Civilization’s grand strategy meets QAnon-style conspiracy theories in this wonderful, weird game

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SHOULD I PLAY THE FABULOUS FEAR MACHINE?

Definitely give this game a shot if you enjoy pulp comics and grand strategy games. The Fabulous Fear Machine was created by Fictorama Studios, the same developers behind the equally unhinged and enjoyable Do Not Feed the Monkeys games. Like that game, The Fabulous Fear Machine is all about being in charge of a force with the power to shape the world. This time, though, you control that force on a much broader scale, slowly spreading your dark influence across a series of regional maps. It’s a brilliant twist that blends together Civilization-style strategy gameplay with tongue-in-cheek horror along the lines of old Tales from the Crypt comics.

TIME PLAYED

I’ve spent five hours stuck inside The Fabulous Fear Machine so far. In that time, I played through the game’s brief tutorials and completed all four scenarios in the first chapter of the campaign. I’ve just dipped my toes into the second chapter, where I’ve taken on the role of a new misguided protagonist, but there’s a third chapter waiting to be unlocked after this as well.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT THE FABULOUS FEAR MACHINE?

• A deeply original take on strategy. I’ve played plenty of strategy titles before, from Civilization to Crusader Kings to Victoria, but I’ve never played anything quite like this. The Fabulous Fear Machine is all about creating unrest in the population. To accomplish this, I had to spread propaganda, infiltrate the organizations of enemies with opposing goals, and generally do everything possible to convince the public at large that only I had the solution to their problems. It’s a delightfully twisted approach to the genre that I found incredibly engaging.

• Awesome horror comic aesthetic. The Fabulous Fear Machine employs the bright, stark colors of old-school pulp comics for both its gameplay and cutscenes. The story is told through literal comic book panels, and the overarching narrative of terrible people doing terrible things to gain power with ironic twists feels like something right out of those stories. I loved it.

• Darkly comedic conspiracy theory plots. From a pharmaceutical company executive helping create a global pandemic just so her company can sell the vaccine to the world, to a down-on-his-luck insurance salesman sowing terror through a community to help him hit his numbers, The Fabulous Fear Machine presents a lot of very grim but funny scenarios. Some players might be a little uncomfortable with how close to real-world beliefs some of these stories come—the first chapter has multiple plots that are basically right out of the wildest imaginings of QAnon true believers—but the game never took itself seriously enough for me to think it was positing these views as “real” in any way.

• Story-driven structure. Unlike most strategy games, The Fabulous Fear Machine is focused entirely on its three-chapter campaign, with each chapter telling a single character’s story from beginning to end across multiple missions. Your mileage may vary, as I’ll discuss below, but personally I loved having specific goals and a real sense of momentum pushing me along.

WHAT SUCKS ABOUT THE FABULOUS FEAR MACHINE?

• Story-driven structure. Like I said, your mileage may vary. While I appreciated the game’s linear nature, more hardcore strategy gamers might be put off by being placed inside such strict limits. The Fabulous Fear Machine has multiple difficulty settings to play around with, but there doesn’t seem to be a non-story or free-form mode, unless it unlocks after finishing the campaign. I’d certainly love something like that to mess around in after finishing the story; maybe it will get added in the future.

• Limited voice-acting. Despite the focus on story, The Fabulous Fear Machine only has voice-acting for a few of its cutscenes. I would have loved for the comic book segments to be voiced as well, especially since the voice-overs that are in the game are quite strong.

💬 Are you ready to become a part of The Fabulous Fear Machine, or are you uninterested in spreading propaganda? Share your thoughts below.