BOOK OF HOURS

It's fun to discover recipes and craft things, but the late game crafting takes too many repetitive steps.

This game completely captured me! It has been interesting, difficult without being overly so, and it is intricately made so that there is always something new to be done. I have enjoyed the time I put into it so far and can't wait until I have all the rooms open!

Book of Hours is not a fast-paced, action-packed, adventure of a game. It is a slow, thoughtful, methodical game that requires you to meet it halfway.

As the opening to the game says, Book of Hours is a forgiving sort of game. If you're worried you might be stuck, there's usually another way. It is _hard_ to actually reach a fail state in this game that usually requires some deliberate action on behalf of the player.

Many of the negative reviews point out that this game is not as high-stakes as the previous game, Cultist Simulator, and that's true! But it's also a completely different genre of game. Book of Hours steps back from the constant management and upkeep of Cultist Sim in favor of a more forgiving, deliberative game.

Consequently, it has a great amount of complexity, some of which is intentionally obscured or obtuse, as you have the time and space to experiment and learn. This game will require you to read and examine things, and it's a game that definitely benefits from a spreadsheet. But, at the same time, in this game you're a librarian -- you _should_ be making a catalog of what's in your collection!

It's a game that rewards forethought, planning, experimentation, reading comprehension, and a willingness to play a slow, thoughtful game at a slow, thoughtful pace. It is absolutely worth a play if you enjoy longer-form games with moderate complexity and don't want your stint as librarian to end because you didn't juggle your fascination and dread properly. It's a game for people who like to read and obsess over lore.

If you're looking for a more challenging game, a more punishing game, that has the same sort of general vibe, cool lore, at-times obtuse writing and conveyance, go play Cultist Simulator! If, however, you're looking for 2 novels worth of text and all the time in the world to read your books and lore, and don't like your runs dying to things beyond your control, then perhaps Book of Hours is for you.

It really is, genuinely, worth a play if any of this sounds interesting to you.

The World's Best Game. Period. I've seen a lot of people in the comment section who ended up here because of cultist simulator, but for me it's the other way around. As an English lit & occultism buff, this has been nothing less than a mystical experience. The trick is to have patience in the beginning, it's not a game that takes a lot of micromanagement but if you want to play it that way you can, it's the way I do things so whatever. Once you're in, you're hooked, no coming back out of the rabbit hole, unlocking rooms and reading books is ADDICTIVE.

Book of Hours is not a game that tells you how to play it; you are expected to figure out the secrets of the House on your own. I enjoy that kind of challenge, but if you don't this is not the game for you.

This is a decidedly unconventional game, although one which I greatly enjoyed. The world of the secret histories introduced in weather factories previous works once again shines through in writing which is both biting and concise and overall masterful in its prose and content.

The atmosphere is immaculate. The score is at once serene and surreal complementing the gameplay perfectly. For fans of Cultist Simulator, hearing the eerie motifs of that game's score woven into the calm undertones of Book of Hours provides a sense of closure and continuity which is sure to delight. The sound design is also well put together and paints a soundscape befitting the soggy, dreary and at times eerie place you have come to inhabit.

The gameplay and systems, while not quite living up to the brilliant design of Cultist Simulator, are nonetheless as thought out and innovative as we have come to expect from this developer. Within an hour of playing I was fully immersed into my role as librarian and my notes had grown entirely incomprehensible to one not entirely enchanted with the secret histories world.

Overall, this game lives up to every expectation and serves as both a compliment to Cultist Simulator and an experience which can stand wholly on its own. It has my enthusiastic recommendations, and I am stoked to see the next output from this developer!

I have very fond memory of Cultist Simulator, so I was excited to play this... but it felt like a step back.

CS could be a tedious game at times on account of its repetitiveness, but at least it was straightforward to keep track of the cards you have. Book of Hours replaces the single board of cards you could easily take inventory of, with a massive map of tiny unlabeled objects. Massive in the sense that you have to constantly pan around and zoom in/out. I think I'd rather play an Excel port of this game than this.

But I soldiered on for a while, kept unlocking rooms and new skills and... it didn't seem to go anywhere. I was making quantitative progress yes, but qualitatively nothing was changing, I was just doing the same thing over and over and getting access to skills I couldn't even place on the Tree of Wisdom.

