In real life, cults are no laughing matter. They’re dangerous and frightening organizations that prey on peoples’ weaknesses to achieve personal, often financial, enrichment.
I am sincerely glad I have never had a run-in with a cult or cultist, because the idea genuinely scares me. One of the nice things about video games, though, is that they provide an avenue to confront and analyze the things that frighten us.
10 Most Evil Anime Schemes, Ranked
Back‑room politics, world‑ending gambits, and god‑tier mind games; these anime schemes punch harder than the fists.
Through video games, we can get a glimpse into that dark world, either through a deliberately downplayed, humorous lens, or a much more straightforward, disturbing view.
Some games allow you to directly manage the nitty-gritty, day-to-day aspects of a cult, while others simply have your protagonist chancing into a prominent role through potential story outcomes.Either way, if you’re curious about cults but don’t want to stand within ten feet of one, these are the best games to sate that curiosity.
To help broaden this list, we’re adding a couple of quantifiers: firstly, in addition to games where running a cult is the main goal, we’re also adding games where you have theoptionto run a cult via story or gameplay decisions. Second, for the purpose of this list, a “cult” is any kind of organization that is beholden to the whims of a singular, all-powerful individual or group, human or… otherwise.
Spoilers for some of the following games ahead.
A World-Protecting Cult Is Still A Cult
Control’s titular organization, the Federal Bureau of Control, is technically an arm of the United States government, and a benign, world-protecting organization besides. That said, just because the FBC is working in the wider world’s interests to protect the common populace from paranatural entities and phenomena, that doesn’t preclude it from being a bit culty.
Even though our protagonist, Jesse, never had any noteworthy contact with the FBC following her brief encounter as a kid, the moment she takes the Service Weapon,the Board names her Director, and all employees immediately regard her as such.
Perhaps you could say that the FBC isn’t a cult because its members don’t worship the Board. Firstly, we have no proof of that, but secondly, even if it’s not religious fervor, the Board’s word is absolute. If they felt so inclined, they could probably destroy reality, and at least some of the FBC members would probably go along with it.
7Fallout: New Vegas
Caesar And The Cult Of Mars
Fallout: New Vegas
The broader wasteland of the Fallout series has played home to a handful ofcults and cult-like factionsof various formats and sizes, but one of the most prominent is one you may not have even realized was a cult: Caesar’s Legion ofFallout: New Vegas.
The Legion is both a standard “giant vengeful deity” cult and a cult of personality around Caesar himself. The official religion of the Legion is the “Cult of Mars,” which enforces worship of the Roman god of war, Mars. According to their scripture, Mars “cleansed the Earth with fire,” referring to the bombs dropping.
Caesar is known as the “Son of Mars,” believing (or at least claiming) that it is his holy mission from Mars himself to conquer the world and enforce rigid, militant order on the wasteland. All the Legionnaires love Mars, and they all love Caesar, so they’re down for whatever.
As for where you factor into this, by joining the Legion and helping them take Hoover Dam, you secure a position of prominence and influence as one of Caesar’s direct advisors. Granted, either Caesar or Lanius will always be head honcho, but Caesar’s on his deathbed and Lanius is bonkers, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think you’re basically running things by that point.
6The Wandering Village
Onbu Demands Sacrifices
The Wandering Village
The premise ofThe Wandering Villageis that you’re raising an entire society of little tribal people on the back of a walking, island-sized, friendly kaiju. The ideal scenario for this is living in harmony with the monster, Onbu, but when people live on the back of a giant creature that can’t audibly communicate with them, it’s pretty much a toss-up whether they’ll jump to some unpleasant conclusions.
As your city develops and builds its relationship with Onbu, you can choose to start sacrificing your own citizenry to it as food. At first, this is just something you do in an emergency or to see what happens, but if you start regularly feeding people to Onbu, the citizens will begin to form a cult worshiping the beast.
At this point, more sacrifices become a required mechanic, as the people demand tribute to their god and get testy if you don’t provide it.
If you let this continue, more and more people will be sacrificed with increasing regularity. The only way to put a stop to it is to deploy a scientific research team, which determines that Onbu is just as mortal as everyone living on its back.
5Elden Ring
Love That Frenzied Flame
Elden Ring
Fextralife
The Lands Between ofElden Ringplay home to quite a few different factions, some of which have varying degrees of deific backing. To be honest, all of these factions are of varying degrees of cultic, even the Golden Order, but arguably the most worrisome of the lot, at least that you can assume direct control over, is the Chaos Followers.
The Chaos Followers are a faction that worship the Three Fingers and the power of the Frenzied Flame, a maddening, chaotic force that seeks to completely wipe out the world and all who live in it. Apparently, the sales pitch here is that the flame will “incinerate all that divides and distinguishes,” which will, somehow, eliminate suffering from the world.
