Cult of the Lamb | Switch Review

​Almost everyone who plays video games has at least one genre that just hearing its name will turn them off of a game immediately. Whether it be they have given it the old college try and it was not for them, or they get turned off by the idea of something and have never given it a chance. For myself, it is the latter when it comes to the roguelike/rogue-lite genre. As someone who has little time to play games, the idea of having to restart an entire area after making so much progress felt like a waste of time, even if each area is procedurally-generated and feels different. Having said that, when I saw the cute, yet devilish, art style of Cult of the Lamb from developer Massive Monster, I finally had to give the rogue-lite genre a chance. And while it was not exactly what I expected, it surely was a game I enjoyed and has made me a believer in the rogue-lite genre.

A Devilish Juxtaposition

Cult of the Lamb does not try to be a narrative-driven game, providing only a straightforward storyline of killing the four Bishops to free The One Who Waits. While I am someone who enjoys a great story, I appreciated that this game did not take itself seriously, taking a humorous tone surrounded by a dark theme. Sometimes, the humor is more subtle. The overall premise of the game has a dark sense of humor, with adorable, chibi-style critters partaking in a demonic, evil cult. And I do not know what it says about me, but something is satisfying about sacrificing one of your cute little followers. Other times, the humor can be over the top and immature, in a good way. Part of taking care of your followers is cleaning up their poop, which you can use to fertilize plants, or you can feed them a piping bowl of poop. This blend of humor almost feels like it was made for me.

While the story is not complex, there is a surprising amount of activities and mini-games outside of your cult and the combat area. In the beginning, you meet Ratau, who was the former cult leader. He initially guides you, but then travels to his isolated shack where you can play dice with him and earn coins from winning. There is also a walking fish named The Fisherman, who teaches you how to fish (messed up, right?), which can be gathered as food for your followers. There are a couple of other areas available to complete side quests, which adds another layer to the game as well as a valuable use of time.

The Old Faith

​Your time in Cult of the Lamb is spent managing your cult and fighting your way through the Old Faith. The Old Faith consists of four main dungeons, each housing one of the four Bishops, and are unlocked after obtaining a certain number of followers. This is where you will also gather resources and followers as you traverse through these dangerous areas, fighting a multitude of Old Faith cultists and a diverse array of monsters. To fight the Bishop for the corresponding region, you will have to make multiple runs through that region, at which point, a door unlocks the final boss arena. Fortunately, each run is on average around ten minutes and is procedurally generated, mixing up the enemy distribution, as well as changing up the different pathways that you can take. Each pathway will have different symbols that represent what the major reward is for each section in the region, such as a sword representing new weapon options, or a person symbolizing the potential to rescue a potential follower. These branching pathways and different enemy distributions make each run feel fresh and allow you to gather specific resources you need for your cult.

Why Does That Lamb Have a Sword?

​Combat follows simple hack-and-slash mechanics, with only three buttons necessary for combat: a melee attack, AOE/range attack, and dodge/roll. You begin each run with a melee and AOE/range weapon that is randomly generated. Melee weapons vary in both attack strength and speed, which encourages you to learn the different patterns and speeds of enemies to successfully traverse with different weapon types. Combat also varies depending on Tarot cards that you obtain either from a triangle-shaped character named Clauneck, as well as Tarot cards dropped in the environment. These Tarot cards can either give different abilities in combat, increase attack speed/strength, or can improve health.

As someone who likes a slight challenge, but usually does not want to bang his head against the wall, I chose the normal difficulty, which is the second easiest out of four options. Early in the game, it felt as if I should have increased the difficulty level, as I was not presented with much of a challenge through the first two dungeons. But the third dungeon posed a better challenge, with more abundant and tougher enemies, as well as environmental obstacles to combat. This was a welcomed progression of challenge, and even though the combat was simple, I honestly wish more time would have been spent in The Old Faith.

The Lamb Becomes The Shepherd

​To my surprise, the majority of your time playing Cult of the Lamb is not dungeon-crawling, but instead performing resource management for your cult. You need to build structures that will increase the faith and devotion of followers to the cult, while also taking care of these followers. Devotion is used as a currency to level up two different skill trees, which are necessary to increase weapon strength for The Old Faith, as well as the ability to build and upgrade new structures in your cult.

Similar to combat, managing your cult starts very simple, with just one follower at the beginning. As your cult grows, this becomes more complex, as these followers can grow hungry if not fed, become sick by food or by not maintaining the cult area, or followers can dissent if their faith is too low. This can become very overwhelming, especially after getting more than a few followers. I found myself spending the majority of time at the cult making sure everyone was fed, the cult was clean, and the followers were happy. This made it difficult to leave, battle in The Old Faith, and gather the necessary resources to build these structures required. I often found myself after taking care of everything that it was almost nighttime. At that point, it made more sense to go to a side area and come back when the next day started, which is about one to two minutes. This was frustrating and was a steep learning curve that took some time to get used to.

Eventually, I was able to hit my stride with managing my cult as I discovered the importance of rituals. Rituals are unlocked by increasing follower loyalty, which levels up an individual follower and gives you a commandment stone, with three needed to unlock a new ritual. Most of these rituals allowed me to travel into The Old Faith without having to worry about my cult losing faith, which was the ultimate deterrence for me leaving the cult. Even though I found my frustrations with resource management and preferred to be in The Old Faith killing creatures, this game rewards you for being patient and learning how to manage your cult, giving you better combat abilities and easier ways to take care of your cult.

Cult of the Lamb Final Verdict

​Massive Monster’s Cult of the Lamb provides a simplistic story with great artwork and a twisted concept. The combat felt fresh each time I went through the dungeons, and although the game did not pose a challenge early on, the difficulty did appropriately progress. Resource management is complex and can be frustrating, but once you hit your stride, it is engaging and enjoyable. While not something I will jump back into unless there is DLC, I thoroughly enjoyed this game and would certainly recommend it. Cult of the Lamb might be my first rogue-lite, but it sure will not be my last.

To hear me talk more about Cult of the Lamb, be sure to listen to Episode 413 of The Gaming Outsider Podcast.

This review is based on a purchased copy of Cult of the Lamb on Nintendo Switch. It is also available on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.