It's a shame, since I enjoy the world they've built and I'm looking forward to the next game in the series, but I don't feel like finishing this one.

Purchased this game because I really liked the previous game of the developer, Cultist Simulator. I really liked the elegant design of the previous game; the simple but deep mechanics, the high stakes that kept you on your toes. I wasn't particularly interested with the lore of the game. It was mysterious and thematic but felt esoteric just for the sake of it. I feel like this game went hardcore on the lore aspect, made the stakes significantly lower(your run cannot end in this game as far as I understand) and tweaked the mechanics so that it is no longer simple to play without much gain in depth of gameplay. It may be okay if you like reading spooky lore and chill, just not my cup of tea. If you haven't played it, i recommend Cultist Simulator, it is a much more engaging game in my opinion.

excellent and super fun game. I played cultist simulator, but it was to complicated so I never got really far. This game is very similar but much easier to understand. If you like me liked cultist sim, or the idea of cultist sim, but never got into it, this is the perfect game for you.

Very interesting game. Took me a while to get used to the different systems in place, but once I did, I really enjoyed it.

Games come in many shapes and sizes. some games you slip into like an old pair of slippers and others are like walking on lego. two people can look at the same game and, presuming the game functions correctly, aggree that it's a quality product but one may love it and the other may hate it.

once you start playing this game you should quickly realize whether this game is for you or not. because it has no driving plot, there is no narrative theme there is just you, your books and your challanges.

you also have to keep track of your everything.

Now I'm an engineer and spreasheets are my lifeblood. this is a game I like and enjoy even if there are some frustrating bits. the focus on notetaking, understanding and discovery is actually quite refreshing. But if you are not this person, if this isn't your thing.... well then this isn't the game for you.

I reccomend looking at the wiki only for hints and to gain understanding of the underlying mechanics but use it for nothing else, build your own notes. record your own details and seek understanding on your own terms. rather than looking everything up online. A second screen is essential.

that said. If this game is for you, if you've got the kind of mind which works this way. fantastic.

if it's not... well make sure you get that refund in the 2 hour timespan.

I like it. I have criticisms but I like it.

If you love puzzles, collecting, and figuring it out on your own, just get it - one of my favourite puzzle games of all time.

I honestly found it so frustrating. Time moves so quickly. I saw so many recommendations to play this game blind, so I tried doing that. I DO NOT recommend playing this without a guide, at least to get the basic mechanics down. Once you get to the house it just becomes so unclear how to progress things, where you should be looking for specific types of thoughts/memories, if you should invite a guest or not (they dont stay very long, and if you can't locate the right type of item then their story will progress like you've failed). I really think this game could use slightly more guide rails, at least at the beginning.

WF got it right twice, good work! I'm excited for the crpg now :)

Literary, atmospheric, and utterly unique. A game that rewards patient exploration and adaptable planning.

The game is at the same time very chill, and pretty intense logically. Trying to optimize your day to get the most out of your resources is very fun, but at the same time the game is not rushing you and you could take as many days as you want.

The RPG elements are very fun, it's a very unique take on a non'combat RPG where stats, skills and crafting are all very relevant in a unique way.

The story is very obscure but very interesting. There are just enough hints to progressively understand what this is all about, but there's always another layer of mystery.

100% recommend this game ! At first, I was not into Book of Hours. The concept of the game makes it so you need to discover yourself how it works. Trial and error, it was frustrating. I recommend watching a couples of players video on youtube to get all the basics. The Steam community pages are a great help for crafting and decision making. I now play with my second screen constantly open on multiple tabs of the community pages. It's deeply cerebral, calming and the crafting possibilities are endless. I'm glad I gave this game a second chance. I'm now 80 hours in and I started to master it after maybe 30... Maybe I'm a slow learner :) Can't wait to finish the game to start all over again with all the knowledge I gained the first time around.

Genuinely one of my favorite games to date. Each of Weather Factory's games is a hit, and this is no exception.

