Hello and welcome once again to our semi-regular discussion series on modern (or at least fairly recent) indie games.

As you know, Rik normally takes the lead on these discussions, but today he’s handed the editing baton to me, Jo – long-time FFG work experience kid. You never know, if it goes well, I might land myself a full-time position.

Anyway, for today’s review we’re taking a deep dive into the mysterious world of cults with Redact Games’ Sagebrush. It’s probably one of the lesser known titles we’ve reviewed in this series so far.

Set in the remote New Mexico desert, you find yourself exploring the abandoned Black Sage Ranch – site of the 1993 Perfect Heaven mass suicide. Wandering through the compound, you find out about the people who lived there, how they came to join the cult, and the events leading up to their tragic demise.

If you’ve read other reviews in this series, you’ll know that at this point we don’t like to say too much. Generally, with these games we feel you’re best going in knowing very little, and as these discussions tend to be an absolute spoiler-fest, we like to provide plenty of warning before we get stuck in.

So if this sounds like it might be your cup of tea, then we implore you to stop reading here, give Sagebrush a go, and then join us when you’re done.

And I think (without spoiling our own review) we would both thoroughly recommend giving this one a try.

Here’s your ***FINAL SPOILER WARNING***

Alright, let’s get into it.

 

The Indie Spectrum

Rik: Once again, you have picked out an indie gem that I, seasoned veteran of the great gaming site, A Force for Good, had never heard of.

Jo: I discovered it quite by accident, though.

Rik: Although I have heard of terrible games like The Suicide of Rachel Foster, which I suggest that we play together.

Jo: It’s impossible to know, though. Sometimes, you just don’t know until you play them. I was just as keen to add RF to the list.

Rik: What’s your go-to reference for a ‘bad game’?

Jo: Um…

Rik: It’s MegaRace every time for me… Even though it isn’t the worst game I’ve played.

Jo: I don’t know really. Maybe because I took such a long break from gaming and I only really play adventure games, I don’t have much frame of reference…

Rik: It must be Rachel Foster then…

Jo: Ha!

Rik: 🙂

Jo: I mean, I think we hated on Rachel Foster plenty last time… but I have to say, playing this game made me hate it all over again.

Rik: Well, quite.

Jo: Just in terms of how lazy, bonkers, and insensitive it was.

Rik: Especially as Sagebrush is a one-person effort, dealing with a much trickier subject matter.

Jo: Exactly. Anyway, I was Pushy McPusherson when it came to adding this one to the list.

Rik: How did you come across it?

Jo: So… We bought a Nintendo Switch with our Christmas money last year (yes, like children).

Rik: The Switch is popular with oldies too… People in their 40s who love Nintendo.

Jo: It didn’t come with a Wii Sports type free game to road test, so I hit the eStore sale and Sagebrush was in it for next to nothing (and also, I have a bit of a peculiar fascination with cults). Anyway, I decided to give it a go, and I was really impressed.

Rik: It’s possibly the most ‘indie’ game we’ve covered so far.

Jo: It’s definitely on the more indie end of the spectrum.

Rik: Post-completion Googles brought up the fewest number of results this time.

Jo: I still don’t know why or how I hadn’t heard of it, having done extensive research on *ahem* “walking sims”.

Rik: RPS covered it but the review attracted about 5 comments.

Jo: Yeah, I read that one.

Rik: And there was very little discussion/analysis of the story out there. There’s an interview with the creator, but it’s about how he made it from a technical point of view. And then a few low-key Switch reviews.

Jo: It’s such a shame because I really think it deserves far more recognition.

Rik: I hadn’t heard of it at all, but there are so many indie games out there, it’s not a surprise. We’ve definitely targeted the big-name walking sims so far, I think.

Jo: Yeah, agree.

Rik: So, the cults thing drew you in? (So to speak!)

Jo: Sure did.

Rik: I’m not saying it would have put me off, but it’s a topic that might have struck me as a bit heavy, had you not recommended it.

Jo: I’m weirdly fascinated by cults. I just have a weird fixation that I can’t really explain and results in me watching films, documentaries, TV shows… pretty much anything about cults.

