STARCULT. Night: Twisted Age Preview

STARCULT. Night: Twisted Age Demo Review at Tails by the Foxfire

STARCULT.Night: Twisted Age is a dark fantasy visual novel by Not a Cat Studios that dabbles in horror and romance, features a codex detailing the world’s rich lore, and introduces an ‘Emotion Palette’ system that lets you unlock up to 15 dialogue options per conversational prompt (more on this later). In this eldritch fever dream of a tale, you play as the noblewoman Silviya Nebula, whose husband is brutally murdered on their wedding night after presenting her with a servant: a mysterious man with the stars on his skin who claims to know Silviya already. Trust me when I say, STARCULT’s 40 minute demo flew by in a blink and I need to know what happens next!

While we wait for the planned early access release slated for Q4 2026, let me give you a quick rundown review of what interested me about STARCULT, starting with those all-important Foxfire review scores!

**TL;DR: STARCULT. Night: Twisted Age Foxfire Review Score: 4.5**

Price Point: TBC (Demo preview received for free)
Fun Factor: 4/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Story, Characters & Worldbuilding: 5/5
Maps & Environment: 5/5
Music: 5/5
Recommended: Yes!

**How Long is the Demo for STARCULT. Night: Twisted Age?**

As of the time of writing, the demo for STARCULT. Night: Twisted Age is around 40 minutes long, and those minutes will fly by with how the story grips you from the very beginning and immerses you in its eerily gothic atmosphere, magical soundtrack, and sumptuous visuals. These elements all work together to establish a divine sense of intrigue orbiting around Silviya in the wake of her husband’s murder while hitting the exact dark fantasy niche my heart has been yearning for after stepping away from The Sandman. Truly, if like me you’ve been looking for a replacement for ‘that’ author’s work in your life, then I implore you to turn your attention to STARCULT, as it’s fantastical, richly woven, and steeped in a textured type of worldbuilding that it’s clear had a lot of love and time poured into it. I just love a game with a well-structured mythology and codex to manage it, and STARCULT has exactly this, wrapped up in a dramatic art style with celestial motifs and the most ethereal character designs I’ve seen in a minute. It’s like a wonderfully moody dream.

Whatever happens next, I just hope the dog will be ok.

What is the Emotion Palette System?

In STARCULT’s 40-minute demo, we’re introduced to the basic mechanics of the Emotion Palette system: a power tied to Silviya’s passion for painting that allows her to manipulate others using her own emotional state. Basically, rather than just picking your dialogue option, you also choose your mood. Each feeling is represented by a different colour, and Silviya accumulates colours based on her interactions with other people depending on how they make her feel.

In the demo, Silviya starts out being able to collect yellow (joy), blue (sadness), purple (fear), and red (anger) stacks, which each elicit different dialogue responses from others when used in conversation. This mechanic puts a different spin on your typical multiple choice conversations, and it sounds like we’ll gain the ability to mix new colours for even more results in the full game. What’s more, if Silviya collects 3 of the same emotional stack, that feeling will drive her mental state and determine which dialogue prompts are picked until the feeling wears off. In other words, you’ll have to manage Silviya’s emotions carefully in order to keep a level head, which adds something like a sanity meter to the experience. Very relatable, and a perfect addition to this story of murder, subterfuge, monsters, and gods.

A Word From Not a Cat Studios

“While making this game, we’re trying to base it on empathy, where each character have their own motivation and goals. The better MC would understand them, the wider choice she would have of how to build relationships with them. I’m super excited to see players react to each dialogue choice with their natural curiosity and choose by themselves which person MC should be in their current walkthrough,” – Liliia Sitailo, artist & CEO of Not A Cat Studios.