Starts really fun, but quickly becomes incredibly annoying to play. Game suffers greatly from being intentionally obtuse about a lot of things and requires you to remember a lot of stuff without any in-game help. Lets say you want to upgrade you skill. To do this you need a fitting memory and you remember once creating something like this in a lab. What it was? How do i do it? Screw you, why didnt you kept notes in excel sheet?! Ok, lets try to make something. You get 5 heart ascpects in a lab and can create Bumsong. What is it? What are this item aspects and properties? Screw you, go to wiki. You switch applied skill and with same aspects you can now create Dongsalts. How? Why? How am i supposed to know all this? Do i have to experiment with every possible recipe and just remember all outcomes? ARE YOU INSANE?! Ok, you finally get your desired Fart From Outer Dimensions and try to read a book. You dont have enough aspects so it asks you to add random stuff. It now wants you to add "decoration" and you need 2 more heart aspects. You highlight "decoration" and see 91723654192734 items in your huge mansion. You highlight "heart" and see 812356418927354 items in your huge mansion. Can you highlight both? Can you at least highlight items with 2 hearts? Screw your, go pixel hunting and metodically click on every single glowing thing in you amazon warehouse with bedrooms looking for that one item you really desperately need right now to finish this god damn book. After 10 minutes you finally find it, finish book and get much needed skill upgrade that gives you soul card duplicate so you can upgrade it. To do this you need to find skill that resonates with soul card and can be used on one of your research stations. Can you maybe see what skill resonate with your card and where is can be used? Screw you, manually click through 50+ skill to see what their aspects are. You find one you need. Now you need to find a fitting workplace to combine them. Your skill aspects dont fit this workplace so you cant use it. You uninstall and go play some good games that dont waste your time.

I tried to love it, really. I played Cultist Simulator and had high hopes for it, but it seems that my expectations were too high. My negative points are already captured in other reviews, so I won't delve into them. I will just describe what happened to me.

So, I liked the progression system with the villa. The lore reading, the writing, the slow process of uncovering a history sleeping in the depths of the house, or even castle. The icons, design, love to detail, the whole product design / art design was unique, eye-catching and very fresh, compared to other modern games. But the gameplay loop gets stale very quick. The moment I understood how I get what I want, all I did, was then optimizing getting the cards I needed. And since the game was very vague about the inner mechanics of the game, like recipes and card requirements, so it had effectively no tutorial, like Cultist Simulator, it kept its mystique shroud and setting, but paid the price with me spending lots of hours, grinding for several cards, only to realize, that all the resources I used up so far, aren't replenishable and that the card, that I needed, became impossible to craft.

I got stuck. And only a few floors were left for me to "uncover" the complete Hush House. Very infuriating. For me, it felt like a bigger, grander scale version of Cultist Simulator. If you didn't know, you'll pay the price far, far, FAR down the line in the game. A big, risky gameplay, like gambling. But the results of your gambling will be shown at the last possible moment. So I quit and never returned. No incentive to retry, because the card grind is too ridiculous, because I did that already in Cultist Simulator.

In summary, Weather Factory shows off their new skills and fancy stuff they learned. But I don't know why they think that the old formula of Cultist Simulator was flawless. Without prior knowledge, like through Cultist Simulator or several restarts, it's very difficult to get into. So, first work before it gets fun? Nah, can't recommend. You're very curious and with trying out and exploration you'll progress? Still won't recommend, since you'll irreversibly fail at some point, when you did something wrong, which you didn't know up to that point.

I haven't looked up anything and don't *quite* know what I'm doing but the game is very fun and the vibes are good.

A wonderful installment in the Cultist Simulator universe. The sense of discovery as you experiment with crafting, cataloging, and exploring the house is so fun. This is a game that takes a good amount of time and thinking, but is also quite relaxing. If you're looking for something to engross your mind in and feel clever when you figure things out, this is a great option.

It's also great for people like me who don't tend to like more traditional horror video games, but still appreciate horror elements in media. "Horror" might be a strong word for what Book of Hours is, but there are so many delightfully creepy, chilling implications to the lore that it feels remiss not to mention it. The coziest horror game around!

Fair warning, though; I *do* have a very extensive spreadsheet I keep open while playing, which is not technically required but I can't imagine being able to keep everything straight by memory alone. The game also lets you copy in-game text to your clipboard at the click of a button, so it feels like a subtle encouragement to keep notes outside of the game. Putting that out there because I know this could make or break someone's enjoyment of the game. I personally think it's very cool, but could definitely see others not thinking that's fun at all.

The game is a bit confusing as there is no real tutorial but I am hooked. I like organizing the books and keeping notes and meeting all the goals. It's a casual game with a bit of a time pressure.

steps and bounds better than cultist simulator !

