That said, some parts perform better than others. The end result is a game greater than the sum of its parts. Just as Massive Monster made its creepy world and winsome production design work together in harmony, the studio succeeds in merging these two disparate gameplay loops. At the same time, you need to fulfil your promise to The One Who Waits by entering the dark dungeons of The Four Bishops, fighting their minions, destroying the charms that protect their temples, and ultimately killing them. As the leader of a new cult, you'll have to indoctrinate your followers, provide for them, and sometimes punish them. It's one part construction and management simulation and one part rogue-like action game. The gameplay in Cult of the Lamb does the exact same thing.
The artistic assets in Massive Monster's latest title aren't the only things that oscillate between two dissimilar parts. Indeed, the art direction in Cult of the Lamb, alternately morbid and cartoonish, makes what could have been a nihilistic nightmare into something much more approachable and fun. While the game features lots of gore, death, and macabre themes, it's softened and subverted by the protagonist - a cute, cuddly lamb - and its legion of followers, made up of adorable animated animals. It helps a lot that the studio leaned into what The Binding of Isaac creator Edmund McMillen calls "cute-gross". This all might sound a bit sinister - and indeed it is - but developer Massive Monster rides a line between twisted and comical, resulting in a game that's never overwhelmingly dark. The One Who Waits strikes a deal with the lamb: the fallen bishop will revive the lamb and bestow upon it his powerful Red Crown, and in return the lamb will create a cult and slay the four bishops in his name. There, in chains, is The One Who Waits, the fifth, exiled Bishop now sealed away from the world. Then, just as the executioner's blade comes into contact with the sacrificial lamb, the anthropomorphic animal appears in another plane. The four Bishops of the Old Faith, and the cultists who worship them, demand a sacrifice after all. But is it among the best?Ĭult of the Lamb begins with a lamb literally being led to slaughter. Without a doubt, it's one of the more original games of 2022. This is certainly true for Cult of the Lamb, which represents an outside-the-box merger of construction and management simulation with rogue-like dungeon-crawling, all wrapped up in a darkly humorous setting, starring a cartoon sheep. The Texas-based publisher has an uncanny knack for locating some truly interesting, unusual games and bringing them to market.
Whatever methodology Devolver Digital is using to choose the games it distributes, it's working. By Evan Norris, posted on 10 September 2022 / 1,684 Views
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