Cult of the Lamb is sort of like Animal Crossing, but with cults

Massive Monster’s Cult of the Lamb isn’t exactly the next Animal CrossingNew Horizons, but the comparisons aren’t unfounded. If you’d like, New HorizonsWill you please? Cult of the Lamb? You might be right. Let me explain.

Cult of the LambDevolver Digital’s action-adventure adventure roguelike, titled “Devolver Digital: Published Aug. 11” Simulator for town and farm management. The town development part is where the Animal Crossing comparisons are coming from — the game is like New HorizonsOr Animal Crossing, but you’re building a cult instead of a town. It’s got farming, cooking, and decorations — like cozy pathways and shrines. You’ve got to build relationships and community within your cult; if your followers don’t believe in you, they’ll dissent, taking money with them. You must provide food and shelter for your followers. (So There is a lot of poop. Pick berries and fish for your seafood. Then you plant seeds in the garden. For wood you harvest the trees, and then use them to make planks for more intricate structures or decorations.

Animal Crossing and Animal Crossing are two different things. Stardew ValleyFear is not a virtue. Say a follower wants to leave the cult; they won’t simply move out. It is possible to either sacrifice or force them to learn. Also, Cult of the Lamb followers do eventually die of old age — though they might meet a worse end first, depending on whether or not you elect to go the cannibalism route.

It’s dark, but the environment is still cute — think Cozy Grove. Cute and haunted.

Second part is the Roguelike. This is where you draw. Hades Comparisons across the Internet The first time I heard about Cult of the LambI though this would be the central theme of the game. And it is, but it absolutely shares importance with the resource gathering and management elements — you really do need to manage your cult and spend time building it out, otherwise your exploits on your crusades will go to waste. Whatever you’ve built can and will fail, if you don’t tend to it.

Roguelike components of Cult of the Lamb aren’t as tight or complex as a game like HadesIt is not difficult, but it can be fun. Dungeons are built into randomly generated stages, and dying there isn’t awful — followers might lose faith, but you don’t necessarily lose much progress. For Polygon, reviewer Kazuma Hashimoto put it nicely:

The dungeons consist of several stages which players must clear in order to get valuable resources. You will find unique NPCs on each stage. Some of them offer temporary talents and tarot card cards which can give you temporary powers. Other NPCs can give you more powerful weapons or materials (including food) that will help you cultivate your community. You can die and be reborn at The One Who Waits’ will, but only if you have lost any resources. It’s stock and standard, and doesn’t deviate much from the already established roguelike formula.

If you’re worried about whether you like roguelike games, do know that there is a difficulty scale in Cult of the Lamb — you can make the game’s combat easier or harder. But you’re also welcome to spend more time managing your cult and building your power, which will provide more powerful weapons on your dungeon runs, too.

The bottom line is: Do you wish Animal Crossing was a little more sweet? A little darker? Are you even considering sacrificing your villager friend? (On the other side, how would it feel to watch a friend die?) That’ll definitely happen in Cult of the Lamb, so prepare your body pits.) What would you do if your island was plagued? If you’ve answered yes to these questions, then yeah. I think you’ll like Cult of the Lamb.

After all, the game isn’t all evil. There are many ways to get involved. Can pet your dog followers after they’ve had a long day of worshiping you at your shrine or enacting a doctrine on cannibalism.