Bought this day one online only recently got the hardware to play it and I'm so damn glad I did. It's like cultist sim on crack with the absolute torrent of tiny lore tidbits hell even the furniture has lore and I'm loving it, absolute 10/10 game would recommend for the chair lore

I tried to order three shillings worth of ham and copper wire with Uzult, the ink in which the First History was written, and the game stopped me, chastised me and told me that this was improper use of an Ink that can alter reality and to go get a lesser ink lest I embarrass myself.

9/10, game has a lot of heart. The audio and visuals are impeccable. The whistling of wind atop the high spire, the creaking floorboards, the pattering of summer rain. You are comfortable, at Hush House. (Just don't linger in the depths)

I do wish the UI was less clunky. Arranging books on bookshelves tends to take seconds longer than it should, and zooming in and out is a pattern that does not suit me.

If you do play, keep a notebook on hand! Having a place to organise your thoughts, excitedly scrawl notes in the margin, and keep references as you pore over fresh lore is incredibly helpful. And the feeling of pen on paper is quite satisfying besides.

It is certainly not for everyone. But it is for me,yay!

I think other reviews capture the good and the not so good quite well, so i just want to relay my experience so far a bit. I played cultist simulator and sunless sea, so i had an idea about what to expect. I find Book of hours better graspable than CS in terms of sparking my imagination to visualize how my character spends their day cataloguing books, contemplating esoteric knowledge, getting help from the villagers. And this experience walks side-by-side with me getting a grasp of the mechanics. Its a beautiful moment to discover ways to do things differently or somewhere else. I might have wasted the first year being not as efficient as possible, but what a joy was the discovery that followed. Thank you for not just plain telling me. This game understands how discovery works. It lately led to slightly mad ramblings and screenshots to my friends when i see new details about the history or think to have understood the tree of wisdoms. I am sure i haven't seen everything yet and i am looking forward to where this journey will take me. Oh and i learned a lot about english currency, what a lovely inconsistent and complicated thing they had there.
So yes i do recommend this gem of a game to all occult enjoying, cat loving librarians out there.

I'm giving this game a 8/10 because while the 50+ hours I've spent on this game has been an amazing experience, there are some very obvious flaws to it.
I really love the text in game and has enjoyed reading books, giving consultations and clearing rooms in Hush House. The lore is a huge bonus to the game.
However, later on, the events and visitors have proved to come at too slow a pace, and even with dlc contents, it is taking too long a time to meet new ones. Therefore I gave up the Lighthouse ending because it is taking forever to get enough members to found a institute with initiatives matching every person.
Moreover, the mechanics can be quite confusing to newcomers (a bit better than Cultist Simulator, but not much), even after watching tutorial videos, it took me like 20+ hours to sort everything out and I have to constantly refer to the wiki.
I've already achieved the Prodigal victory and topped 4 branches in the Tree of Wisdom, but I just don't feel compelled to start a new round again because I feel the experiences will be too repetitive, which comes as a minor disappointment.

I love this game for ever and ever. If you are autistic, this game will consume your life. The playtime I have is inaccurate as I've played this extensively offline and would guess my actual time in game is closer to 300 or 400 hours. I haven't played it in ages, but know when I start again I won't be able to stop. This game is extremely fun if you like repeated processes, keeping track of multiple things at once, and planning out your game in spreadsheets (I have an excel spreadsheet for each Numa). I think you may have to be a certain type of person to get into this game, but if you do, you will be completely absorbed in it. All my love to the devs, amazing job :)

I recommend this game with the caveat that this is a flawed game that is not for everyone. Either this game scratches a certain itch for you, or it doesn't. If it doesn't scratch that itch, I highly doubt you will enjoy this game at all. The UI is clunky at best, the time system is a tad annoying, and it's a very grindy game that requires doing the same thing over and over again to make progress. HOWEVER. The vibes are immaculate, and crafting new things is pretty satisfying for me. I, personally, can't put it down. I just finished one ending (I got the world card!) and I really want to unlock the other endings, discover all the numen and 100% the game. However, I have work to do and cannot do that right now. Perhaps later. If what I said sounds appealing and you like the vibes shown in the trailer, give it a whirl.