Rik: Not to disparage our US friends but, they always strike me as an American thing. Obviously there are English cults…

Jo: Yeah.

Rik: But there seems to be a cocktail of stuff that seems to help in the US. Big open spaces, loadsa religion, guns…

Jo: The ability to purchase a ranch from which to operate.

Rik: Yep. Living off the grid seems to have more appeal.

Jo: There’s more opportunity to do that sort of thing out there.

Rik: I suppose what I’m saying is, it seems to be something to worry about from a distance.

Jo: I think that’s part of the fascination, for me.

Rik: And in popular culture (and famous real-life incidents) seem to be in the US.

Jo: But also, from a psychological perspective, I can see how a person might get sucked into a cult, if they’re feeling disillusioned with life, or looking for meaning or a sense of belonging.

Rik: I suppose we should say that it’s not a spoiler to mention cults.

Jo: No, that’s not a spoiler.

Rik: Even though we obviously have spoilers in these discussions.

Jo: We even put it in the title!

Rik: But it’s open at the outset in terms of what’s happened and what was involved.

Jo: Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s mentioned in the synopsis.

Rik: You’re sort of there to uncover the specifics, and reveal some more about your own character.

Jo: It’s more story-based and character driven than just simply being ‘a game about cults’.

Rik: And I think it’s fairly obvious that your character is going back there for a reason.

Jo: Did you have any idea who your character was?

Rik: No.

Jo: Did you just go with it?

Rik: I suppose looking back, it makes sense that you’re the one speaking in the prologue.

Jo: Yeah, but I didn’t think that at first.

Rik: But I figured it could be someone who lost a friend or relative to the cult.

Jo: Same. At first I thought it might have been a friend or family member trying to find out what happened to someone who joined a cult.

Rik: Perhaps that’s the direction in which you’re led initially.

 

Where’s Barry?

Rik: The other striking thing at the outset is the visual style.

Jo: It reminded me of PS1-style graphics.

Rik: Yeah, I think that’s what they’re going for, even though a PS1 wouldn’t be able to handle this.

Jo: The noises my laptop made while running it suggested as much.

Rik: It’s a modern engine, wearing PS1 sunglasses.

Jo: But it works.

Rik: Did you see that as part of the 90s setting? Or representative of the fuzziness of uncovering suppressed memories?

Jo: Well, this was something I wanted to mention. When do you think it’s set?

Rik: Sorry, yes, I mean it isn’t actually set in the 90s…

Jo: But it does feel that way.

Rik: You could certainly think that until the very end. I wondered if that was deliberate.

Jo: The mass suicide is 1993, but at the end the main character has a smart phone…

Rik: I sort of wondered if the graphics were all going to smooth over at that point…

Jo: Ah ok.

Rik: Which they don’t. Anyway, perhaps it’s just a lo-fi choice.

Jo: I felt similarly about the music.

Rik: That it was kind of 90s as well?

Jo: Yeah, that haunting synth… Maybe more 80s? It seemed to suit it, in that way a religious cult might be 10 years out of date. I watched Halloween III last night and the music in that was very similar. Think that was maybe early 80s?

Rik: Yeah, also the 90s wasn’t as cool as we think.

Jo: How dare you!

Rik: If you watch the Top of the Pops repeats from 1991 that are on at the moment…

Jo: Ok, fair point. I just liked the music, it was very fitting somehow. The whole feel of the game overall was effective, I thought.

Rik: Yes, I agree. Maybe let’s not try to over-analyse why!

Jo: Yes! It’s not like this is a GCSE English paper.

Rik: There’s something a bit Resident Evil 1 about some of it. Including the in-game font.

Jo: Yes, not that I ever played it.

Rik: I did say, “Barry? Where’s Barry?” at one point?

Jo: That’s all I remember from Resident Evil.

Rik: Me too. Except for “You were almost a Jill Sandwich!” of course.

 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

Jo: So, you start off outside Black Sage Ranch with your car and it’s pretty obvious that the only way in is to break through the fence.

Rik: “You brought some gear in the trunk.”

