Want to hear more from the actors and creators of your favorite shows and films? Subscribe to The Cinema Spot on YouTube for all of our upcoming interviews!
Sarah here, teaching English around the world. Living life and seeing things.
Are you a fan of adorably creepy animation? Do you sometimes wonder what would have happened if H.P. Lovecraft had made Animal Crossing? Do you feel the need to be a God and have a group of followers who would literally die for you? Then look no further, because all of that, and more, can be found in Cult of the Lamb, the latest release from Massive Monster and Devolver Digital.
The Chosen One
You see that adorable little lamb there? Well, that’s you. Your mission? Kill The Bishops of the Old Faith and free The One Who Waits Below. Sounds simple, right? Well, that’s not your only job in the game. The One Who Waits also needs a cult, and this is how you develop your character and grow.
Let’s start with your crusades. There are 4 worlds you need to enter. Each one is a rogue-like style with a different theme. Every time you enter one of the worlds, the layout, weapons, and enemies are randomly generated, so you never get the same path twice. This means that if your crusade is unsuccessful the experience will be different when you head back, so it makes for more interesting gameplay. You never fully know what you’ll come up against at every stage.
The fighting style is fun and simple, and the monsters vary and keep with the creepy aesthetic of the game. For people like me who hate creepy crawlies, the spiders will probably be the worst. As expected, each world gets more and more difficult and once you’ve defeated the Bishop of each level, you can go back and fight stronger monsters for better rewards. This will come in handy later as you build your cult.
When it comes to the action, you’ll only use 3 buttons; doge, attack, and crown curse. Depending on which crown curse you’re given, this one might not be used as often as the others. But this simplicity has its pros and cons. It’s a simple way to fight and get through the rooms, but it can be frustrating at times. Especially with higher-level monsters. However, the simplicity feels so natural and in keeping with the game’s style that if they added anything else – like special attacks or a weapon’s bank- I feel like it would ruin the feel of the game.
Keep the Faith
When you’re not out on a crusade, you’ll be back in your very own cult. The aim of this part of the game is to build loyalty and keep devotion flowing. Keep your followers happy and fed so that they work harder and are completely loyal to you. The more faith they have in you, the better it is for The One Who Waits, who ultimately is the one who gives you power.
Again, this might sound simple, but it requires a lot more work than you might initially think. In the beginning, it is your job to do almost everything; cooking, cleaning, gathering resources and keeping people happy. As you grow your cult and create more within the space, the followers will eventually take on a couple of jobs. But you can’t leave them for too long, or things start to go bad.
One of the most difficult parts of the game is balancing the time to complete the main quest and maintain your cult. Leave for too long, and your older members might die and you’ll come back to rotting bodies everywhere. Let the faith level fall too much and some members might start to dissent. If you don’t feed them well enough, then they start to starve. If you leave on a particularly long crusade, be prepared to do some damage control on your return.
But it’s this part of the game that took up most of my time. I definitely neglected the main storyline for maybe a bit too long so that I could build up my cult, and the possessions we have, and try to keep their loyalty up as much as possible. All I can say is that I’m happy this game didn’t come out during lockdown, or it would have taken over my life completely.
Within the Hollow Crown
An unexpected but very welcome aspect of the cult building is just how customisable it is. Once you’ve collected all of the buildings and decorations through crusading and divine inspiration, you can really make the place quite cosy. In fact, your followers will even ask for more decorations throughout the game. But the most customisable aspect of the cult is the followers themselves. There are a lot of different character forms, colours and special patterns to choose from. You can have a variety of followers, or you can make everyone look the same, there are so many possibilities!
Your scope of how to lead your cult is also varied. When it comes to setting doctrines, you’re given a choice of what to impose. This means that each person might lead a very different type of cult that gains and loses loyalty points for different things. Want to be a benevolent leader? Then don’t worry, you can make sure you’re respected, loved, and lift people to a higher level of enlightenment. Have no time for that? Then deal with your dissenters by sending them to prison for re-education, or just sacrifice them. Either way, you can make it so that your cult will love you for whatever you chose to do.
A Glorious Leader
Along with the main quest and growing your cult, there are plenty of side quests and a couple of mini-games to keep you busy. While the follower quests can get a little repetitive, they help to grow their loyalty to you. If you fancy a break from being the chosen one, then settle down to a game of knucklebones, a game of luck and skill that will have you hooked and spending all of your money. Or maybe even go fishing for a little while so you can make some tasty meals for your flock.
My main issue with the game will hopefully be solved fairly soon. As you get further into the game, there seem to be a lot of bugs. From decorations that can’t be moved (or removed) to monsters that get trapped outside of the fighting area so you can’t progress, there are a few little things that need to be worked out. However, this is something that can be easily fixed with an update, and hopefully, this will come soon. With a game from an independent company, these things can be expected, and it doesn’t take away too much from the actual gameplay itself. So while it’s inconvenient and a little frustrating at times, it’s not something that would stop me from playing.
All Hail the Lamb!
Overall, this is a fantastic game that will take up a lot of your time. While it can sometimes feel like two separate games with different objectives, they each provide a nice break from the other. The animation is brilliant, adorable, and just creepy enough, and the gameplay is generally really fun. The Lovecraftian element that brings it all together really makes for a unique game that I will definitely come back to a lot in the future.
Cult of the Lamb is available to buy on all platforms now.
Sarah here, teaching English around the world. Living life and seeing things.
7 Comments on “‘Cult of the Lamb’ Game Review: Become a God – but Make it Cute!”