One of the most innovative and enjoyable games I've played in years - beautiful board with a detailed and compelling pile of lore to unlock and sort through, lovely score that creates incredible atmosphere, and incredible replayability. There's also a real pleasure in mastering the the mechanics and capably unlocking more complicated rooms, and discovering the hidden secrets. I strongly recommend.

It took me over 30 hours to finally understand what I was doing here. Unlocking the rooms and skills involves many repetitive steps. The system also needs improvement to be a bit more helpful for the players. I do like the alternative history concept in the story, but a word of caution to newcomers.

Probably won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed this game a lot. It's slow-paced, atmospheric, and very management-heavy with lots of mysteries and obscure mechanics to discover. If you enjoyed Cultist Simulator think a more atmospheric and less tense version of that game would be a good time, then this is it.

just finished this wonderful game - as in, 100% Achievement completion. To reach this i had to
beat the game (full from start to finish, not counting save scumming some extra endings) like 9 times?
and i dont really understand why but i enjoyed every second of it.

+ lore, depth of the lore, mystique of the lore, level of details put into this game
+ the uniqueness of the gameplay, i dont know anything that compares and i love it
+ visuals, big time
- complexity, becomes much much more easy a few dozens hours in, but start into the game is tough
- theoretically 100+ different endings but "endings" just means you get a different small paragraph at the end? kinda useless
+/- you have to have your own motivation, you either want to learn about the game and the lore or not, the game doesnt hold your hand. theres very few set "goals" to work towards. i think you could compare it to an exploration kind of game, which i think isnt what People expect when they get it (but if aware this can deffo become a positive thing)
- (for achievement hunters: time to 100%, Needs 9 runs and you dont get anything new by replaying it, its just doing the same thing again)

The devs have built such a wonderful world with this game and Cult Simulator, it will never stop fascinating me. The visuals are just perfect for the kind of game that it is, i enjoyed them a lot and i fr love the design of every single card of the game.
I played Cult Simulator before and had this game on my wishlist for a long time until it finally released. Sooo i will say im probably not 100% objective bc i already loved their prior game so much.

Funny thing about this game it that this is probably in my top 5 or even top 3 favorite games ive ever played, but i wouldnt really recommend it to everyone. Its quite a peculiar game. You spend the first 10-20 Hours of playtime being confused, maybe overwhelmed, most likely frustrated at some point. Well, definitely if you make the mistake that i did to start into the game with minimal help by guides or the wiki (honestly dont do this, just use the wiki if you want to remain sane).
I think the best way to play this game is to see it as a one-run game. Yes theres several endings, several starts into the game, but realistically theyre not very different and dont really have any Impact or different lore (except a small paragraph for the specific ending you got). So i would say best way to do this is to just get to know everything, READ everything (as the game reminds you plenty), craft everything, get all the skills, zoom in and look at everything, just fully take it all in and dont hurry. So if youre the kind of person to like this then 100% recommend
(Hypocritically i say this while not having played the game this way and still having really enjoyed it.. but as i said i dont really understand why i did lmao.)

Full disclosure if you want to get all achievements in this game then ouf, at latest by the third run you really have understood the deal of the game and its just very plainly doing the same thing over and over again for the next six or so runs - each run.. probably 10 Hours at least ? can probably Speedrun it even more, i never tried. Nonetheless for casual players thats a big time investment, especially with the fact that you have to do 9 runs at LEAST, since even with save scumming, those 9 runs depend on your very first decision when you start into the game. So objectively it should really be boring to do the last few runs. But again, i loved them all - probably just because i loved the game so much that i didnt mind replaying it over and over.

so thats all, im gonna go sit here in silence for a minute and grief that its over and that i have to say goodbye to this lovely game

If you're impatient and just want to know the lore of the story I wouldn't recommend it because personally I thought this game was really hard. But if you're patient, and you like figuring out rules, and enjoy playing for hours on end with minimal breakthroughs at times, then I would recommend it.

You might enjoy it if you think mindlessly clicking the same stuff over and over again because the devs can't be bothered to explain *literally* anything to you, but I'd rather play something where I don't spend hours spinning in circles trying to figure out what to do. That isn't "fun" or interesting to me, it's just a chore. They don't need to explain everything in excruciating detail, but at least give me a DIRECTION or a hint as to what I should be doing. I gave it a few tries, but it's just not for me. If you don't like wilfully obtuse games, you probably won't either.