Jo: That’s a bit misleading.

Rik: One pair of wire cutters…

Jo: I was expecting maybe a backpack of useful items.

Rik: And I never quite worked out how and when you acquire the flashlight. You find out you have one when you find batteries. But why would you bring one without batteries? Unless you weren’t thinking clearly?

Jo: That’s if you find the batteries – somehow, I managed to completely miss them on my first go.

Rik: Crumbs! But you still managed to finish it though?

Jo: Yes, but not easily. It’s particularly difficult later on, when it gets darker.

Rik: Yeah, we should say that there’s real day/night stuff in effect. Does it just get darker and darker?

Jo: I felt like it got darker each time I found a tape recorder. But I should probably mention that for my first playthrough on the Switch, I had to have the brightness turned up to 11 even before it got dark.

Rik: I hate darkness in games.

Jo: Me too.

Rik: But this felt like dusk-y type light throughout, to a greater or lesser extent.

Jo: I bought it on Steam yesterday and the brightness level did seem more normal. It might just be me but it everything looked so incredibly dark on the Switch, that’s possibly how I ended up missing the batteries.

Rik: Yeah.

Jo: During that first playthrough I did keep saying ‘why didn’t this person bring a torch?!’

Rik: When actually she did, but didn’t bring any batteries. I was going to say, exploration is light-to-medium. There’s not a lot to look at, but what is there is usually relevant.

Jo: This is where we can easily get into some RF bashing again because it’s not just the story of your character that unfolds, you get a real sense of who all these people were. You learn what connected them, and where they had come from.

Rik: It’s tightly designed. I guess having a one person team means you don’t waste time doing things that don’t matter.

Jo: It’s a lot of work though (I imagine).

Rik: And it herds and directs you very well.

Jo: The ranch feels very lived in – like a place where all these characters existed.

Rik: Some exploration is required to find things and follow clues. So you know where to go next.

Jo: It’s a nice breadcrumb trail, not only for exploring the compound, but for the interweaving narrative to unfold too.

Rik: It’s set up quite well with the bulletin board in the community hall, which introduces the different characters and clues as to why they might have found themselves there.

Jo: All the key characters are named, and they have a bit of background.

Rik: There’s Andrew, who’s tried and rejected loads of other religions and then there’s Viola, plus kids, running away from her husband…

Jo: Yeah, it’s actually kind of wholesome (in a slightly unnerving way).

Rik: The bulletin board is their positive spin on things.

Jo: The community hall is the most positive place on the whole map, I’d say.

Rik: Yeah, it isn’t too messed up, but then you find out more as you go.

Jo: I do think that it steadily gets more grim – like each new place you discover in the compound things seem to get a bit more horrible.

Rik: Although there is that stuff about Leonard taking food…

Jo: Oh yes, that’s mentioned in the kitchen.

Rik: And is the cleansing room mentioned at that point?

Jo: Yeah, it’s hinted at in the Leonard notes.

Rik: Although I suppose we don’t know at that point that it’s a bad place, it could be like prayer/confession.

Jo: I just thought ‘oh, he must just really like cookies’ and then it’s only later on you discover that there’s something more problematic going on.

Rik: He also likes booze.

Jo: Cookies and booze.

Rik: I guess I would say something else about the community hall, there’s that religious stuff about women on their period being ‘unclean’…

Jo: Oh yeah, on those signs.

Rik: In the toilets.

Jo: I forgot about that… I retract my earlier statement about it being the most positive place in the compound. That’s probably the first insight we get into the cult’s view on men and women.

Rik: There’s a clear segregation between male and female members in terms of the location of trailers. But then you get to Viola’s trailer and she’s pregnant.

Jo: Yes…

Rik: With Father James’s baby?

Jo: I wondered if it might be Andrew’s?

Rik: Hmmm…

Jo: I got the impression that Viola and Andrew were having a bit of a fling.

Rik: Is their relationship genuine or is it part of the instruction to ‘use her womanly wiles’ to find the traitor in the camp?

Jo: Maybe it starts out that way, but then it accidentally escalates?

