Cthulhu Keeper is in public playtest on Steam, developed and published by Kuuasema, and it seems they are aiming for a mix of Commando and Dungeon Keeper on top of the Lovecraft Myth.

We got an invitation from the devs for their game playtest, while it is not clear what stage of the development it is - Steam just says playtest, the game says Demo, and there is no page to report the many bugs I found (maybe they are using socials?) - I will just assume they are testing if the concept is FUN currently, and just want more people to playtest.

The core gameplay seems fine, you alternate between adventuring on expeditions (Commando-style) and managing your cult (Dungeon Keeper-style). In the missions you collect the resources you will need to maintain your dungeon cult, and in the cult you develop the creatures you can bring in an expedition.

During the expedition you will dig graves, convert citizens, harvest crops, and dumpster dive. At the beginning you might want to rely more on stealth kills as your main character is fragile. Later, you unlock more robust creatures to terrorize villages without the need of subterfuge.

At the cult base, you will dig holes to create rooms and tunnels, set up defences, research and empower your creatures, and prepare for the next expedition.

Some of your actions you increase your threat level, when it reaches a threshold, your base will be invaded, and you need to use everything at your disposal to eliminate the invaders. And that is where most of the bugs happened to me and poor design choices appear more clearly.

The way to keep track of the characters in the dungeon is different from the expeditions, so you never know where they are and how many you have left. The game also has problems with pathfinding, and during the invasion it shows clear as the enemies just stack where they spawn, and I had to bait them in.

During the expedition the game also had its problems, items spamming and being collected like those collect-a-ton games, making items appear just over impenetrable terrain, and you also need to hover or click each one to collect them - quite annoying.

There are plenty of bugs and design decisions that will change at this point, so I will not dwell any longer on it as I imagine we will have a period of early access at a later date.

As theme goes, it did not feel like a Cthulhu game, despite the art. There is no build up for the horror or any tension, enemies are already ready to kill you from the first moment - it makes sense with armies wearing different colours, but why do I need to worry about someone walking in a public park if I am not trespassing their residence?

However, I can see this Stealth Action meets Dungeon Management working. I enjoyed what they have so far, and it made me curious about what they will achieve at the end.

If you are interested in helping or just playing the game, you can sign up for Cthulhu Keeper playtest on Steam. The devs are very generous, and you can keep playing even after you finish the main tutorial for the Demo.