Worshipis the second title from developer Chasing Rat Games, and it’s clear that the studio goes for a certain vibe. Its first game,Struggling, is aphysics-based co-op platformerwhere players control the arms of an abomination, which is a deformed giant head. One of its selling points is its “gleefully depraved visuals,” andWorshipventures into this territory as well. While not as visually grotesque asStruggling, Worshipis no less gleefully depraved.
In it, players attempt to summon their Old God to bring about the end of the world, usingPikmin-like gameplay to obtain and control followers.Worshipalso features an overall roguelite structure, where the notion of one more run is done through a two-phased gameplay loop. The first is about exploring, recruiting, and completing objectives to hit a follower count and please the worshiped Old God, while the second is a boss-fight phase oriented around a Test of Faith. Once players complete both phases (or die), they rinse and repeat through procedurally generated levels until the end of the world hits.
Worship Ensures You Are Not the Good Guy
Not unlikeCult of the Lamb, players take on the role of aninherently antagonistic Cult Leader. Players are obviously the main character, but they are not the good guy in this scenario. Luckily, this removes a lot of limits onWorship; for example, its blood rituals are gratuitous in presentation and gleefully depraved in results. Players are able to use a variety of rituals, with perhaps the most used being the one that converts ordinary citizens into cult converts and recruits. Even more interesting is that players can decide what shape some of their Blood Ritual’s take, so creative director Alexis Gallant-Vigneault explained a circle is his default choice for converting NPCs. Essentially, players perform blood rituals by drawing patterns of various sizes that utilize their blood, so circling NPCs in blood recruits them. Other players may prefer triangles, squares, or similar structures for this ritual.
That’s where thePikmin-like gameplaycomes into play, as these followers can be used in a number of ways. Players can order them around to solve puzzles, can send them to swarm or attack enemies like priests, or even sacrifice them for blood. Players have a number of ways to restore Blood for their rituals, including various blood alters around the map, but sacrificing followers is a choice for a variety of predicaments. Players will encounter all of this and more as they complete their Explore phase.
While this phase is about acquiring followers and upgrades, there are plenty of procedurally generated events, puzzles, and items to complete as well. One that the developer showed us dealt with a Sealed Titan attempting to escape a frozen lake. Priests and bishops were sealing it, but being a cult leader isn’t aboutsiding with the perceived good guys. Instead, the developer took the chance to show how Followers worked in combat, how rituals can be used in combat, and how some rituals (like one that creates ranged blood weapons) can be strengthened and powered depending on the drawn size. What’s interesting is that the developer focused on the Bishop enemies first because these targets can convert the player’s followers, and they began combat by completing a massive Impale ritual to damage a lot of enemies.
Between rituals, coordinating followers, and taking down every enemy on the map and undoing the sealing ritual on the titan, it’s clear that encounters inWorshipcan be multi-stepped. It doesn’t seem like the Explore phase is defined by going to “X” location, finding or Fetching “Y” item, or even just completing the “Z” goal, but instead letting players have the freedom to bring about the end of the world however they choose.
Worship Tests Your Cult’s Faith
Furthermore, players can find resources that grant both temporary and permanent bonuses during this phase. There are pink catalysts, for example, that are required for building and cultist upgrades, while red catalysts can be used for new rituals. There are 12 base rituals in the game, which players can choose shapes for, but there are also Sealed Rituals tied to whatever god players worship. This changes gameplay a little and gives new powers and motivations, with there being 3 gods planned forEarly Access, 5 announced so far, and a total of 8 planned for the full release. Furthermore, the developers are still fine-tuning the number of possible Explore/Test of Faith phases for the game, with the creative director saying there will be either two or three phases to complete a full run as part of Early Access and 3-5 for the full release.
After solving a few more puzzles, showing off the rituals, and completing an event of two, the developer began the Test of Faith phase. The developer prepared for this by drawing huge rituals to summon the ranged Blood weapons and then kicked it off. This time around, the dev was completing a task for the cult’s god where they had to kill, essentially, an innocent woman and her barbarous companion. They put up a fight, forcing the dev to quickly and preemptively complete ritual drawings, throw their followers around, and otherwise remain engaged throughout the entire combat. It was quicker-paced than some might think and equally as telegraphed and intuitive, meaning the boss fight fit in perfectly withWorship’s overarching gameplay design.
After that, players enter another Explore phase and rinse and repeat this gameplay loop until they’ve brought about the end of the world. If nothing else, thisWorshipgameplayproves that it pays to be evil, and it’ll be interesting to see how the game further develops once it enters Early Access.
Worshipis planned to release at the end of 2025 for PC first and then followed by consoles.
Worship
WHERE TO PLAY
Embrace your dark side and don the robes of a cultist as you slowly take over the world.Draw with your blood and perform blood rites to overcome foes and challenges in your path. Perform your god’s dreadful deeds to be rewarded with even more powerful sorceries. Indoctrinate Recruit followers to do your bidding. They are mindless pawns ready to do anything for you. Order them around and sacrifice them as your god demands to perform even stronger rituals! Instigate the end of the world - or die trying.Worship transfixes with its boldness, irreverence, themes, tone and world; from its hilariously horrific blood rites to exuberant evil sacrifices. Delve into the visually unique world of Worship with its distinctive black and white ink sketch art style, scattered splashes of color and hand drawn animations. From it’s cute and disctinctive art style to its use of dark humour, being bad has never felt so good. A grim, but equally cute and hilariously horrific world awaits you.As the saying goes: “building a cult brings people together”. Embrace the aspect of community as you build an ever-growing following dedicated to serve you and your god of choice. Invite up to three pact-mates online and work together towards your grim goal. Guaranteed chaos!A twisted take on Adventure-RPGs and the roguelike genre with its large living and breathing world that you’ll get to explore. Uncover secrets, interact with four flavorful factions, and your cult; all in order to gather devotion for your God. With enough followers, rituals and power, face your final challenge; summoning your deity into the mortal realm.Is your devotion strong enough to bring about the end times?