Sometimes, at home, I will write letters to my silverware. I'm not entirely sure why, but this calms me immensely when I do it. I once wrote a three page letter to a butter knife that I had taken with me when I first went to university, 38 yrs ago. In the letter, I reminisced about all of the English muffins and toast that we had experienced together. We laughed about the time that butter knife accidentally launched a blob of whipped butter off of a crepe that I was eating and it landed perfectly on my daughter's crepe.

Good Times.

For what it is: It's got a really good hook and its themes appeal to me greatly. However, you will bounce off of it if you aren't big of entirely self-directed investigations. The game neither pressures, directs, nor challenges you except for what you notice. So read everything. Note everything. Question everything. If this doesn't appeal to you move on, but if those sound fun then you will love this game.

Brilliant worldbuilding, dull game. There are 13 aspects, all attached to different interesting philisophical and religious themes but why pay attention to that when they all work the same? just get enough of the right color to meet the current challenge. 53 skills and 10 language skills, mostly interchangable. 99 endings, all acheved the same, you just need to plug in a diffrent aspect+Numen. there's 2 more but they aren't that interesting either, gameplay wise.

Again the writing itself is brilliant but the gameplay practically discourages actually paying attention to that, story should prompt action, encourage forming hypothesises and plans then reward figuring things out and if it doesn't work then the faliure should also be interesting and informative.

I kind of see the idea, it means there's multiple ways to acheive any goal but in practice it means all the methods are basically the same and so are the goals. I suppose finding some of the hidden numens is a bit interesting.

House of light is noticeably better with it's cooking and entertaining guests, and to find more interesting interactions it actually helps to pay attention to what they've said before. But I'm still not sure it's worth buying.

I like the game, and I still wanna recommend it, but stay away if you're dyslexic.

Very nice game. It doesn't explain how to play itself, but once (if) you figure it out, you're up for hours of reading, crafting, talking, imagining the occult.

I respect and enjoy games that don't explain themselves. I enjoy figuring out how new systems work; it can be exciting and rewarding to have that kind of mystery in a game. However, there is a difference between that kind of mystique and poor user experience. This game is unfortunately the latter. The UI is needlessly and frustratingly obtuse. Within 5 minutes I was hard-locked and unable to progress. There was no tutorial, not even a few simple pop-ups to guide the user through the first few sequences of actions. After trying to click everything I could think of for fifteen more minutes, and still being stuck, it was clear this game is not being thoughtful or empathetic toward its users at all.

Disclaimer: I am only commenting on the base game.

What I like:
* It's generally a pretty and relaxing experience.
* Unlocking new rooms in steady exploration is rewarding. I've almost always liked reading their flavor text.
* The mechanic marries very well into the theme. The potency of cards from being mundane like taste, to the knowledge that stars dreaming about human beings as an experience can be given form is really cool.

What I dislike:
* There's a point where you have way too many knowledge cards to keep track of that looking at them all (in order to highlight ones that has the quality you're looking for) basically takes the entire screen.
* Hunting for new recipes for better cards eventually becomes incredibly tedious.
* Finding out what you can make with cards later becomes unrewarding because 80% of the time it made something you already knew how to make.

Overall, game succeeds in semi-simulating the experience of a librarian organizing an abandoned mansion with a very cool magic system. I get the feeling that you are supposed to write down your notes outside the game, and I haven't. Eventually the game just started to bore me because I couldn't figure out how to get higher potency to unlock the next rooms, and I end up spending longer and longer time trying to find the correct table to craft.

I feel the game would improve immensely if there is a in-game way to keep notes, and a way to highlight based on multiple traits, not just one.

I wish occultist librarian was a real job :(

So I don't last long in most crafting games because I get bored of the repetition and tedium, but Book of Hours hits different?! Compared to activities like farming or base building, which have never held much appeal for me, cataloguing books of eldritch lore in a mysterious mansion feels much more interesting. While reasonably pacing myself, the process hasn't felt too grindy (yet), with satisfying art and sound design to accompany it.

Upon starting, I felt equal parts intrigue and overwhelm. It's one of thooose games that don't like to explain much directly. Somehow, the atmosphere of Hush House helped to quell my anxiety and trust the process of learning its language. There was a period of aimlessly unlocking rooms and shuffling books around with little understanding of my actions, trying to keep the faith that soul cards and aspects and memories and mysteries and wisdoms would reveal their meaning in time. Gradually, I am figuring out what all this shit means, how it needs organized, and how I can use it. I expect there is much, much more to learn.

