Throughout The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, I gave dozens of Tarot card readings to people with varying motivations. Some wanted reassurance or comfort, some sought advice or knowledge. Others came to me with fascination or curiosity over my powers.
What caught me off-guard early on was the weight behind the outcomes of these readings. I felt a sense of nervous anticipation every time my character sat down and drew a card from the deck, and how the readings ended up being woven into the larger story and themes was an impressive feat of narrative design.
The protagonist here is Fortuna, an immortal witch specialising in fortune telling who – when the story begins – is 200 years into serving a millennium-long exile by her lonesome on an asteroid.
She feels hard done by, harbouring resentment towards her coven's leader, but is also struggling with isolation and loneliness to the point where she summons and makes a forbidden pact with a behemoth so she can use magic again.
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The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood can perhaps be described as a visual novel, and several distinct parts of the game bring the best out of each other.
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One of those parts is the divination card readings, with the behemoth granting Fortuna the ability to create her own deck, quite literally. By using and combining the four different elements, I was allowed to design each card myself. There was a decent amount of creative freedom here, too; I could choose and place a card's background, Arcana (a character), and symbols through an in-game editor. Each card felt personal to me as a result.
The combination of different elements determines what a card represents – meanings such as discovery, power, temptation, and even more ominous ones like deception, rejection, and tragedy. The meanings influence how Fortuna can interpret the card during a reading, often being restricted to three or four options.
Like in a deck-building game, sometimes you have to go with the flow and adapt to what cards are drawn in the moment.
You can theoretically try to 'game' the system, stacking the deck to favour a couple of elements. But I found the process of the card readings to be a lot more engaging with a diverse deck, adding to the unpredictability and the pressure of each reading.
These card readings feel like they matter because they affect the story in significant ways. Put simply, Fortuna is good at what she does: every fortune she tells comes true. There were narrative implications behind this that made me really consider what I was doing. I felt powerful, but there was a responsibility that came with that power.
Choice in games is often a way to make the player a more active participant in the events of the story. The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood takes that a step further and asks you to consider the morals of what you're doing as you meddle with the fates of your clients.
All of this plays a part when the central story focuses on the coven's politics and leadership.
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Fortuna has the chance to put herself forward to be the new leader. It's easy to get caught up in the election campaign – deciding on Fortuna's manifesto and what values she should run on, as well as trying to win over demographics – but through this period, while trying to win votes, Fortuna meets numerous people who have their own very human issues.
Getting to know all these different and diverse women who make up the coven has a wider impact. This is a community of women who, despite their differences, share a connection.
What starts as a story about a wronged exile desiring revenge – and perhaps entering the election for the wrong reasons – turns into one about a maturing witch who grows to care about the sisterhood and is willing to take responsibility to steer them in a new and hopefully more progressive direction.
At least, that's how the story unfolded for me. Maybe your Fortuna ends up becoming increasingly power-hungry instead, feeling no guilt in digging up dirt on her rivals in the process.
Being a story about choice, there are naturally all sorts of outcomes that can arise – much of it by your own hand.
But sometimes, it can come down to which cards present themselves from the deck you've built. Sometimes, it's just meant to be, and you have to bear that responsibility.
Developer Deconstructeam's latest game is a bold experience in which all systems fall into place beautifully. It successfully weaves its magic to create something rather special and mesmerising, elevated by a unique twist to deck-building and packed with emotion.
Fortuna's journey undoubtedly ranks as one of my highlights of the year and shouldn't be overlooked.
Platform reviewed on: PC
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is out now on PC and Nintendo Switch.
