Cult of the Lamb, the roguelite adventure game Kotaku’s very own Ari Notis called “dizzyingly original” in his review, is developing its followers’ unwavering faith. But I haven’t yet played the game, released on August 11, and so, like an unshorn California girl in the ‘60s, I need someone to show me the light. What better place to find it than on Steam?
Hm. The sun, its reflection on ocean waves, and the battery-powered lights inside this Polly Pocket party bus from 2004 are perhaps all more pure sources of metaphorical and physical light than Steam. They are also, undoubtedly, better sites of salvation than most websites for gamers (said respectfully as someone with an active Reddit account).
But Polly Pocket can’t tell me everything I need to know about Cult of the Lamb, like how the game’s dazzlingly colourful play combines building sim elements, role-playing elements, and a randomly generated world for a story centered around becoming a popular and powerful lamb god. Polly Pocket does not have a brain.
Cult of the Lamb, excitingly, is appealing to both Hades and Animal Crossing fans. Like Hades, the game uses repetition to build and expand its universe, which is filled with snuggly bug-eyed creatures like Animal Crossing. The titular lamb, possessed albeit still cute, is just like a TikTok content creator, except it might incorrectly be seen as more worthy of worship due to it not having thumbs to commit tax fraud with. The lamb is still a selfish manipulator, though, and the game devilishly prompts its players to wonder if being an empty-headed husk with a flock is more fun than their morals would like it to be.
My Kotaku coworkers gave Cult of the Lamb two cloven hooves up, and on Steam, the majority of the, as of writing, 18,342 reviews are enthusiastically down with the cause. So look around, sheeple, this is what you’re meant for.
A lot of the positive reviews are about poop, which is an important part of any growing cult member’s healthy diet.
There are some non-believers. Primarily, players are frustrated with the game’s bugs (which the developers seem to be actively working on).
Some faith just needs to be blind.
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