Cthulhu Keeper is getting a new name and a new publishing home. Slitherine has acquired the publishing rights to Kuuasema’s Lovecraftian strategy game, which is now called The Rising Cult, as part of a pair of PC strategy announcements that also includes WWII title Steel Platoon.
The Rising Cult puts you in charge of the sort of organisation that should probably never be allowed to rent a village hall. Set in a 1920s-inspired world, it combines real-time stealth tactics with roguelite progression, sending your cult leader into the city to infiltrate, spread terror and bring more people into the fold.
Fear is more than a bit of set dressing. The game’s systems revolve around unsettling your opposition and turning enemies into followers, while supernatural creatures give you additional ways to make an already unpleasant evening considerably worse. Between raids, you return to an underground Sanctuary to develop the cult, research monsters and prepare for the next outing.
It gives the strategy a different flavour from simply gathering the biggest army and marching it down the road. Sneaking around, choosing when to strike and exploiting panic are central to the pitch. There is also something inherently funny about treating an eldritch cult like a growing business, albeit one with a deeply concerning recruitment policy.
Slitherine is also publishing Steel Platoon, a WWII real-time strategy game set on the Eastern Front. Its campaign follows a Red Army lieutenant, with infantry, tanks, artillery and support units forming a combined-arms force. RPG-style progression and persistent consequences are part of the plan, putting the development of your troops alongside the immediate business of winning battles.
The publisher is targeting 2027 for both PC games. The Rising Cult’s Steam page currently leaves the release date as “to be announced”, so treat that as a broad publishing window rather than a confirmed day.
You can find The Rising Cult under its new name on Steam. Whether you prefer managing a military unit or a collection of enthusiastic cosmic-horror enthusiasts, Slitherine is making a fairly varied case for your strategy backlog.