A Season of Acquaintances
"The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes."
– Jean de la Bruyere
A Season of Acquaintances is an overhaul/expansion mod for the standard Cultist Simulator experience, meaning everything except the Exile DLC. Hoping to refresh things for new players and veterans alike, the mod drastically alters and builds upon several of the base game’s foundational mechanics, including follower recruitment, cult businesses, and hunter behaviour. It also introduces an entirely new cast of characters – followers, hunters, and patrons – that replaces much of the base game’s original lineup. Each new addition to the cast comes with their own personal "side quests" and unique mechanics, ranging from mimicry to explosives engineering to… cat-summoning?
Twenty four new followers come with SoA, with three per aspect (excluding Secret Histories, sorry). With the new lineup of followers comes (amongst many other things):
- A combo of ‘trait’ aspects assigned to each follower – Famous, Bully, Enterprising, Scholarly, Morbid, and many others – that can give rise to new interactions between you and them, or between a pair of followers.
- A gameplay quirk individual to each follower. See what you can speak to a follower about, or pay attention to how they carry out cult businesses.
- A personal side quest that is typically unlocked by speaking to the follower about the appropriate amount of Secret Histories. [Three followers – Atticus, Daisy, and Marjorie – currently lack personal side quests.]
- 20 new romance paths/endings, three of which are only available to players pursuing Temptation: Remembrance (yes, Ghouls can finally find love). And a special variant Threshold victory for the Priest, if you take the right someone with you.
- An overhaul of scar mechanics. Followers will perish after sustaining three scars of any type. Having the Frail and Resilient trait aspects on a follower can lower or raise this death threshold.
- Moth followers resort to "Spinning Deceptions" instead of "Hoodwinking," which can yield a new and useful card called Secrecy.
- Lantern followers can now be guided with lore to determine what kinds of influences they produce.
- Various tweaks and spins on other cult businesses across the board.
Seven new hunters (three of which are encountered only in follower side quests) will attempt to stop you and your cult from realizing your ambitions. Reputation systems, evidence-making, and methods you can use against hunters have been changed and rebalanced as well. Here is some of the hunter-related content SoA brings to the table:
- If he fails to create evidence too many times, the Weary Detective will be dismissed and replaced by one of the new, more fearsome hunters.
- Attacking hunters successfully will now wound them; you will need to wound them three times to kill them (unless they have augmented themselves somehow). Moreover, each time you wound a hunter, they will go Into Hiding, and you must use someone or something with Lantern or Knock to track them down.
- Like the new followers, Hunters also have their own special traits – such as Observant, Belligerent, Clairvoyant, and others – that alter how they act against you and your cult.
- Hunters can also gain new traits through training, which has a small chance of occurring if they fail to make progress in their investigation.
- Evidence that functions on three tiers instead of two: Tentative to Substantial to Damning.
- A new card called Infamy, which can be produced if you commit especially alarming crimes. While this card is on the table, Hunters will look longer for evidence, and also take secondary investigatory actions against you.
- A new Witness card, which can be produced in the place of or alongside Infamy. If a Hunter interviews a Witness, they can create Substantial Evidence straightaway, or promote Evidence they already have by two tiers. It is possible to deal with Witnesses.
- Edge followers no longer die instantly when they fail to attack a hunter! Instead, they will only get wounded.
Replacing Mme Bechet, Dr. Ibn Al-Adim, and even the beloved Count Gottlob Jannings are three (arguably four) new modded patrons. Dispute History and Glory with Professor William Jericho; carry out counterfeiting, smuggling, and murder for the Capital’s most powerful criminal syndicate; produce stories of impossible, perilous adventure for the editor of Interviews with the Invisible and his trusty assistant. All of them will reward you in a unique way – and there will, of course, be monetary compensation.
Each follower in SoA has a personal side quest that grants unique rewards and offers insight into their past, character, and place in the Secret Histories world. These will take you all across the globe and put you in all kinds of perilous, intriguing situations – in fact, a large chunk of SoA’s 250+ pieces of artwork count is dedicated to the places, people, and objects you’ll find in these side quests. Travel to Iraq and unravel a revolutionary plot with Lt. Alexander; search for a secret treasure of the Flowermaker in the Amazon with bohemian portraitist Maximilian Leary; play a totally harmless game of riddles with Howe and his mysterious ‘Auntie M.’
Compatibility
This mod can be used alongside A Season of Rivals, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to square off against a "capital E" Enemy in the race to become immortal (and also see all the cool rival text for the followers).
Shelves is also compatible.
However, because SoA is so large, it probably alters a lot of things other mods also touch upon. I cannot guarantee compatibility with any other mod you may have enabled.
NOTE: This mod can be used without the Dancer, Ghoul, and Priest DLCs, but it is recommended that you have these in order to access all of the mod’s content.
ANOTHER NOTE: I do not own Cultist Simulator, nor am I associated with Weather Factory in any official capacity.
Credits
- Writing and Conceptualization – Sneakworks, Batra
- Programming – Sneakworks, EviLLs-Resurgence, Kadorath, Noicest Dungeon
- Artwork – Sneakworks, EviLLs-Resurgence, The Pony™, bunkydoodle, cornsnake, Silverstar, the worm
- Playtesting – Sneakworks, EviLLs-Resurgence, bunkydoodle, Kadorath, tomato, HeirofAvians, Noicest Dungeon, Birdscribe
