Cult of the Lamb Review (PS5) - Push Square

Few games make as strong a first impression as Cult of the Lamb.

The art style of Cult of the Lamb is truly striking.

But then the world the lamb inhabits is one full of grotesqueries and eldritch beings, and the game is teeming with pseudo-satanic imagery.

It’s a game that we found ourselves just looking at repeatedly during our time with it.

We mean really just looking at it – poring over the screen at the details, and gleefully watching the woodland creatures of our cult go about their daily lives, performing tasks that are sometimes wholesome and other times abhorrent.

The balance between the charming and the revolting is at the heart of Cult of the Lamb, not just in its aesthetic, but pervasive throughout the story, the gameplay, the systems, and the decisions you have to make.

The game begins with you guiding the lamb to the slaughter.

From this point forward you’ll divide your time between managing the cult and battling your way to the gods that you’ve sworn to slay.

There’s also some minor exploration of the island you’re on, and a couple of minigames you can partake in, but the meat and potatoes of Cult of the Lamb is presented to you succinctly in these opening minutes.

Whether you’re successful in a dungeon or you meet a sticky end, either way you’ll be transported back to the cult afterwards.

If you were killed in battle and then resurrected, then some of your cult members will be disheartened, but otherwise there’s not really any punishment for death.

While you’re on a crusade your cult members will do their best to keep everything ticking over but once you’re back you can take a more hands on approach.

Your cult starts small, and at first you’ll need to mine some stone and chop some trees down to give you the materials to build a handful of crude structures.

You’ll need farmland, toilets, and a place for your cult to worship.

Later, you’ll begin to unlock doctrines and rituals that help you shape your cult, and often you’ll have to make a decision to pick one direction over another.

The management side of the game is simplistic and it runs out of steam towards the end of the game once you’ve built a large cult.

It’s never too taxing, and if any of your cult members get out of hand you can always just have them killed!

Speaking of the cult members, when you begin you might have the temptation to make a follower that looks like a kitty and name it after a beloved pet!

Cult of the Lamb is a game that is much more than the sum of its parts.

Taken on their own neither the combat nor the cult management would be strong enough to carry the title, but together they form a compelling whole that's then further enhanced by the delightful art style and pervasive sinister tone.

A shame the combat starts to get stale towards the end.

I would argue that combat becomes stale after 2 or 3 runs but still finding the game amazing?

those indie games are really good.and this is another must play.im still chilling with the amazing nioh 2 with all the dlcs.word up son.

I don’t mind the combat myself, I think the dodge roll feels satisfying and the progression feels good so far.

That’s usually all I need.

But would the game still work if it weren't a lamb.

Obviously if you're amazing at games then take that into account but for me the default Medium was best

@johncalmc Thanks for the reply, I always play my games on normal/medium as I like a fair challenge but nothing frustrating especially when games seem to get tiresome towards the end and I just want to finish them

There's been occasions where I've turned the difficulty down to easy towards the end of games for that reason or for some games that have had major difficulty spikes, so this game having multiple difficulties has just sold it for me

If it is, I hope there’s a chance in a future update that we get more variety in combat like Hades

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