento, para experimentar o fluxo de jogo de outra forma.
Acredito que muitas variantes mecânicas de ataque físico (incluindo ataque à distância etc) poderiam ser implementadas para aumentar ainda mais a experiência em uma versão pós game jam.
Creio (também) que algo como evocar criaturas menores com habilidades diversas ou até mesmo utilizar algumas magias de efeito, poderiam permitir uma extensão do projeto fora do tempo de evento.
2 - Gráficos, Áudio e Narrativa:
Gostei muito dos gráficos (apenas acredito que a câmera poderia ser melhorada de alguma forma, não sei se seria algo de responsabilidade do artista). Talvez um minimapa que poderia ser usados de vez em quando com mana (MP), não sei ao certo. Algo que poderia ser testado.
Outra coisa que poderia enriquecer o projeto seria uma barra de progresso mais estilizada.
Creio que o posicionamento do relógio que mostra quanto tempo entre uma e outra wave poderia ser alterado (foi bem complicado olhar para ele em alguns momentos.
Se fosse possível fazer pausa no jogo entre as waves, seria bacana. Creio.
A narrativa bebe de fontes externas, então não há tanto a questionar nesse ponto (especialmente para o tempo de Ludum Dare).
Aumentar o jogo provavelmente seria um trabalho de avanço narrativo, quem sabe uma releitura da evocação de diversas entidades do mesmo cenário.
3 - Cultura:
O jogo é sobre o universo de H. P. Lovecraft; isso já traz uma carga cultural própria com seus próprios padrões e expectativas.
Enquanto jogo de proteção (proteção do ritual), creio que tenha sido uma peça muito interessante.
Creio que o jogo tenha tudo para ser polido e estendido ao ponto de se tornar conhecido ou passivo de ser entregue para o nicho em questão.
4 - Monetização:
Creio que o jogo poderia vender em stores como Steam, e até mesmo em capítulos, caso seja possível pensar em formas de aumentar o contexto narrativo para não apenas os confrontos principais.
Quem sabe alguma possibilidade administrativa entre os confrontos (estilo aquele jogo antigo, Braveheart (para computadores pessoais)).
1 - Mechanics, Learning and Flow:
Very interesting the union between the idea of protecting the base (so to speak) and the stories of H. P. Lovecraft. Even more so when the starting point is to be on the side of those who seek to summon him to our world.
The gameplay was hindered due to the constant crash of the game (the music and gameplay suffered a lot with flaws of this type, but the game had the necessary solutions to not prevent it from going anyway).
Learning to play took a while, I gradually understood movement, attack at the right time, pulling enemies or not while they attack other summoners, using the soul points to recover a little life and many other things.
Learning took time, but it was enough to play; the question of becoming good at playing took longer (only towards the end I went to have new insights that could make the beginning easier).
The game flow seemed to be quite balanced; I would like to play without so much crash, to experience the game flow in another way.
I believe that many mechanical variants of physical attack (including ranged attack etc.) could be implemented to further enhance the experience in a post game jam version.
I believe (also) that something like evoking smaller creatures with different abilities or even using some effect spells, could allow an extension of the project outside the event time.
2 - Graphics, Audio and Narrative:
I really liked the graphics (I just believe that the camera could be improved in some way, I don't know if it would be the artist's responsibility). Maybe a minimap that could be used from time to time with mana (MP), I'm not sure. Something that could be tested.
Another thing that could enrich the project would be a more stylized progress bar.
I think the positioning of the clock that shows how much time between one wave and the other could be changed (it was quite complicated to look at it at times.
If it were possible to pause the game between waves, it would be nice. I do.
The narrative draws from external sources, so there is not so much to question at this point (especially for Ludum Dare's time).
Increasing the game would probably be a work of narrative advancement, perhaps a reinterpretation of the evocation of several entities in the same scenario.
3 - Culture:
The game is about the universe of H. P. Lovecraft; this already brings its own cultural load with its own standards and expectations.
As a protection game (protection of the ritual), I think it was a very interesting piece.
I believe that the game has everything to be polished and extended to the point of becoming known or passive to be delivered to the niche in question.
4 - Monetization:
I think the game could sell in stores like Steam, and even in chapters, if it is possible to think of ways to increase the narrative context for not just the main clashes.
Maybe some administrative possibility between the confrontations (like that old game, Braveheart (for personal computers)).
Firstly, the attacks feel unresponsive. It's like I pressed button, but sometimes happens nothing. It goes for regular and combo attacks.
Secondly, enemies die for too long and in animation that confuses me. I usually had one question: is he dead?
Finally, some collision bugs with corpses makes that I can't move for some time.
I loved the aesthetics, but it definitely requires lots of polish.
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/the-sword-of-saturn