Elden Ring Nightreign: All Endings Explained
Darkest before the dawn.
The linchpin to the Chaos Followers beliefs and desires is the Lord of Frenzied Flame, one able to wield the power of the Frenzied Flame to set the world ablaze. Should you locate and accept the brand of the Three Fingers, you can become that Lord and kick off the whole incineration process. I guess the Chaos Followers get what they want out of your ascension, at leastfor all of ten seconds.
4The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-
Evil Overlord Or Living Idol
The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-
The Hundred Line has many,manybranching story paths leading to its 100 different endings. Some of these routes are funny, some are heartbreaking, and some are… disturbing. One such route in the third category is the “Cult of Takumi” route, wherein our protagonist, Takumi Sumino, is given an experimental drug that drastically boosts his body’s pheromone production.
This results inall of his classmatesimmediately falling madly in love with him, and collectively deciding to start a cult in his name. If it sounds like a romcom setup, trust me, it’s not.
Takumi isnoton board with this at first, especially when his self-proclaimed followers start getting upsettingly intimate with him, but depending on the choices you make, he’ll ultimately decide to embrace the cult leader role, vowing to conquer the world and subjugate humanity to become an all-powerful dictator.
Alternatively, you’re able to choose to have Takumi attempt to cure his unusual condition and get everyone back in their right mind. Unfortunately, this results in his followers slipping him a special poison that permanently paralyzes all of his bodily functions except blinking and breathing, leaving him a literal living idol for them to worship for the rest of his life. Fun.
3Honey, I Joined A Cult
Cult, Scam, Same Difference
Sole Survivor Games
Release Date
3 Nov, 2022
I have no hard statistics to back this up, but I’m reasonably certain in my gut that the majority of cults are just scams. It’s very easy to get people to give you their money when you trick them into thinking you speak for an all-powerful, all-seeing extradimensional deity, after all, even if you don’t actually believe in it yourself.
That’s the central concept of Honey, I Joined a Cult: starting a cult not just for the community, but to fleece the masses.
Honey, I Joined a Cult is a base-building and tycoon-type game, with the difference being that, rather than starting a business to make money, you’re starting a cult to make money. You have to accrue followers, ensure they’re properly housed and cared for, and then set them to work making fat stacks of cash for you through hard labor and recruitment.
Technically, your cult leader can commune with some manner of greater, Eldritch deity to help build your cult’s power and influence, but the ultimate goal is always going to be fleecing your followers for a quick buck, whether through donations or scammy health therapy sessions.
2Cultist Simulator
A Cult Of Cards
Cultist Simulator
Many cult and cult-adjacent games have some manner of twist or subversion, either to simply change up the formula or make it a little more light-hearted. Probably the most straightforward cult game there is, though, is the aptly-named Cultist Simulator. It’s a roguelike, piecemeal card game, wherein the precise nature of your cult and its goals are determined by the cards you play.
In Cultist Simulator, there’s basically no ambiguity as to what you’re getting into: you’re starting a cult, you’re worshiping some manner of cosmic horror, and you’re looking to become immortal, take over the world, or whatever else it is you’re into.
Recruiting disciples, rather than a goal, is predominantly a means to an end, securing funding and the occasional human sacrifice to further your studies into the realms beyond your own.
Occasionally, you’ll run up against both rival cult organizations looking to snag a piece of your cosmic horror pie, as well as hunters from a shadowy government organization that would rather you not doom reality. It’s about as intricate as a game about cults can get.
1Cult Of The Lamb
The Cutest Cult You’ve Ever Seen
Cult of the Lamb
A good old-fashioned way to create a stylistic dichotomy in your game is to take something very cute, and then combine it with something verynotcute.
Case in point,Cult of the Lambhas you playing as a lamb who is sacrificed by a quartet of bishops of an old, demonic religion, only to find yourself conscripted into anew, demonic religion by an ancient, enchained deity.
With the power of the Red Crown from The One Who Waits, you gain all kinds of supernatural abilities, with which you can immediately begin taking in followers and having them live in your little cult commune in the forest. Both you and your followers are very cute and cuddly, but you can still get up to ritual sacrifice, brainwashing, and all that other stuff cults typically get up to.
Technically, you’re just the cult’s de facto leader, while The One Who Waits is still in charge. However, at the end of the game, you can choose to depose The One Who Waits and become the cult’s one, true deity. Functionally, it’s the same thing, just without having to worry about the boss breathing down your neck.
7 Anime Where Government Is Evil
Here are 7 anime that expose the dark side of government power.
