For the past week or so, I’ve been staring at my Steam library deciding on what to play next. After a blitz of reviews over the Summer, I contemplated playing some of my backlog, and then realised there were a handful of demos I wanted to try – Cult of Pin being the first.
My recollection of the game was a Lovecraft-inspired affair, though I couldn’t quite access my internal RAM to remember what kind of game it was. Random thoughts of Hellraiser, then badge collecting came to mind, but then I settled on installing the bloody thing and playing it. Pinball. Now I remember.
I’m British, so my experience of pinball tomfoolery is seaside arcades, The Who, and retro games. My favourites were probably Pinball Dreams and Fantasies, Akira, and of late, a few retro games like The Pinball of the Dead. The pattern here, however, is that there’s nothing new. Or is there? Cult of Pin follows the same principle of getting it up (reminds me of another adult pinball game I played last week – I mean, ‘a friend played’), keeping your ball out of the gutter using the provided flippers.
Using a mouse is the first time I’ve done so for a pinball game, and it’s neither a revelation nor awkward. The left and right paddles are operated by their respective buttons. Is there anything else I need to spell out? Now, put aside the bloody excellent visuals, and let’s highlight the gameplay as Cult of Pin introduces missions into your game.
Rather than spam the buttons and hope for the highest score, you need to focus on the ramp, target and lane missions – effectively called rituals. They’re colour-coded as well. In reality, this is fundamentally what pinball, as anyone past the frantic high-score chasing spam-a-thon will know to position the ball and aim for lucrative spots, nursing the ball on one of your erect paddles. Apparently this is called cradling. No, that’s not a euphemism.
Cult of Pin, without question, makes the best use of the nudge technique. In real life, pushing the pinball machine would trigger Darren, the 6ft 6in security guard at the arcade, to escort you off the premises, while holding it for a few seconds as you would in Pinball Fantasies would produce a penalty, forcing a tilt lock and the ball rolling into the abyss. There’s no tilt lock in Cult of Pin. KennyMakesGames, you spoil us. It’s actually a really good technique, too, and will keep you going all night.
Like most modern titles, the odd sub-genre filters through, and in this case it’s an RPG/deck-building quality. Completing rituals increases your damage (a.k.a. score modifier), but you can also upgrade or unlock a ritual. The latter offers new missions to look out for, while upgrading your available options can range from an increase in balls – wahey – to elemental damage.
Fellow pinball novices, don’t you find that the games can be overly hectic sometimes? Like, you can’t see everything happening and will frequently miss stuff. It’s only when you lose your balls that you see your final score? Oh, I’m that bad… Cult of Pin isn’t like that. Everything happens in stages as a result of the missions and completed rituals, evolving into boss bumpers(!) where a cosmic horror will share the screen with you for bonus points and objectives.
What I’m trying to get at is how clear everything is. Not in a tutorial sense, but the rhythm. Most pinball games differ by tables and how fast they can trigger a seizure in non-epileptic players, yet you can admire the shockingly good artwork. There’s not loads going on, yet it’s highly immersive at the same time. Difficulty levels improve the challenge, and the easy levels, while easy, are still prone to failure. I really, really like this game and am gutted that it’s only a demo.
As a result of this little experience, I’ve wishlisted it as this is the best modern pinball game I’ve played so far, and if you aren’t down for signing up for a cult, at least dabble with it in pinball form and download Cult of Pin now. Not in a minute, or convincing yourself you’ll play in a minute. Do as I did, play it now. No need to thank me; I hope you love it as much as I did.