Rik: Andrew’s deal is mainly that he’s rejected other churches. And he’s cut off his brother.

Jo: Father James’ deal is that he is basically sleeping with all the women in the group.

Rik: So after you visit Viola’s trailer, the voice on the tape (of a younger woman) sort of gives that away. Although I think maybe it starts as them thinking they’ve been chosen?

Jo: Yeah, it starts out that way.

Rik: Rather than it being ‘alternative cleansing’ as it’s referred to later.

Jo: It’s certainly some sort of manipulation at first, and then the alternative cleansing bit comes in.

 

Cult of Personality

Jo: I think maybe while we’re talking about the cult leader, it’s worth saying that it would be really easy to make him almost a pantomime villain and that would just crush the whole tone of the game. I felt like he was well-realised as a highly manipulative narcissist. It’s hard to depict that sort of a character and make it believable.

Rik: I think you’re right. You get the impression he genuinely believes it all, rather than it being a cynical exploitation.

Jo: Yeah, there’s a suggestion that he is a bit of a broken man.

Rik: Even if it is obviously still incredibly fucked up behaviour. Because he’s hepped up on speed. And his divine instructions just happen to involve him shagging all the women (and filming them?) while his wife is banished to a cold room.

Jo: I know! Poor Anne.

Rik: Where she can hear it all going on.

Jo: While having to sleep on a foldout bed among the cereal boxes.

Rik: Which she says makes her feel happy…

Jo: We later find out she’s the chief recruiter (which is sort of hinted at in the prologue). And according to Peyton’s notes (which we’ll get to) is totally devoted to her husband.

Rik: I found it a bit weird that she kept her married name, but her husband changed his to ‘Father James’?

Jo: I dunno, it seems in-keeping with his narcissistic personality.

Rik: I suppose, if they believe he is the chosen prophet, he can’t still be Derek or whatever. [Edit – actual real name: Donald.]

Jo: Yeah, and there’s the whole double standards thing – it’s not like she’s allowed to go shagging any of the men in the group… Sorry, for saying ‘shagging’.

Rik: I already said it.

Jo: That’s alright then.

Rik: Is that better than repeatedly saying ‘doing it’?

Jo: Haha!

Rik: We’re English, it’s all terribly embarrassing either way.

 

A Traitor in our Midst

Rik: What did you make of the tape recorders?

Jo: They were a bit like the journal entries in Gone Home – kind of trigger points along a timeline.

Rik: I was a bit literal at first.

Jo: Oh yeah?

Rik: Like, why are there tapes everywhere?

Jo: Ha! Maybe I thought that initially.

Rik: I eventually put it to one side and figured different realities and time periods were mixing here. Did you get the sense that the ‘alternative cleansing’ ramped up when the traitor was discovered?

Jo: Yeah, I did.

Rik: There’s a tape that says Father James’ behaviour changed around that time.

Jo: I got the impression that was the point Lilian started having doubts and possibly when Peyton reached out. His locked up trailer was the first that I came across, but you don’t find out about him being an FBI agent until you get into Lilian’s trailer. Then does their connection cause Father James to grow suspicious of Lilian?

Rik: I did find the fact that Lilian and Peyton could change the locks on their trailers a bit weird – that’s arguably a big red flag on its own? Or do you think they didn’t know about the master key that James has? As if their privacy is supposedly respected?

Jo: I thought they did know about the master key, and that’s why they changed them?

Rik: But I mean, everyone else. Does James pretend they have privacy in the compound?

Jo: Ah yeah, I’m with you now. Yeah, I think it’s to create the illusion of privacy.

Rik: And then Peyton finds out there’s a master key – that’s why they change their locks.

Jo: Or maybe he knew from experience?

Rik: Maybe.

Jo: When they find out about Peyton, that (understandably) tips Leonard over the edge.

Rik: So, is Leonard instructed to kill the traitor? I can’t remember if that’s explicit.

Jo: Well, Leonard gets that note that says ‘it’s definitely him, Leo’ so can only assume a bunch of them were instructed to off him by Father James. They’ve already got military grade weapons for ‘defending themselves’…

Rik: Did they not bludgeon him to death with the spade? Probably easier to shoot him in the mines I guess.

