Sometimes you just need to add a cult to the mix to make a story more interesting. They have an undeniable appeal: you wonder what the cult members’ motives are, what kinds of things the leaders hide, and whether or not the cult’s beliefs hold true. Cults raise questions, and in many video games the answer is violence.
Thanks to this captivating array of features, we’ve often seen cults popping up in video games over the decades. Sometimes they are important plot points, sometimes central antagonists, and sometimes they can even be useful information providers or entertainment.
8 Happy Happyism – Earthbound
Encountered early in Earthbound, encountering the cult of Happy Happyism is one of the game’s first notable “weird” moments. It is a kind of religion led by a man named Carpainter, someone who is obsessed with and dedicated to painting the world blue. The floor is blue, the cows are blue, even the cult members are dressed from head to toe in unhappy blue robes. Hey, at least it’s not white, is it?
While this would be relatively harmless, you’re forced to take down Carpainter as he kidnaps Paula, possibly hand-in-hand with Porky, your returning rival and ubiquitous horrible person.
7 The Children Of Atom – Fallout 3
If there’s one thing you know to be powerful in an apocalyptic, irradiated wasteland, it’s radiation. The Church of the Children of Atom has its origins in Megaton, a settlement built around an unexploded atomic bomb. They worshiped the bomb and built the settlement, drawing more adherents from faraway places, and establishing the church as an important part of post-war America.
The Children of Atom worship the molecule as a kind of deity, as they believe that each atom contains an entire universe and that death by nuclear destruction is a means of becoming one with the many universes that reside within yourself. Oddly enough, not the weirdest belief on this list.
6 Robot Cult – Kidney: Automata
One of the most notable moments of Nier: Automata is the encounter with a group of religious robots towards the end of the game. You return to the Abandoned Factory where you start the game, and encounter a whole group of robots who, disconnected from their network, founded (arose) a religion, headed by ‘His Grace’.
His Grace is soon revealed as an empty shell, a broken robot. His congregation relishes the revelation, celebrates his ascension to divinity, and attacks you with fervor – believing that their death will enable them to join their leader in deity. You can’t help but feel unsettled by this series.
5 Los Iluminados – Resident Evil 4
Los Iluminados, ruled by Osmund Saddler in the present day, was actually a cult from many centuries ago in Resident Evil lore, who worshiped Plagas. Plagas are parasites that take over the host’s body and turn them into, you guessed it, zombie-like antagonists to mow down.
Saddler reformed Los Iluminados by implanting his followers with these parasites and gave himself the ability to control them with an altered form of the Plagas. While daily life resembles that of a typical monastic order, beneath the facade lurks a paramilitary order committed to biological terrorism.
4 Team Plasma – Pokemon Black & White
Pokemon isn’t the first place you might think to look for cult activity, but there’s no denying that Team Plasma is like a cult. You have the cunning, secretive leader in Ghetsis, who uses a charismatic, brainwashed mouthpiece in N to recruit followers. There are the seven sages, elites who take care of the running of the cult, and the commoners who do the dirty work.
With all the trappings of a classic cult established, Team Plasma set to work encouraging the people of Unova to give up their “ownership” of Pokemon and release them into the wild. This was presented as a moral act, but in fact served to leave the population defenseless against Ghetsis’ true plan – to rule Unova with an iron fist and no one to challenge him.
3 The Cult of Anu-Anu – Discworld Noir
Discworld Noir is a classic cult game with a classic cult. Anu-anu is one of the minor gods of the Discworld, hardly worshiped anymore except in the desert city of Al-Khali and the dark forests of Uberwald. He is a werewolf god who teams up with some of his Ankh-Morpork based minions to perform ritual murders to summon a horrific entity from the Dungeon Dimensions.
Discworld Noir is a point-and-click game that revolves around solving the mystery of these ritual murders and then, once you understand more about the cult, stopping their machinations. Despite the grim subject matter, you can expect roaring laughs and wacky moments when you pick up this classic.
The Order of the Mythic Dawn is not only responsible for the murder of Uriel Septim VII, but also for the Oblivion crisis as a whole. It is a cult that worships Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric prince of destruction and ambition. You’ll encounter them multiple times over the course of a playthrough, with a notable moment witnessing one of their cult gatherings.
The cult’s influence can be felt throughout Cyrodiil. Once you reach a certain point in the main story, many previously friendly NPCs will be aggressive, summoning their signature armor and weapons in an attempt to take down you, the one who undoes all their plans.
1 Your cult – cult of the lamb
Cults usually serve as antagonistic forces or sometimes as the focus of interesting sidequests. It’s easy to see why – the cultist way of life doesn’t make much sense, and prophets and leaders and manipulators make for fantastic villains. But some games allow youdear reader, to be the villain.
Cult of the Lamb puts you in the shoes (hooves?) of the lamb. It is your responsibility to build a cult worthy of your deity, The One Who Waits, and take revenge on the heretics who imprisoned him and stripped him of his power. The game allows you to thrive in stereotypical cult behavior, from throwing awesome parties to sacrificing your followers to your god for more devotion. If you like games with this kind of theme, you can’t really pass it up.
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