Cult of the Lamb might star an adorable and fluffy little protagonist, but this game – from developer Massive Monster and publisher Devolver Digital – is nothing short of a devilish wolf in sheep’s clothing. Operating as a delightfully demented mix of genres and ideas, Cult of the Lamb puts you in the hooves of a recently resurrected farm critter tasked with slaying the old gods responsible for its original demise.

That’s easier said than done, of course, because the best way to fight an army of religious zealots is with a fanatical mob of your own. That means that you’ll have to assemble your own flock from scratch, rescuing and converting potential followers into an organisation that you can use as a living resource to make yourself stronger as you tackle the dungeons that each deity resides inside.

One part of the game then involves micro-management, tending to the needs of your cultists, and building a homestead that can rival even the most opulent of church compounds. On the flipside, Cult of the Lamb also throws you into various dungeons so that you can embark on a new crusade, gathering resources and slaying anything opposed to your group with brutal and religious ferocity.

It’s a testament then to the game’s design when you see just how well these two gameplay aspects flow into each other – each one adding an element of fun that feeds into the other. The action-packed crusades that you’ll embark on may make heavy use of roguelite dungeon-crawling ideas, but they’re distilled into a package that nails the core themes of that genre and uses them to create a compact and robust layer of satisfying action.

The influence of games such as Dead Cells, Hades, and Hollow Knight is easily felt here, but rather than relying on a cheat sheet of surface-level imitation, Cult of the Lamb cherry-picks the ideas that make the genre fun. You’ll still need to be nimble and quick with the dodge-roll button whenever you enter a new arena swarming with monsters, but your fluffy cult leader is able to deliver damnation from the edge of a sword, or unleash cursed tentacles on anything that stands in their way.

It is annoying, though, that you only have one choice of melee weapon and ranged curse attack when you start a dungeon, as some weapons are woefully unbalanced against particular foes, and finding a replacement is entirely random. A regular sword is a great equalizer for all manner of enemies, but a slow-hitting hammer is a terrible option when dealing with agile monsters. Poor rolls can derail any run, and more choice before the start of each expedition is something that the game is sorely in need of.

Fortunately, a constant stream of upgrades and tarot cards can help even the playing field. Find an elderly fortune-teller inside of each run and you’ll soon be hitting harder, faster, and with vampiric power if you play your cards right. While these power-ups mostly focus on increasing your overall stats, they make a tangible difference, especially when paired with rare cards that you’ll unlock throughout your journey. When faced with boss fights that feature Eldritch monstrosities beyond mortal comprehension, having some magical backup along these lines makes for a thrilling advantage.

Dungeons don’t just have chunky action that you can really feel as you swing a sledgehammer around. They also have a design that makes each run perfectly digestible while you fight your way to the final boss of that area. With each dungeon taking under 10 minutes to complete, Cult of the Lamb ensures each run is an enjoyable and repeatable exercise in righteous retaliation and resource-gathering.

When you’re not harvesting the bones of your enemies or choosing tarot cards that can augment your latest crusade into sacrilegious swamps, there’s your cult that’ll you need to tend to. This side of Cult of the Lamb is surprisingly deep and thoughtful, one that helps you go from a lunatic fringe mob to a tax-exempt religion as you grow in power. Starting with a small number of acolytes who sleep in the dirt and then eat it for breakfast, you’ll use your followers as a living resource that generates spiritual devotion energy, a steady flow of tithes, and a handy sacrifice when the need arises.

This part of Cult of the Lamb is where the game goes all in on its dark, offbeat themes, as steady progress unlocks new rituals that you can use to increase your faith, powerful doctrines to help convert your followers into a mindless flock, and fuel for the dogmatic fire. You’ll need to be a loving and caring leader at first by maintaining your grounds, building structures to improve the lives of your converts, and re-educating them when their faith grows weak. However, in time you’ll be seen as a savior of the people… and that’s when the real fun begins.

Once you’ve got enough influence and true believers, Cult of the Lamb opens up its playbook to reveal even more devious tactics that you can use in your grand quest, allowing you to become completely unhinged and immune to consequences. That is, if you have enough cunning and cruelty in you to do so. More followers might mean more responsibility, but once you’ve done the investment legwork, unlocked several tiers on your tech tree, and have successfully turned your church into a source of free labour, you’ll have a headquarters that can help you overthrow even the mightiest of demons and ancient gods. 

What makes all these ideas in Cult of the Lamb shine, is how the game’s art design injects a healthy amount of goofiness into the mix to balance out the darkness and depravity. The visuals are deceptively wholesome at first, throwing cartoonish graphics your way alongside the pure nightmare fuel that is the game’s dystopian lands and monsters (which look like they were pulled from a David Cronenberg movie). But that disarming and cute direction works wonders, adding a layer of hand-drawn charm to even the most sinister of tasks that you undertake. Combined with a soundtrack that can be best described as chill lo-fi beats mixed with spooky undertones, Cult of the Lamb will grab your attention from the start without having to preach down to you.

My first playthrough of Cult of the Lamb took me around 14 hours, leaving some great side content behind to finish up later. There are plenty of extra side-quests to embark on, activities such as fishing and friendly gambling to master, and more challenging runs through completed dungeons once the end credits have rolled. For the completionists out there, secrets and mysteries lurking inside of these perilous zones add another reason to tangle with the divine and the demonic.

Even though the experience does feel more linear than you’re used to within the roguelikes, there’s no doubt that Cult of the Lamb will feel immensely satisfying when you cross the finish line of the faithful.

Cult of the Lamb is out now for PC, Xbox and PlayStation consoles, and Nintendo Switch.


Cult of the Lamb review

An adorable mix of smooth action and deep base-building, Cult of the Lamb combines these features into a smooth experience that feels rapturous to behold.

 9
Cult of the Lamb was reviewed on PC