If you like the idea of being engrossed in your Excel spreadsheet as much as the game itself, welcome. Thanks for the fake employment!

I like this game a lot from a sheer mechanic standpoint, enough to go out of my way to play enough playthroughs to 100% it. I honestly don't care much for the lore and worldbuilding despite appreciating that it exists in the form that it does; that said, I fully understand that I'm in the minority here.

There is something simply addicting in the gameplay loop. Open up a room, maybe decipher a book to learn or level up a skill, planning out what soul cards to unlock next with those skills, in order to read more books and to assist opening more rooms. Every action starts a timer, anywhere from a few seconds up to a three minutes, and this surprisingly evokes a compelling "just one more turn" feeling. (as an aside, Cultist Simulator has somehow never hooked me quite like Book of Hours.)

[hr][/hr]

However, the sole reason I'm not recommending this game is because it basically requires the House of Light DLC for exactly one feature: the Writing-Case. I don't want to spoil too much, but the Writing-Case is an item in House of Light that lets you, for a small cost, invite a past visitor back to the Hush House. This ability singlehandedly alleviates language roadblocks that the base game has, which become especially apparent in later stretches of the game.

Without the Writing-Case, Book of Hours eventually devolves to fast forwarding through seasons while praying to RNG that you'll get a visitor you need at the start of the next one. Endgame in base Book of Hours is awful and kind of sours the earlier portions of the game, only for the solution to be sold in DLC.

At the time of writing, I would recommend Book of Hours only in conjunction with the House of Light DLC. As a standalone game, there is plenty to enjoy, but pushing through the final portions of the game is miserable at best.

I absolutely love this series and recommend you trying it. The game style is so different than anything else I've ever played, and I become obsessed with the puzzle that is Hush House every time I return to it. 11/10 review!!

This satisfies my imagination and my OCD at the same time, it's definitely something special!

Cataloging has never been so fun!

Very disappointing compared to Cultist Simulator.

CS was a flawed but great game, and I was hoping that Book of Hours would be a better version of that. But aside from the visuals I found this game to be worse in every way.

Gameplay loop is completely linear. It's pretty much just wait until you get the memory you need -> read a book -> get a skill -> hope you can use it to upgrade something

The setting just straight up sucks. In CS, I always felt like I had to keep going and try to unlock stuff because there was an actual cool goal - make a cult, and find a way to "ascend". Here there's absolutely nothing that keeps me engaged. You're basically just dropped into the setting and are told like okay, here's this big house and here are a bunch of books that you need to figure out how to read.... Okay and? I felt absolutely no need to keep playing and maybe unlock cool stuff down the road because of this. Yeah CS had issues with regards to being hard to understand at times but at least I felt compelled to try and figure stuff out.

And because of that, the writing suffers too. In CS you're gradually introduced into this world and learn about it as you delve deeper into the lore. Here, you're basically expected to have played CS before and remember everything about the lore to even begin to understand anything. And my biggest problem with the writing is that 90% of exposition you get is reading the small descriptions of the books as you unlock and read them. And because you unlock the books completely at random there is no coherent way to receive the exposition at all. Considering that writing is basically the whole appeal of CS and BoH, I really don't get why it's presented to me this way. I'm sorry, but how am I supposed to care about anything when the exposition is presented to me through basically glorified unsorted post-it notes.

Lastly, this is just my personal gripe but why did we need to almost double the number of aspects? I thought the aspects in CM were cool as fuck and learning about all of them was great but why the hell did we need to add Nectar/Moon/Sky/Scale/Rose on top of that? It makes no sense lore-wise to me, it dilutes what I thought was a nicely done lore and "power" system and it makes the original aspects feel less special since now we just added a bunch of new ones on top of that.

I love this game so much. If you like crafting, cozy games this is one of them. More forgiving than Cultist Simulator (which I also love) but takes place in the world. The lore is a bit confusing but it is meant to be. It's like when you read a good fantasy or sci-fi book and don't really know what is going on but you learn as you go. Literally one of my favorite cozy games. The mechanics take some getting used to but you'll get it. It isn't for everyone but if you love books, cozy games, and eldritch lore, this is for you!