Cartomancy Anthology (v2022.08.23)

A deck of tarot cards becomes a gateway to 22 small, personal experiments in Cartomancy Anthology, an indie simulation collection built around introspection rather than high scores. Each entry corresponds to a Major Arcana card, using its traditional ideas—change, fear, hope, loss, connection, and more—as the foundation for a distinct interactive piece. The mood shifts constantly, moving from quiet and meditative to strange, playful, uneasy, or emotionally direct. Instead of telling one continuous story, the anthology asks players to consider how a card’s symbolism lands in their own life.

The central ritual begins with a tarot spread: draw cards, then launch the linked games to interpret the reading through play. One card may present a short narrative choice, while another leans on arcade-like reflexes, environmental interaction, puzzles, or abstract visual experimentation; the appeal lies in never quite knowing what form the next reading takes. Completing an experience adds that card to your collection, gradually filling out the deck and encouraging players to see every Major Arcana entry. Sessions are generally compact and approachable, making it easy to play a few cards at a time, though the emotional weight and mechanics vary sharply from one segment to the next.

What stands out is the willingness to treat tarot as a design prompt instead of a superficial aesthetic. Cartomancy Anthology feels closer to a curated gallery of interactive art, or the stranger corners of itch.io’s experimental scene, than to a conventional fortune-telling simulator. Its many art styles prevent the collection from becoming visually repetitive, while the shared deck structure gives the disparate games a meaningful frame. Players looking for polished systems, long campaigns, or deep mechanical progression may find individual entries slight, but anyone who enjoys surreal short-form games, reflective storytelling, and tarot symbolism gets a genuinely unusual package.