I’ve talked about Rod Humble’s Chaphat more than once, most recently a week before Christmas when I noted that their game, Cults & Daggers was scheduled for a January release.
As January comes to a close, official news about Cults & Daggers has started to be unveiled. A press release on Steam has appeared :
As the Old Gods plot to destroy a planet they can no longer rule, you are tasked with creating your own religious faith to fight a secret war for the soul of the world. Recruit loyal disciples throughout the Mediterranean in order to spread your faith by preaching to the masses and converting noble families. Along the way, you’ll have to deal with spies, assassinations, martyrs, occult forces, prophets and blasphemers, all while battling the Old Gods and other rising cults for the hearts and minds of the world.
The press release also includes a quote from Rodvik himself :
“With Cults & Daggers, I sought to explore beyond the traditional strategy game model of ‘build and fight’, and offer up a more cerebral experience,” said Humble, CEO of Chaphat. “At the same time, I wanted players to challenge themselves by navigating the chaotic web created by corruption, religious avarice and betrayal as rival factions vie for power.”
Rod Humble’s name still carries quite a lot of weight in the gaming community and this can be seen via some articles that have appeared about the game.
Over at IGN Rachel Haas’ article has already generated over 200 comments, with a lot of people excited about the prospect of creating their own religion. However I’m not sure that a religion with hookers and blow, which one commenter talks about, is quite what Rod Humble would have envisaged.
Over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Adam Smith writes :
Rod Humble, the developer I always think of as being responsible for the majority of the interesting ideas in The Sims 2 and 3, has announced a new solo project. Going by the name Cults & Daggers
Adam also adds :
I’m absolutely hooked by the theme and the world is an active place, with plagues and wars interrupting my plots, but I don’t always find the results of my actions clear. It took me a while to get my head around the superficially similar Dominions as well, though, and that hasn’t left my hard drive since.
The comments look largely positive there too with one person saying he has been a Rod Humble fan since the days of Subspace. However one dissenting voice does, rather unfairly, seem to blame Rod Humble for the end of Creatoverse and Patterns.
Cults & Daggers has been developed and published by Chaphat LLC, the PC & Mac game is launching on Steam on February 12 for $29.99. I’m not sure what the price will be in pound sterling, quite probably more than a pie and a pint at Villa Park would cost me or Mr Humble.