Who knew joining a cult could be so much fun? Or so cute? In Cult of the Lamb, play as an adorable woodland creature who gets sacrificed to appease the eldritch gods. But one eldritch being has other plans, resurrecting said sacrificial lamb to found a cult in their honor. Part roguelike and part building sim, the game has players adventuring into the Lands of the Old Faith to recruit followers. Who are these potential followers? Why, other woodland creatures of course!
At PAX East in Boston, publisher Devolver Digital is showing off a 20 minute demo of the game by developer Massive Monster. It begins with the aforementioned slaughtering of our lamb friend and their resurrection. Early on, our lamb meets Ratau, a rat, who encourages players to venture into the Lands of the Old Faith. The gameplay there consists of hack and slash, and in my playthrough I unlocked a couple of weapons with various abilities. For example, I traded my sword for a vampiric axe that offered a chance to drain health from enemies.
During this play through I rescued an adorable bunny rabbit, who I subsequently indoctrinated in my cult. I brought this little feller back to base where I had them cut trees while I mined rock to build a stove. This way, I could gather ingredients and cook food for my followers. Ratau pointed out a hunger gauge back at base, denoting the satisfaction of my cultish community.
On another run into the Lands of the Old Faith, the game spawned a completely different layout and a different critter to save, this time a fox. Various other characters can appear in this area, such as a fortune teller named Clauneck who let me draw cards to determine new attributes.
This demo for Cult of the Lamb has proven quite popular, so check it out early if you’re PAX East this weekend. I’m not always a fan of roguelikes or building sims, but weirdly the combination of these genres made them more palatable to me. Or perhaps I’ve just gotten indoctrinated into the cult of The Cult of the Lamb.
The game will arrive on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S later this year. If you plan on playing on Steam, you can wishlist it here.
