Developer: Massive Monster
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified
Rrp: £19.49 (Gog.com, Humble and Steam)
Released: 11th of August 2022
Available on: Gog.com, Humble and Steam
Played Using: Xbox One Control Pad
Approximate game length: 20+ Hours
Your followers bow as you pass, some call you ‘Master’ others ‘Holy One’. The idea of this amuses you as you cook a meal for them, one made from the vegetables you planted, watered and harvested. A meal that once they are done with it, you’ll be the one cleaning up their… droppings. Perhaps they should call you ‘mother’ rather than Master.
Cult of the Lamb is one part roguelite dungeon delver, one part city builder and one part management simulator. You play as a lamb who was killed by four gods to prevent a prophecy from being enacted. However, a fifth god known as ‘The One Who Waits’ brings you back and commands you to release him which just so happens to allow you to avenge your own death. In this game you establish and develop your own cult, keep your followers happy and wage a war against the four gods.
The game is essentially split in to two parts, one of city building and management and another of roguelite dungeon delving, which called ‘Crusading’. There are four dungeons for you to crusade into, each with their own biome and enemies (though some are universal). In turn each of these dungeons is split into four levels with a boss at the end of each one and the god you need to kill at the end of the fourth level. Something else to note is that each level is created of several stages, at the end of each stage you get to choose between a few paths. Upon these paths you can find extra resources, boons or dungeon areas to explore.
Something to note is that time doesn’t stand still while you’re crusading. The cultists back in your camp will continue to work, sleep, eat and die while you single handedly work to take down a pantheon.
Your crusades into the dungeons are also where you will gather the majority of the resources you need for your cults base. Sure, some resources can be found and made by you and your cultists but many of the really vital components can only be found in the dungeons, and even then it depends on which of the four dungeon biomes you choose to decide to crusade into.
Combat in this game is similar to that of Enter the Gungeon in that unlike the Binding of Isaac you can dodge attacks with a dodge roll. Of course, in this game you don’t have any guns, all your weapons are melee in nature, what you do have though are curses. Essentially curses are spells you can cast that will affect the battle, some fire a series of projectiles at the enemy while others will cause no damage but will temporarily freeze the enemies around you. Each time you use a curse it will deplete a resource called ‘fervour’ which is dropped by slain enemies.
You’ll also find relics while crusading, these relics have varied and wide ranging effects but once used need to be recharged by attacking enemies.
Your cults base gets upgraded by unlocking buildings within the tech tree, doing this require you to collect ‘devotion’ from your cultists. Thankfully, your cultists will happily provide this for you when they have no other tasks to be getting on with by worshipping at your shrine. The shrine will only hold a limited amount of devotion though so you’ll need to deplete it regularly.
Your weapons are also upgraded through worship, though in this case its only the worship they give you while performing a sermon. Each time you collect 100 worship from your cultists you can gain access to another tech tree that allows you to upgrade your weapons, curses and what relics you’ll find while on Crusades.
As you play you’ll be given side quests along with your main goal. Any quests give by your cultists have a time limit on them and failing to perform them will cause the cult to lose some faith in you.
You need to keep your cults faith as high as you can, if it gets too low your cultists will start to denounce you influencing more of your flock to rebel before eventually leaving. If that does happen though there are counter measures you can invest in.
Cultists are usually acquired in four ways; One, you found them in the dungeon and after beating the snot out of the enemies you send them back to the camp to be indoctrinated later. Two, when you defeat a level boss they revert from their monstrous form and you can indoctrinate them back at your camp. Three, you bought them, that’s right sometimes they can be purchased you just have to meet the right npc on one of your crusades. Once purchased you can indoctrinate them back at your camp (are you sensing a theme yet?). And lastly, you’ll occasionally be given a quest by one of your cultists that will involve indoctrinating a troublesome follower or an elderly one.
Do not let the cutesy art style trick you, this game is absolutely horrifying (in all the best ways). Indoctrination, sacrifice, body horror, eldritch abominations and so much more. I will admit I wasn’t prepared for the sheer amount of poo this game wants you to deal with. I thought that the various reviewers and pundits that covered this game when it first came out where kidding when they said this game was all about poo. But they weren’t wrong, poo features so much in this game!
This game is well worth playing, and still has more development to go as there is a road map for yet more content to appear.
