![]() ‘The followers themselves are all randomised: they have randomised names, they are different randomised animals, and they’ll have randomised traits as well.’ IT’S THE FOLLOWERS YOU MAKE ALONG THE WAYĭespite its fixed overworld and carefully plotted story beats, Armstrong says the game gets its life from an unexpected source: the randomly generated cast of cultists you meet, befriend, brainwash, sacrifice (and sometimes eat!) along the way. This profound colony-sim inspiration means that home in the cult isn’t all sunshine and roses either – it takes a particular skill to manage the unique personalities of this growing band of eclectic enlistees. Rather than citing horror games, or even action games, Armstrong defers religiously (no pun intended) to the classic sci-fi colony-sim Rimworldas his gameplay inspiration. In terms of gameplay, the game’s influences get even more interesting. As a result, the world of Cult of the Lamb is both carefully crafted and luxuriously sprawling, with the story unfolding at a different pace for each player. The game balances a playful storyline with a world that is largely procedurally generated: each trip to the dark depths of the woodlands supplies a new environment full of new spooky enemies, and the cultists you enlist each have unique, generated personalities which affect their behaviour and motives. READ: You should play… Hollow Knight PROTECTING THE FLOCK But it’s fun to play in a space that appeals to that darker side.’ ‘There’s this juxtaposition that’s compelling, right, where you start out really weak, and suddenly through this unexpected help, you become all-powerful,’ Creative Director Julian Wilton muses.ĭirector of Design Jay Armstrong adds, ‘I think like there’s a little bit in all of us that kind of wonders what it would be like to kind of become so powerful, and would we make the right decisions? In the game, you can sort of experiment… I mean, in real life you probably wouldn’t sacrifice animals to the dark gods. But the influences go deeper than that: Wilton cites folk horror as a guiding genre, ranging from American Gothic Cartoon Network series Over The Garden Wall to Ari Aster’s Midsommar.įraming the sacrificial lamb – that classic symbol of innocence – as a dark overlord is a playful genre subversion that recalls the transgressive thrill of The Binding of Isaac. In terms of art style, Cult of the Lamb has clear predecessors: not just Binding of Isaac, but Don’t Starve and even Hollow Knight immediately come to mind. From here, the not-so-innocent lamb rambles through procedurally generated woodlands collecting followers and resources for their flourishing cult, quashing monsters and rival cults as they go. The cell animated trailer reveals that you play as a sacrificial lamb who is saved from death on the altar by a mysterious stranger, and must build a cult for that stranger to repay their debt. ![]() But it’s fun to play in a space that appeals to that darker side. In real life, you probably wouldn’t sacrifice animals to the dark gods. Taking reference from base builders, colony sims, dungeon crawlers, and narrative games, Cult of the Lamb arrives as lighthearted, folk horror title that looks dangerously like the next indie cult hit. Just announced as part of Devolver Digital’s Gamescom showcase, the latest from Melbourne studio Massive Monster is a deliciously dark title that blends and exceeds genres. Cult of the Lamb is already its own beast.
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