Jo: Yeah, but I mean they were already arming themselves. Against the police or some sort of external threat?

Rik: But now I’m wondering what actually happened. There’s definitely blood on the spade…

Jo: Yeah, I forgot about that.

Rik: I mean, it makes sense they’d have weapons. You don’t even have to be part of a cult to want automatic weapons to defend your land in the US.

Jo: They’re already prepared to shoot someone, to defend the group by whatever means possible.

Rik: But it’s one thing to have guns, or wave them at the police, and another to actually plan the murder of someone in your cult. Otherwise why is Leo back on the booze when he’s building up to it?

Jo: Yeah, you’re right.

Rik: Peyton’s note to the FBI advises against a frontal assault on the camp due to automatic weapons.

Jo: Yeah, I was thinking about Peyton’s note back to the FBI.

Rik: Is their collection of weapons all part of the plan, or driven by paranoia of a traitor? It’s not particularly important I guess.

Jo: I thought that maybe they were so brainwashed at that point that killing one of their own was just part of the whole ‘defend the flock at all costs’ thing.

Rik: Ah ok.

Jo: But they’ve also been cutting off limbs etc. in the cleansing room. So at this point, are their minds already totally warped to pain and suffering and wrong-doing in general?

Rik: Leo obviously is still traumatised slightly by it all.

Jo: Yeah, I mean he’s already pretty fragile mentally at that point, and takes a further psychological hit after this.

Rik: Peyton’s notes on each member give further insight. I know it’s really harsh but I laughed at his description of Lilian’s ‘useless degree’…

Jo: Ha yes, me too.

Rik: My thoughts briefly turned to the FBI undercover work. And how she’s an ‘asset’. He has to persuade her, but for his case. It doesn’t matter if she lives or dies really. In the end, he gets caught and dies. But it could easily have been her.

Jo: I hadn’t thought of it like that. Although, isn’t his job to break up the cult?

Rik: It is. But it’s about the bust. Not saving everyone.

Jo: Oh.

Rik: I guess I thought of all the ‘spy cops’ stuff in the UK – people so far undercover they marry people who think they’re someone else. Then years later they realise they married an undercover cop who was spying on them…

Jo: Woah!

Rik: Well, not marry maybe. But get into serious long term relationships, with children…

Jo: What did you think of the next tape, after Peyton is killed, where Lilian says she just let herself fall deeper in?

Rik: Well, I guess there’s no-one else wavering. And she knows he’s not really still alive, as she’s told, so she doesn’t have an option but return to the fold. Easier than realising that she’s in danger, in a cult, but with no-one to help her.

Jo: I watched this interview that Wired did with Dr. Janja Lalich recently, and so many people ask how someone could even get sucked into a cult. People have these doubts, but they just shelve them. Everyone is going along with it, and there are potentially serious consequences if they don’t.

Rik: Sounds a bit like when you’re in an abusive relationship.

Jo: It must be like being gaslit by everyone around you, you’re made to think your doubts are your problem.

Rik: You know you should leave, but how do you do it? And also, sometimes it might not all seem so bad. So not doing anything just seems easier than confronting it all.

 

I’ve got a brand new Zombine Harvester

Jo: I think by the point you go to the mines, you have a very real sense of how dangerous this cult is.

Rik: Did you know you were going to basically find a body down there?

Jo: No, I wasn’t expecting it. Were you?

Rik: I think so. That follows on from the cleansing room doesn’t it?

Jo: Yeah, you find the keys to the mine in the cleansing room.

Rik: Or maybe I’m getting the chronology wrong?

Jo: You’ve heard about the cleansing room, but when you see it, it’s a different thing. And then you go to the mines.

Rik: I think you know Peyton’s dead by that point don’t you?

Jo: Yeah, you do. I don’t know why, but after finding out about Peyton, I just wasn’t expecting to then uncover the body.

Rik: And at this point you know the voice on the tape is Lilian. But not necessarily that you *are* Lilian.

Jo: Yeah, I think that was the conclusion I came to.

