Intro:
In an age of abundance in gaming, finding a game that stands out from the rest is truly like finding a needle in a haystack. It’s tiring and can make one jaded if they’re not careful. Cult of the Lamb is a breath of fresh air in the midst of all the chaos and games that are too similar and lack creative individuality. You form your own cult, create meaning for the weak, and find your own purpose along the way.
Cute, Chaotic and Oddly Comforting:
Cult of the Lamb released on August 11th, 2022, and it is by far one of the most underrated games that has come out recently, well, that and Deaths Door. Its interactive, time sensitive, and one of the most relaxing games I’ve played since Animal Crossings: New Horizon. I never thought a game about building a cult and false prophets would be relaxing, but here we are. It’s adorable in an almost sinister way and creates an intrigue that I haven’t seen in a while. Finding cult members across a series of biomes, fighting other cults to assert your lamb-y dominance and crafting to make your hell a home make this game oddly comforting to play.
Thought-out and New:
The formula in Cult of the Lamb makes the game play incredibly fun, rewarding, and just enough of a challenge hooking the player in and creating a soup that balances relaxing game play, an interesting story, crafting systems that hold merit in how the game unfolds and perks that enhance your cult and the progression of both the game play and the story.
Building your cult throughout the game is really fun and immerse to do with all the perks available as you go through the game. Some are, I'll be it strange, but that’s the whole point to make fun of, and poke fun at cults. We all know that cults are not a good thing, so pointing out their real-life manipulation through comedy and well-placed names from historical texts is a breath of fresh air. The concept of creating a game around a cute cult is daring and its exactly what we need in the gaming industry, games that aren’t afraid to go there so players have fun but are also educated. Fran Bow did this a few years ago with how unafraid in its appetites it was, and it was wonderful to see.
Real World inspirations:
The world cult was first used in the 17th century to denote worship. Later, it was more so used to refer to a specific branch of religion. Unlike most games where we know the premise, themes and/or motifs used to drive the concept aren’t real, cults do very much exist and are the cause of a lot of strife and psychological pain and torment. Make no mistake, just because this game looks cute and is full of whimsy and satire, I would not recommend this game for children. It’s still a game about cults, regardless of how it presents itself, there are still topics discussed in the game that need a base understand of cults and their manipulation tactics and what horrors lay await. There are sacrifice, scare tactics, and manipulation through imprisonment. If you don’t agree with how things are done, you are then deemed a dissenter and have to be imprisoned or re-educated of the cult and how they can “help you”.
The reality of cults is a very sinister thing, they turn an individual into a sheep (hence the name Cult of the Lamb). It's also a biblical reference as well, a flock is used in religious terms to describe a group/following in a religious setting. So, yes, this game is fun is relaxing but let us not forget the real-world inspirations and where these ideas come from.
Final thoughts:
This game was a unique experience, and testament to how truly creative and genius minds worked to make a game cute, spooky, fun and relaxing. Cult of the Lamb takes a real-world issue and turns it into a lighthearted caricature for us all to look at and think on.