There are a wide variety of different simulator games out there for your enjoyment. From games that will let you play as the owner of a power washing company, all the way to running an interstellar spaceship salvage yard.
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One of the more out-there options for simulators is that of Shadows Of The Forbidden Gods. Here you'll combine strategy gaming and large-scale simulation as you take on the role of a dark god whose only goal is bringing on the apocalypse. You start small in this fantasy world, but by the end you'll be scarring the fantasy world you're set in irrevocably. There are a handful of dark elder gods to pick from, so which are the darkest, and which are best avoided?
6 Iastur
Iastur conceptually is an interesting god. He is an author by nature, and is also the creator god in this fantasy world.
Now he is tired of the current story and seeks for it to have a violent conclusion before he starts anew. It's a fun concept, but the skills he brings to the table don't share in that excitement. He reigns solely through madness, using powers like Everyone Shall Play and The Devil Finds Work to spread his madness across the lands.
Sadly, any hero that gets ahold of The Laughing King's Tomb has a pretty solid chance of royally messing up any plans you have. Once you break the fifth seal things get a bit easier on you by adding plenty of buffs and creating fake tomes but prior to then Iastur feels a lot like a glass cannon.
It could be good to play this later on for a challenge or if more updates come out with balance fixes, but until then maybe go with one of the other elder gods for a more interesting playthrough.
5 Cordyceps Hive Mind
It isn't just for The Last Of Us. Cordyceps takes the form of a dark elder god in this game, and is a pretty interesting playthrough with its own host of fun abilities.
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You'll start off using insects controlled by the host fungus with the goal of spreading to humans and then getting weirder from there. The thing to keep in mind for Cordyceps is the maturation percentage, once it hits 100% you'll have converted the populace into more monsters for your army.
It's a fun playthrough that is unique from the other gods and plays a lot like Plague Inc. or similar games. Things like Vespid Swarms and Internal Maturation make what starts off as a challenge so much easier. It's a good mid-level playthrough, but it can be overwhelming early on in your career.
4 Mammon
Greed has been a sin that's warped humanity since its beginning, and that's exactly where Mammon gets his power from. Mammon lives on a mountain somewhere in the realm, and his goal is to convert followers to make the trek to this mountain.
What happens there? Well, they get sacrificed of course. This means you'll be cutting through the populace rather quickly, so you'll need to understand cost vs. reward when looking at playing this elder god.
There are some really fun abilities you get that influence the particular playstyle of this god. The difference between Prosperity and Decadence and how it affects a location's ideals towards other people is a fun challenge to balance that makes Mammon and his abilities stand out.
If you have an inkling to dive into the fantasy economy for nefarious purposes then this is probably the god for you, otherwise more fantastical notions of other gods might enthrall you more.
3 Vinerva
Vinerva is the embodiment of the classic monkey's paw trope. Her followers definitely regret what they ask for when treating this god.
It's a fun concept if one that you've seen before. To unlock the totality of Vinerva's power you'll need to break nine seals, which seems like a lot to a first-time player. But, if you have some time in the game this won't be too difficult of a challenge.
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This is in part to a lot of fun abilities Vinerva offers. First off, you'll want to understand the map and the spread of your Hearts Of The Forest.
Once you get a solid handle of those though, you'll be using all the different Groves to entice people before claiming them all for yourself. It's a fun mix of a nature theme and a just desert style of play that makes you view the populace in all new ways.
2 She Who Will Feast
She Who Will Feast is a simple yet powerful god. She's a giant snake who wants to eat the world. What more do you need to know?
This is the first god you'll start off with, but that doesn't diminish the fun you'll have in this pseudo-prologue. She's a bold and powerful god that won't punish you for messing up once in a while.
Pre-awakening is one thing, but afterward, she takes the form of an actual army on the map with a load of health and plenty of abilities to bring ruin to anyone that gets in her way. There's a surprising amount of Shadow use too in her playthrough, which balances heavy-handed approaches with a bit of subtlety that gets you a good idea of the game as a whole.
1 Ophanim
Ophanim's powers all come from subtlety and manipulation. Lying low and slowly causing fear among the populace is the name of the game when playing as this god.
The first step in playing as this god is harboring doubt in your neighbors. From there you use agents and potentially armies to spread your faith. It's a simple game plan, but one that doesn't have a lot of room for error.
This all changes at higher seals when you can let loose and show how powerful Ophanim really is. Abilities like Crusade allow you to turn whole societies into warmongering armies, whereas Smite (the final ability) even allows you to wipe a society off the map instantly.
This playthrough really allows for the most variation of style and shows off everything Shadows Of The Forbidden Gods has to offer.
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