The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood Review

Devolver really has a knack for giving a platform to quirky, thought provoking titles. Games that knock the cobwebs off the creative avenues of your mind, and weave together odd flavour combinations that you thought would never work – but here you are, knuckling down into a peanut butter and gherkin sandwich and loving every minute.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is one such mouthful of briny legumes, somehow cramming the base components of graphic editing software into a celestial story of space-faring witches and their complicated caste structure. Making sense so far? No? Good. The confusion is the perfect appetiser.

That is MISTER Shrimp to you

Cosmic Wheel is a game about tarot card reading. But more than that, it is a game about tarot card creation. Throughout your groovy personal journey of redemption, you will create your own Yu Gi Oh deck of fate-altering prediction, literally placing visual components onto cards and creating outcomes for cosmic life-guiding questions. You will interpret their meanings based on the elements you have created, the question being asked, and the person doing the asking. All this before you even step into the glorious meat and potatoes of your experience – a narrative that sinks some deep hooks into you, about a witch named Fortuna and the complicated role she seems to play in this universe.

Fortuna finds herself banished to a space of nothingness, admittedly worse than solitary confinement, for the crime of divining the fate of her coven. I guess ‘Spoiler Alert’ laws are taken very seriously in the witching community. After dutifully serving her sentence for a long arse time, Fortuna finally decides that enough is enough and she isn’t waiting another 800 years for freedom. She can’t tunnel out, Shawshank style – but she can reach out into the void and beckon a celestial Behemoth to become her new mate. Enter Abramar, a being that out-dates our universe and is really open to hanging out and having a chat. Oh, and entering into a cosmic pact that will influence our life beyond any mortal understanding.

I am not grumpy, I just have resting witch face

It is an experience that somehow weaves the cosmically wondrous with the marvelously mundane. Chit-chat with an eldritch being beyond your comprehension shouldn’t be this casual and quick-witted, but your relationship with Abramar is as believable as they come. It’s a mutual appreciation and understanding of each other’s predicament – a thick marbling of empathy offered from both sides. And your timeless, eternal colleague offers an outright human level of discerning care to your cruel punishment, eventually offering to help you craft a new tarot deck so you can get back to doing the thing you love.

That isn’t to say that Abramar overshadows the supporting cast. Many faces visit your humble asteroid home like it is the window of a drive-through, each coming with their own dire situation and backstory. Some are close friends, others are just now meeting you – but everyone definitely knows who you are. Character designs are quirky and individualistic, with neat animations that define their personality as they seem to acquiesce to your situation and drink deeply of your latent fortune telling talents. If only they knew what was really going on.

The depth of your dialogue is astonishing – by chance I decided to save-scum my way into repeating a conversation and trying a couple of the other options that arose from my interpretive tarot. Swerving off the course of my initial optimistic reading into a much darker territory, what followed was a far more serious discussion that eventually reached a similar, but still quite unique outcome. It distinctly creates these note-like structures in your brain where you wonder what other divergent paths are awaiting you; and the game is very open to you returning to find out.

Dahlia is one of those mates who would absolutely hide a body for you

Your timeless, eternal colleague offers an outright human level of discerning care

The structure and politicking of this witchy world is intriguing and fun – tiny tidbits like the establishment of a Witch-police or nominating new leadership add to a rich tapestry that paints a picture of what Cosmic Wheel’s universe is like. This reality has conflict and needs that facilitate the creation of parties to monitor and protect them, and while it isn’t the primary focus of your tale it does a ton to uplift the narrative and breathe believability into it. From the granular dynamic of your coven members to the new faces that approach Fortuna in awe like she is some kind of celebrity, everyone has a compelling motivation and quirk to engage with.

Something I am woefully unprepared to talk about is a brief interstitial that showcases the path to becoming a witch in this society, which does so by introducing a transgender character. A fantastic allegory of revealing that one’s self-identity can be different between outwards and inward impressions, the game provides an opportunity for this character to look inward and find what they always wanted to be. This entire segment was so tactfully put together, unafraid to show examples of hardship for one in such a position, with a triumphant outcome that felt handcrafted by the assistance of not only my tarot, but my sensitivity and understanding of their plight. It was a profoundly cool bit of storytelling, and I am eager to see how others find it.

The only downside to this tale is that when it all comes to a head, there really is a lot going on. The main crescendo of the game can be somewhat discordant, with all manner of noteworthy narrative decisions and relationships rearing their head and reminding you of how they will impact the stakes at play. Thankfully it is an experience were stopping to take a breath is fine, so you can measure and mete out your next plan of action with little resistance; but for some it may feel overwhelming when your witchy ways start to really reach their zenith.

Of course my bondage fairy card had to make it into the review

Final Thoughts

This is a game where you play with cards – but it is not a ‘card game’. This is a narrative adventure where your outcomes and relationships manifest by way of interactions, and the cards will absolutely influence such a thing. It is divination by its very definition – seeking knowledge of the future by supernatural means. That future is yours to mold by the choices you make and the connections you shape.

Reviewed on PC // Review code supplied by publisher

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