Dani is fresh back from holiday and has discovered a story game that deserves much more attention.
The nice thing about being on holiday is that I suddenly have so much time for things I don’t usually get to do. Annoying appointments at the citizens’ registration office, for example. Or a big cleaning of the flat that was actually scheduled for spring.
But it’s not only the annoying adult things that sweeten my holiday. Finally, I have time again for video games, which are usually lined up behind big blockbusters like Baldur’s Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077 and usually fall behind due to time constraints. Games like The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, for example.
From cosy
Admit: At first glance, the story adventure seems more like a cosy feel-good game for in between, because a large part of the gameplay is limited to the small asteroid house of the witch Fortuna. She was exiled by her coven for 1,000 years because she predicted a dark future.
Since the house is very cosy, but also very tranquil, Fortuna can no longer stand it after 200 years. She summons a behemoth, i.e. a kind of demon, with whom she makes a pact to finally get out of the place so that she doesn’t completely succumb to madness or self-destruction.
But instead of transporting her to a cozy spot somewhere else in the galaxy, the behemoth Abramar gives her something else back: her ability to see into the future. With the beginning of the exile, the coven had confiscated Fortuna’s old tarot deck, so that the doomsayer could not foresee any more bad things to come.
The Heart of the Cards
Arbramar gives her the ability to make her own cards. Fortuna creates these by creating individual cards from various objects and backgrounds, which I can design myself as I please
Each card predicts different things. Similar to the classic Tarot deck, the individual images and constellations symbolise different things. For example, a card can stand for communication and peace, but also for rejection and bad omens.
Which properties the card has depends on my chosen constellation and the design of the card.
If I have created at least two cards, I can use them to predict the future. However, since the cards can stand for different things, divination depends on the interpretation of the seer and so there are always several possible interpretations before my mind’s eye from which I can choose.
And this is where it gets exciting
Like a mirror
In the course of the story, through a chain of events, old friends or new acquaintances keep visiting me as a fortune teller with specific questions. Some want to know what their professional future looks like, others have private problems whose solution they are looking for in their future.
I decide the interpretation of the cards in every divination. I can predict that someone will be hurt, that a plan will perish or that a goal will be achieved. In doing so, I am always acting in my own interest as well.
How do I predict the future of the witch who is responsible for my misery and suffering? Do I let her suffer or do I give her optimistic views of the future? Am I honest with my old friends? Do I talk about the fact that I have hurt myself in my exile?
With every divination and almost every dialogue, I make decisions that have an impact on the course of my game and my story. Some of them are immediate, others become apparent much later and sometimes it’s not just about changes in the future
The mix of decision-making, exciting characters and many moral grey areas makes The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood an absolute experience for me, which can surprise me again and again with its twists and turns.
With about eight hours of playtime and a purchase price of 18 euros, you can do little wrong here if you also love exactly this kind of storytelling.
