![]() ![]() Veterans of the genre may think Cult of the Lamb doesn’t go as hard it could on the combat and items - and that’s a sentiment which I partly share - yet it feels exactly right for this specific game and how it’s been built. The roguelite adventuring is solid as well. You can go through an entire adventure-management cycle in 15-20 minutes, and with so much stuff to unlock, power to brandish, and new objectives to conquer (all supported by fun storytelling), it’s hard not to be trapped by Cult of the Lamb ‘s well-oiled systems a couple of hours in. With a day-night cycle that never stops, I quickly found myself developing a routine (expand the village, check on - or maybe sacrifice - my friends, perform the daily mass…) for whenever I wasn’t adventuring.Īnother major pitfall that Cult of the Lamb manages to avoid is that of annoying players with too many boring chores controls are uncomplicated, animations are quick and snappy, and the overall pacing of the game never feels dull, since there’s always a new narrative development happening or an advanced town upgrade you want to acquire/build. Cult of the Lamb doesn’t limit its non-roguelike side to a generic base of operations, gradually opening up new locations full of memorable secondary characters and simple-hearted activities. The management sim part of the game is where most of the highly comedic and/or dark bits take place, as it’s the one during which you’re interacting with brainwashed cultists and neighbors who are totally cuckoo. Like… it’s not the goal of the game to make you feel bad about the dark shit going on, but it all sure hits differently when you’ve done your homework. ![]() It’s all fun and games, sure, but Cult of the Lamb never loses sight of the real history and events it’s making fun of. ![]() Probably more upsetting is the tone and actual discourse of the game, the latter of which quickly goes down a rabbit hole of closely examining how absolutely deranged religion can become under the right (wrong?) set of circumstances. Even the darkest deeds and most disgusting demons feel like something straight out of a Cartoon Network classic. The idea of “ Animal Crossing but dark and gone terribly wrong” was really easy to sell, especially when Cult of the Lamb looks so cute on the surface. Thankfully, Massive Monster has nailed that aspect of the game… and pretty much everything else. ![]() I really wanted that for Cult of the Lamb, which has been sold by focusing on its (attractive) mix of roguelite and Animal Crossing-like town management. Hades may be the best example of a story expertly told and weaved around the modern roguelite structure and systems it actually felt like a big step forward for the genre, and signified this type of game could contain top-notch narratives. Many roguelikes simply use their story as an excuse to create cool settings populated by very specific characters - which is okay - and forget to explore the many possibilities such a non-linear, repetitive-but-not-really structure can offer. One of my biggest worries going into Cult of the Lamb was that its narrative efforts could be limited to just the beginning and the conclusion. Indie studio Massive Monster, who already made a name for themselves with off-beat (and sometimes downright weird) titles such as The Adventure Pals, have packed quite a lot of elements into Cult of the Lamb, which hits the ground running with a simple but highly enticing premise: a lamb (you) meets a grisly demise at the hands of a dark cult controlled by four entities, but The One Who Waits (an even bigger and older dark presence) resurrects the little animal and commands him to start up another cult which will be the real deal… and to kill those dirty usurpers, of course. Cult of the Lamb has finally been summoned to PC and consoles, and I’m happy to report it’s everything we expected and a bit more! ![]()
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