This review contains spoilers

I'm feeling conflicted on this one. The first 75% of Cult of the Lamb is some of the best gaming I've had this year. It has a completely addictive gameplay loop between visiting dungeons for resources and then bringing those back to bolster your base. While doing this, the game unfolds and adds layer to make that loop more and more compelling.

It is unfortunate then, that Cult of the Lamb loses itself in the end game. It could be a playstyle thing, but I had almost everything maxed out in terms of cult progression, combat skills and side stories and was stuck with the crusades.

The crusades aren't bad, but they also aren't anything special. Combat and movement are okay but since the game progress blocks you, you are forced to replay each area at least four times. By the time I was diving into the third and fourth areas, my character was so overpowered that I could mindlessly make my way through with very little risk. Roguelike build variety is also lacking.

Speaking to the game's strengths, its right there in the title, cult. Accruing followers who each have their little quirks and unique look is always a joy. And building up your home base around them is lots of fun. With a good mix of purposeful buildings to work on in the short and long term and tons of decorations to personalize your space. This part of the game greatly succeeds for me but it is worth saying that I feel the progression isn't well balanced. The later levels of the cult are mostly left to upgraded versions of buildings you already have, making those later levels not as exciting as they should be as you aren't seeing anything new at that point.

Similarly, managing followers is enjoyable but flawed. Keeping their meters in the right spots and customizing how your cult operates is engaging. You get attached to certain followers and feel bad when you have to do something nefarious to them either as a punishment or by having to make a tough choice for the good of the pack. Again though, the final boss requires 20 members to enter, and it seems like any number above or even around that was not considered even though it is well possible. After 20 or so, you become maxed out on what they can do, and it only makes it harder to maintain those meters for no gain. You are also limited to 6 specific and random members during sermons, taking away lots of control. And not having a way to quickly view how many members are assigned to what jobs makes it hard to plan the perfect sim.

I wish all of my above positives didn't need to be lathered with a compensatory negative but naturally that will happen when a game overstays its welcome. Simply tweaking the number of mandatory combat encounters could have helped this, alternatively there would need to be many more features added to the cult aspect of the game to give it more depth.

In closing, I love the aesthetics of the game, visually great and the music is sublime. I had my fair share of bugs and frame drops but can't say that hindered the experience much.

A game on the cusp of excellence. I will certainly be following this developer's future work because I'm sure their next project will be even bigger and better.

Reviewed on Aug 27, 2022


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