The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
★★★★★
Platform: PC and Nintendo Switch
Developer: Deconstruction
Publisher: Devolver Digital
From Valencia, the small independent team Deconstructeam have made a name for themselves internationally thanks to the way their video games explore interactive storytelling. His are titles such as Gods Will Be Watching (2014) or The Red Strings Club (2018), works revered for the brilliant writing of Jordi de Paco, the careful pixel art aesthetic of Marina González and the enveloping music composed by Paula Ruiz. Their new project has taken more than five years of work and is their most ambitious creation to date.
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood tells the story of Fortuna, a seer witch who has predicted the fall of her coven, and for this reason has been sentenced to a thousand years of exile on a lonely asteroid. Tired of being incommunicado and not being able to access her tarot deck, on the day that two centuries have passed since her sentence, she makes a pact with a forbidden creature in the hope of regaining her freedom. It is at that precise moment that the player takes control of this amazing visual novel.
As in the studio's previous games, dialogue and decision-making make up the foundation of the experience. However, the secret ingredient in Deconstructeam's new magic formula is none other than the protagonist's ability to create her own cards and, in turn, to alter reality based on her interpretation. Through this highly creative mechanic, anyone can design a custom deck and modify the meaning of each card based on the background, the characters or the decorations that decorate it.
The idea behind this peculiar game system, which takes elements of the classic conversational adventure and merges them in an original way with the tarot, is to connect ideas and emotions. All this to tell an emotional story about such universal themes as destiny, empathy or the conflict between the individual and the community. Its script (translated into Spanish by Judit Tur) is biting and agile; its artistic, refined design; and its soundtrack, a true cosmic dream. The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is one of those works that leave a mark on whoever plays it.
