Quickly shooting to the top of the charts after its release, Cult of the Lamb is a rogue-like game developed by Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital. 

In the game, you play as a lamb chosen by “The One Who Waits.” After being saved from certain doom, your character sets out to honor their deity by expanding their following. The game has some aspects of a village management game as well. 

The village management aspect features mechanics for you to maintain your following’s health and loyalty. Making food and cleaning up messes around the village will help maintain the village’s health, and you maintain “loyalty” by preaching sermons and providing from your cult. 

You expand your following by searching through the Lands of the Old Faith and saving animals from sacrifice. This is where the game’s rogue-like elements come into play. Exploring dungeons and slaying heretics is a core mechanic of progression in the game.

While you are in the Lands of the Old Faith, your cult’s food, cleanliness and loyal will slowly decrease; thus, you need to return to your village to ensure you do not lose followers. By taking care of your village and increasing loyalty, you unlock credits to use on upgrades that help you and your village.

The game was released on August 11, 2022, and upon release, the game did have a few bugs. Hits occasionally didn’t register or registered at strange times. Freezing in place and lag were also reported, especially for console players. However, the game developers responded to the audience’s complaints and quickly patched a majority of the game breaking bugs out of the game. 

Even with some minor problems, the game still has many strengths. The art stands with a unique and appealing style. The mix of 2D characters in a 3D world creates a very unique art style that evokes games like Don’t Starve. The stark color pallet also helps to create a lot of interesting atmospheres. 

The charming art-style, intriguing story and engaging gameplay make for a lovely experience.

Cult of the Lamb is $29.99 on Steam, earning a 9/10 rating and around 21 thousand reviews. The game takes, on average, 13 hours to play through, or around 21 if you focus on full completion. 

The game’s rogue-like sections share aspects with the game The Binding of Issac, and its village-building side is similar to a mix of Animal Crossing, Oxygen Not Included and Stardew Valley. So if you enjoy either of those games, I recommend giving Cult of the Lamb a try.