Rik: You have the bloody shovel, so the body must be somewhere, and the mines are sealed off.

Jo: Yeah, that makes sense.

Rik: I think I’m going to say I wasn’t that surprised. I don’t mean it as a criticism.

Jo: I don’t know what I expected to find down there but I thought that maybe they’d disposed of the body elsewhere, maybe somewhere beyond the compound so it was less likely to be discovered?

Rik: I didn’t realise in the mines that you had to get the power back on for the lift to work.

Jo: Ah, well…

Rik: The first time, I thought, well, if I get the lights on again it’ll be easier to see, but I’ve got my torch anyway…

Jo: On my first playthrough, with no torch, my main objective was to get the lights back on… because I couldn’t see a fucking thing.

Rik: I don’t know how you did it!

Jo: Sorry swears. We’ll edit that out.

Rik: We can swear!

Jo: It was extremely difficult – and I did end up drawing a map.

Rik: Oh dear. That would have been harsh, if that was the way it was intended.

Jo: At that point, I was quite angry at my character for not having a torch.

Rik: But at least it was still possible.

Jo: I did think ‘wow this is an unusually tricky part of the game’.

Rik: Ethan Carter’s mines were actually like that.

Jo: Oh god, yeah.

Rik: With that blummin’ zombine… *I mean zombie…

Rik & Jo: Zombine harvester!

Jo: I can’t believe we both said that.

 

Diary of a Madman

Rik: Shall we talk about the ending then?

Jo: Yeah, I think so… I really didn’t want to go into Father James’ private quarters.

Rik: No. But it’s just porn mags and drugs.

Jo: And pictures of himself.

Rik: Which are everywhere.

Jo: Yeah, they’re in every building in the compound pretty much.

Rik: The perks of being a cult leader!

Jo: Yes.

Rik: It’s really the video that I didn’t want to watch.

Jo: No! Me neither.

Rik: Because you take it from the camera that was pointed at the sex bed.

Jo: Ugh.

Rik: Fortunately, it’s just him botching around instead.

Jo: I know, I was so relieved.

Rik: And you get an insight into him really believing what he’s saying.

Jo: I did expect the tape to be much more horrible than him just fumbling through a sermon and forgetting the combination to his own safe.

Rik: Yep, although I guess it would have made more content warnings necessary for the game to actually show something really horrible.

Jo: Yeah, but when you’re engrossed in a game, you don’t really think in those terms I guess.

Rik: But I mean after you see what’s on there, it’s like, well, obviously they wouldn’t actually *show* the ‘alternative cleansing’…

Jo: Oh yeah, definitely.

Rik: What did you make of the note in the safe?

Jo: Was that for the temple plans?

Rik: Yeah, I couldn’t work out what that secret room was for.

Jo: No, I’m not sure.

Rik: If they all were going to die, why was there the temple?

Jo: Maybe he planned to escape back there, but never made it?

Rik: Or was the plan for him to escape but Lilian got there first?

Jo: Yeah, I wondered that.

Rik: In which case, did he not really believe it all…?

Jo: Well, this is it. The journal entries you find suggests he really believes his own stuff and that he really is becoming quite unhinged – chatting with the devil and whatnot. But if he didn’t believe it, then how would he go on without any of his followers?

Rik: Go somewhere else, start up another one.

Jo: According to that interview, most cult leaders don’t really believe their own crap, they just want to control people, but here it seems to suggest otherwise.

Rik: Maybe they believe it for a bit, to get into it and convince everyone. But when it comes down to it, the followers believe it more than the leader… who then backs out.

Jo: I did wonder if maybe he had planned to escape to the temple during the fire, but between the amphetamines and the quaaludes he couldn’t get up the steps and through the door. How did you feel once you had the seal to the church? And it says ‘It’s time to go back and face the past’?

Rik: I guess it’s obvious by that point that you were in the cult and are Lilian.

Jo: I think I only just got it at that point. I was leaning more towards that conclusion, but also I still could have been someone trying to find out what happened to her.

Rik: I guess you’re right. I didn’t quite understand what happened when the fire started. And why the building was still standing (again, maybe I was being a bit literal).

