Honey, I Joined a Cult is a Simulation Game developed by British studio Sole Survivor Games and published by Team17. It was released through early access in September 2021, with a full release in November 2022.
Honey, I Joined a Cult is a Cult simulator... but not that Cultist Simulator. Designed in the more traditional sense of the genre, the game has you building a compound where your cultists will live and work, running their Scam Religion to get more followers to take their money and gain influence. Their needs have to be maintained lest they decide to abandon your fellowship—eating, cleanliness, bathroom, entertainment, like a malicious version of The Sims. You research new technologies to improve the compound or to enhance the powers of the cult leader—or eventually to delve into the occult with aid from your god.
You have free rein to customize the group, from what they worship, a title for the leader, to the cult uniforms themselves. The game's default options include a standard sect of Eldritch Abomination worshippers, a Cargo Cult worshipping the atomic bomb, to people worshipping dinosaurs; with new themes to eventually come before release.
But cults generally don't have happy endings. At least some people are naturally suspicious of your group when you're publically praising your new god, and letting your people die or banishing your incompetent, stupid followers eventually gets attention from angry protesters or the police. The game even opens with a previous cult being shut down by the cops.
Honey, I Joined a Cult provides examples of the following tropes:
- Briefcase Full of Money: In the introduction Cut Scene, the Cult of the Space Fish is raided by the police. Their leader can't be charged with anything and is told to get out of town; he obliges after fetching his over-stuffed briefcase of cash so he can get Magic Plastic Surgery and start again.
- Captain Ersatz: One of the default cult options is a parody of Happy Days' Arthur "the Fonz" Fonzarelli, played by Henry Winkler; giving you the Donzies, led by Martha Donzarelli and worshipping Minkler.
- Enemy Scan: While technically not your enemies, followers can have a number of traits and you're only aware of the quantity and quality. The Pool of Revelations module will determine what traits they have so you're able to recruit better cultists.
- Fake Faith Healer: While you can eventually get into occult matters, the day to day operation of the cult is a Scam Religion that fleeces money and influence out of gullible followers via "therapy". You start with sermons in your temple and mediation but eventually end up "treating" people with séances, mind control devices, "energy spas", and burying people in a pool of maggots.
- The Food Poisoning Incident: Food poisoning is the most common "injury" afflicting your cultists, probably two to three every day, using basic sinks to poorly wash hands after using the toilet—and it's much worse with the starting trough.
- Incredibly Obvious Bug: Played with, due to not actually being surveillance devices. The spirit chamber is where your cultists will perform a Spooky Séance for the followers, charging by the minute to commune with the dead. One of the items required is the "Inconspicuous Plants", where a huge projector is "hidden" behind a few small house plants—the followers comically failing to notice the giant projector producing the "spirit".
- Mad Scientist Laboratory: The energy spa looks like this; with a Jacob's Ladder shooting sparks, a huge control switch on a power box with a giant lightbulb, and people laying on tables getting shocked.
- Magic Plastic Surgery: The game starts with the Cult of the Space Fish being raided by the police. Their leader, Space Commander Charlie Fishnut, is a black man who can't be charged with anything and is told to get out of town. He fetches his Briefcase Full of Money while planning to Invoke this trope, "he knows a guy", so he can start over elsewhere. Three months later you're starting a new cult with full customization of the leader's sex and race.
- Malevolent Mugshot: You customize your cult leader and what the cult worships as a holy object. Pictures of the leader and the holy object are available as a variant of Sigil Spam to decorate the base with. Place a photo of the leader in every room, above his bed, above everyone's bed, above the toilets . . .
- Messy Maggots: One of the therapy chambers is "maggot rejuvenation", where your followers sit in a pool full of maggots sprayed from the maggot hose. It might be some kind of sauna or a form of leeching; but it's hard to be anything but revolted by the thought of doing it, especially once it's upgraded with the huge mother grub chained nearby.
- Mind-Control Device: There is discombobulation therapy and the aptly-named hypno chamber. Both employ a green swirly disc to hypnotize your followers; the therapy is a bit of Fake Faith Healing that helps your Scam Religion fleece money and influence from the victim, the hypno chamber grants random traits in the hopes of getting better cultist recruits.
- Potty Failure: When a cultist can't reach the toilet on time they suffer a large mood penalty and their turd pile is a major hit to the room's prestige. A cultist in a bad enough mood can just shit on the floor in rage.
- Scam Religion: This is the day-to-day operation of the cult. While your leader can commune with your deity of choice and plot an ultimate, divinely-inspired goal for the cult, the rest of your minions are busy ripping people off. You start with your temple where they preach the word and pass the collection plate and develop different "therapy" rooms; starting with simple meditation, but then apparently healing people with the power of therapeutic electroshocks, communing with the dead, and sitting in pools of maggots. Charging by the minute, of course.
- Sigil Spam: The cult emblem can be displayed on two of the rug options and a wall painting, allowing you to fill the headquarters with them.
- Tech Tree: Once you build a research room, you're able to research upgrades for your cult. You develop new therapy rooms to fleece your followers, upgrades to your maximum caps of cultists and followers, better sermons or ways your leader can inspire the cult. There is also a second leader-only tech tree which directs the future of your cult: such as, as of early access, trying to make contact with dark, sinister beings.
- Waving Signs Around: When heat starts to get too high, the protesters come to picket the compound. Their presence waving signs and shouting at your cultists lowers their moods.
- You Have Researched Breathing: The Tech Tree can lean into this with how it's set up. An obvious example being that not only do you need to research a kitchen to cook food for your cultists, you only learn how to make gruel by doing so and have to research how to make burgers or actual meat and veggie dinners. And on top of that, despite requiring a refrigerator to have a functional kitchen, you need to do further reason to upgrade it with a freezer.
