Popular culture has a keen interest in cults despite - or, perhaps, because of - the traumatic effects they can have. Media about real or fictional cults release often; recent examples include NXIVM docuseries like The Vow, as well as the followers of Ammit led by Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) in Disney+'s Moon Knight. These and other projects examine the dichotomy between a cult's altruistic face and sinister underbelly. Massive Monster's upcoming Cult of the Lamb manages the same through its blend of genres.
Cult of the Lamb was announced during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2021, published by the eclectic Devolver Digital. Stylistically similar to Klei Entertainment's 2013 release Don't Starve, Cult of the Lamb caught the attention of many thanks to its juxtaposition of cute and horrific elements. Creative director Julian Wilton compared their game to series like Happy Tree Friends and Over the Garden Wall in an interview with Game Rant last year, and a 20-minute demo build from PAX East 2022 certainly corroborates this perspective.
The PC demo begins with a chained lamb, the last of its kind, being primed for sacrifice before a tribunal of eldritch entities to prevent the return of "The One Who Waits." However, the tribunal - four "Bishops of the Old Faith" - don't foresee how the lamb's death will bring them before The One Who Waits. This banished demon grants them life, unholy power, and the mission of building a cult to get revenge against the Bishops.
These somber opening moments, with players being walked to their execution, sharply cut into frenetic action - the lamb able to dodge-roll past their captors and strike with a sword formed by the shadowy Red Crown of their god. This is just the first taste of Cult of the Lamb's "roguelike" elements. Players must look for an escape from the small maze of rooms laid out like a dungeon from The Legend of Zelda on NES, a style further popularized by indie games such as The Binding of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon. The tutorial is straightforward, but future ventures into the lands of the Old Faith become more complex with branching paths that confer different resources, new weapon types with their own three-hit combos, and item pickups to boost health or power.
Unlike the aforementioned roguelikes, Cult of the Lamb's close-quarters combat is snappy from the get-go, reliant on rolling in and getting quick flurries off ala Hyper Light Drifter or the warrior build in Mana Spark. The game's charm can be gleaned almost immediately, as its lamb protagonist keeps a sweet smile despite running at cultists with a clear bloodlust. The surroundings in each area are built from layers of decor like a stage play or amusement park dark ride, set to emulate classic horror fare - overgrown forests with red eyes glinting in shadow and the like.
Players rescue another sacrificial animal at the end of the tutorial, bringing them back to a hub area tended by The One Who Waits' former host Ratau; keeping the faith with a makeshift paper crown. Thus begins the "management" half of Cult of the Lamb. New cult members are fully customizable when indoctrinated, have individual traits or fears, and can be set to tasks like mining stone or cutting down trees. Using these resources and more gathered during runs, players can fill the old ruins with structures like campfires to prepare food.
If Cult of the Lamb's combat shows the unhinged side of a cult willing to kill anything that gets in the way of its goals, the management side displays a clear (if simplified) example of how these organizations gather and maintain happy followers. Even if trailers show the lamb sacrificing their cult members, in-between those moments they spend time feeding and caring for everyone, keeping various meters balanced. Players offer them purpose and community where they were once cruelly sacrificed or transformed into monstrous bosses by the four Bishops, who attempt to guard seals that bind The One Who Waits.
Whereas many roguelikes use their hub areas to rest and take stock between the action, Cult of the Lamb fleshes out both halves of its design in ways that harmonize with one another. The PAX East demo ends one run past the tutorial, but the trajectory of the title is clear nonetheless: the lamb goes on missions to recruit more cult members, and over time use them to form a self-sustaining community of harvesters, farmers, and cooks who maintain the faith needed to advance and free The One Who Waits.
In many ways, Cult of the Lamb feels like a greater realization of Square Enix's cult-classic Actraiser - just replace action-platforming with a relatively simple roguelike. Cult of the Lamb's witchy, demonic aesthetic surrounding the kind of anthropomorphic characters one might expect to see in Animal Crossing helps elevate the concept, but where Massive Monster may find particular success is its commitment to customization. Each players' camp will look different, following in the footsteps of structure-building in games like Don't Starve or Stardew Valley, and they can personalize every member of their community.
Ultimately, the 20-minute demo timer is both a blessing and a curse. It offers enough to get players intrigued by Cult of the Lamb's dichotomous genres, but not a solid grasp on how deep its mechanics will go in the final release - only vaguely seen in trailers. The charming presentation will certainly be enough to draw people in, but whether they stay for the long haul remains to be seen. That said, with promises across the rest of its marketing, it's easy to see how the game could develop a cult following upon release.
Cult of the Lamb is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, planned to release in 2022. Game Rant was provided a demo for this preview.