Jo: I quite liked the bit going down all the corridors at the end even though I found it quite creepy.

Rik: I had a sinking feeling at this point.

Jo: I wasn’t sure where it was going.

Rik: Although I did at least realise it was a metaphorical series of corridors.

Jo: Yeah, it took me a while to click.

Rik: And you weren’t just running down to the centre of the earth!

Jo: Running to hell!

Rik: They only had one shovel to dig with, after all. I did wonder if Lilian was dead and this was all not real somehow. Or something grim like that?

Jo: I was a bit worried that the ending might be dark.

Rik: It was a relief to find something optimistic at the end instead.

Jo: I quite liked all the snapshots of her life after the cult and, again, you don’t see anyone, just a setting and a snapshot of a conversation.

Rik: Yeah, that was good. But I wondered if there was going to be a horrible twist somehow. Rather than: she meets a nice guy, lies to him (understandably) about being in a cult, goes back to the compound in secret to confront her past, but then prepares to tell him the truth.

Jo: Yeah, I agree.

Rik: There’s a strangely positive feeling at the end.

Jo: It could have also gone the other way, but didn’t, and I liked that.

Rik: There is a way out, and it’s hard, but possible.

Jo: It wasn’t ‘and then she escaped the cult, and everything was alright after that’…

Rik: Yeah, not ‘the FBI guy helped her escape and then everything was fine’.

Jo: I liked that it explored the idea of what she had lost by leaving. I’m not saying the cult wasn’t evil, just that she still lost all those people she knew, and lived with and had created a family with and then had to witness them dying in this really horrible way, even though she escaped the cult.

Rik: Survivor’s regret.

Jo: In a way she’s also grieving their loss and the life she had there.

Rik: Does she feel bad that she didn’t save them or didn’t join them, as the therapist puts it?

Jo: I think probably both. I also like that snapshot of a conversation you hear with [boyfriend/husband] Tim.

Rik: About work being a cult?

Jo: “They just expect you to dedicate everything to it”…

Rik: I think even if they don’t, as someone with some recent experience in this area, once you get out, you realise how pointless it all is/was.

Jo: Yeah.

Rik: The things that drive you on a daily basis, in the work environment, they don’t mean anything.

Jo: No. Once you leave none of it matters.

Rik: It may as well be a cult.

Jo: Yeah, once you’re gone the work is still there and your efforts were kind of meaningless. It’s irrelevant that you were ever there. Sorry, that’s really depressing.

Rik: No, been thinking about it a bit myself recently.

Jo: And the comparison with working so much that you’re too tired to challenge things.

Rik: Or look for something else to do.

Jo: I’ve done work surveys in the past that asked me how much I ‘loved the company’ and if I ‘had faith’ in those in charge. It’s alarmingly close.

Rik: But I guess in this context, it’s about saying that we shouldn’t think about cults as some weird thing that only vulnerable people get sucked into.

Jo: No exactly, when in reality there are many similar things that we can fall prey to in just the same way.

Rik: Which is quite a nice, non-judgemental treatment of things.

Jo: What did you make of it overall?

Rik: I really liked it.

Jo: Me too.

Rik: Just a clever, sensitive, well-put-together ‘walking sim’.

Jo: I think it’s pretty top end of the scale for me.

Rik: Give me 90 minutes of your time, I’ll give you a good story. That’s what you want really.

Jo: It’s 3 hours on Switch with no torch, I can tell you that much!

Rik: Heh heh…

Jo: It tackles a lot of difficult subjects well. It’s sensitive while not being afraid to explore those trickier subject areas, which is commendable. Is there anything more you’d like to add?

Rik: No, not really. After Rachel Foster, this was a good one to get back on track with.

Jo: Yeah, agree. I felt justified in my comments of that game after playing this.

Rik: We were justified, but this just hammers home what is achievable, even on a low budget.

Jo: I was worried I was being too harsh last time, but then when you see it done right, it drives the point home.

Rik: Glad to have another one we can recommend!

Jo: Yeah me too.

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Sagebrush is available on Steam and itch.io for around £6.