Sagebrush — uncovering the mystery of a cult's mass suicide

Sagebrush is an adventure game where you explore the abandoned site of a cult that committed mass suicide.

This game has a creepy atmosphere that I like and the music, when it is there, helps to amplify that feeling.

The low res art style works really well and I really liked the black and white effect when listening to the recordings found in tapedecks scattered around the world.

I’m not usually a fan of games in this genre but I didn’t hate this one. I liked walking around the site, reading the various notes I found and listening to the tapedeck recordings. All things considered it was a pretty decent experience and I can recommend this if you are a fan of exploration (walking sim) games.

From the Sagebrush website:

Sagebrush is a short-form first-person narrative adventure about exploring the compound of an apocalyptic Millenialist cult in remote New Mexico years after they collectively took their lives in a mass suicide event. In Sagebrush, you'll investigate the long-abandoned Black Sage Ranch, the former home of Perfect Heaven, an apocalyptic cult formed in the early 1990s under the guiding hand of the prophet Father James.

The game is inspired by 90s survival horror games, as we well as more recent narratively-focused adventure games.

Developer Nate Berens (Redact Games) said that Sagebrush's story is based on extensive research into real-world cults and avoids easy answers and black-and-white depictions of cult members—both the leaders and their victims.

About this post

Most Epic Win is running a challenge where a bunch of us regularly try one of the games included in the Itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality and post about it on our forum.

This post was originally published on my blog and is reproduced here with permission.