![]() We got very used to cutting ideas that didn’t achieve that goal, and “listening” to what the game wanted to be. But figuring out how to make those game mechanics took a lot of iteration and experimentation. The game had to feel like you were leading a cult, which meant we had to have rituals and sermons. Once we had that, everything for the next three years was about making sure we kept hitting the “promise” the game’s theme created. It took around nine months of experimenting with different themes before we finally landed on the idea of the cult. We needed a player fantasy we could explain easily and that people would immediately understand. We knew we had to figure out a way to market the game in one sentence. At this point we still hadn’t come up with the cult theme. When I took it to Jimp and Julian, they loved it, but we immediately found that it was a really hard game to pitch when talking to publishers. I was excited about the idea of combining those two genres to create something that would become more than the sum of its parts, so I created a prototype that I planned to show to the other guys at an upcoming PAX. I noticed that games like RimWorld and Enter the Gungeon created so many interesting emergent narratives – stories that spring out of the game’s mechanics – that made it so everyone’s experience with the game was unique. The game actually started with the idea of combining the genres of a roguelike with a colony sim/base builder. I adore it, and that is almost certainly my own opinion unaffected by nefarious influences.What was your source of inspiration for Cult of the Lamb? How did you develop the idea?įunny enough, the cult stuff didn’t come until much later. Don’t be fooled into thinking that this game is anything but great, though. Occasionally, I found myself thinking ‘erm, this really is like a cult’, such as the time that the game gleefully informed me that I can marry as many of my followers as I want. Intentionally or otherwise, it makes the brainwashing and murky morals amusing rather than disturbing. Speaking of which, making all of your followers adorable wickle critters was a smart choice. The atmosphere is great, helped in no small part by art which immediately endears itself to you. Still, Cult of the Lamb is clever, it’s wonderfully designed, and the script is sharp and funny. Nothing wrong with that, but it would be nice to have the option of leaning more heavily into one side or the other if you felt like it. It’s not difficult to avoid a situation where your cult turns against you and you suddenly struggle to harvest Devotion, but in order to keep on top of things, you need to keep a good balance between settlement upkeep and dungeon adventuring. That, in turn, means that your cult’s loyalty will begin to wane, which demands a lot of work to reverse if left unattended. That means cultists are slowly getting hungry, pooping somewhere or other, and possibly becoming ill or even dying. Whether you’re at your settlement, in one of the other locations you slowly discover, or in the middle of an adventure in a dungeon, time is slowly passing. There’s a gentle yet constant pressure to the game, in the form of the day/night cycle. There’s one enemy that you can never quite defeat. Although, how long you play won’t necessarily be your choice. You can keep going for as long as you dare, running the risk of losing a portion of what you’ve collected if you die. With the story done, the dungeons truly open up, no longer coming to a close when you hit what was previously the boss room. Yet there is even more to Cult of the Lamb. It’s a small world, but it’s also one that practically begs you to explore every corner of it. There’s a dice game (Knucklebones) and very basic fishing to distract you. There are other (similarly small) locations to be unlocked that offer side quests, resources, and things to buy. Your cult base isn’t the only non-combat place to explore. That more than makes up for the cannibalism thing, right? For example, I wanted to make sure that my followers respected the elderly, resulting in a faith boost whenever I had a member reach a certain age. While this is a binary either/or choice each time, it’s still an enjoyable way to decide how reasonable or evil you want to be while gaining a new perk in the process. Part of the progression system involves developing your cult’s doctrine. ![]() Cult of the Lamb is clever, it’s wonderfully designed, and the script is sharp and funny.
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