We tried the demo of Cult of the Lamb, Massive Monster and Devolver’s weird roguelike game.

About a year after the first announcement, Lamb Cult It’s almost ready for launch, scheduled for release on August 11, 2022. One of the flagship games of this summer for Devolver Digital, a label that accustoms us to original and quality games. The last Steam Next Fest attempt gave us a go. try a demo The fact that Ash of the Lamb is short but meaningful gives us a little better feel for this weird roguelike action RPG with “management” elements.

In recent years, we’ve seen how experimentation in the indie gaming space has alluded to the mixing of seemingly distant genres and features in a new mix of games, often unreleased. This Gigantic Beast title is exactly part of that trend, and more specifically, it takes the foundations of roguelike action RPGs and adds incongruous elements to create something new.

It is a concept that has almost become a standard in the making of indie games, but here it must be said that it is realized in a very peculiar way, thanks to a unique style and a juxtaposition between games. roguelike and managementOn the one hand, we find ourselves slaughtering enemies, and on the other, building and maintaining a true cult, taking into account the various aspects of the management of a group of creatures.

Condemnation and penance

There History He immediately gets off to a strong start by staging the dramatic moments of the lead lamb’s death sentence; This is a necessary event to prevent a mysterious prophecy from coming true and upsetting the established order. We are faced with the gallows, in the presence of strange creatures resembling high priests, and we will have to deal with it later, as they are the main bosses we will face. But when he is about to die, he is summoned by a powerful lamb/demon in chains that “Waits” the hero, or who gives the little hero a crown with mystical powers and entrusts him with the task. start a new cult and cleanly sweep away the “heresy” that abounds in the world. The little lamb then comes back to life, armed and armed with deadly power, to wreak havoc on the enemies and follow the orders of the mysterious creature that saved him from death. It is reasonable to expect some twists and turns about the true nature of the cult we find ourselves to build and evolve from then on.

Cult of the Lamb, on the other hand, does absolutely nothing to hide the ambiguous nature of the hero’s powers and his downright questionable morality. wild evil It’s a core element of the entire game, in contrast to the obvious nautical, irreverent humor of the lead and other characters that make up a good portion of it. So we find ourselves exploring various environments and attempting to eliminate the enemies of our new Lord, while simultaneously giving birth to the cult of the lamb and successfully, in a bizarre mix of hack and slash style action with an element of roguelike and management. , considering the need. to build and control our loyal flock.

Action hack and slash and roguelike

The common feature of the Cult of the Lamb seems to be the contrast between opposing elements, because besides the aesthetic based on Satanism and cuteness, gameplay based on contradictory features. The basic action takes place within various kingdoms to explore, where we move between screens in search of the boss, follow paths through different stages that the player can choose from, and eliminate all enemies that encounter on the screen. The game mechanics are somewhat reminiscent of The Binding of Isaac and a little bit Hades, looking for a kind of mediation between the success elements that arise in this genre: we have a standard attack, special skills and a dodge. Complete the game with one life and several hearts: The level of the trial is remarkable as far as we could try (the demo only includes the first kingdom).

Here too, as in other titles of this genre, we can meet friendly traders and characters who can provide us with. upgrades and new weapons with the ability to choose from a variety of options that require bonuses and penalties based on your playstyle and preferences.

In the first part, we met a kind of fortune teller who gifted us a card of your choice based on some tarot cards that can change the hero’s stats, and dealers that allow you to change the main weapon. others with different characteristics. this battle system It’s fast and dynamic, with a fairly low amount of throwable smash that always keeps the tension high, but the relative simplicity and intuitiveness that characterizes it allows us to quickly immerse ourselves in the core mechanics of the game and easily loop through it.

cult management software

Other mechanics that make up the character of Cult of the Lamb game apart from fighting, construction and management in a game section of the cult that is somewhat detached from the standard hack and slash cycle, but with constant references between one reality and another. At the end of the entry level, the mysterious helper who assists us from the early stages of our new role as the herald of the One Who Waits takes us through a portal to a relatively quiet space where we can lay the groundwork for worship. : Even if it’s possible to see only a small part of them in the demo, it’s a matter of a limited but fairly large playing field that is gradually filled with builds and actions to be made. During the exploration of the “dungeons”, it is possible to encounter some NPCs, sacrificial victims designated by the “heretics”, or other worshipers in distress, which depends on our liberation, but to subdue them in turn within the cult or in the aforementioned reserved area where they were sent.

In the area used for worship, we can assign a variety of worship-related tasks to the disciples. fundraising: The assembly needs the pieces and the board to get started, and we can dedicate matters to this task or handle it ourselves, because sustenance remains a constant element of the game. The aim is to build new structures to gradually increase the group of masters and make the cult richer and more prosperous, while ensuring that subordinates remain healthy by providing food through the collection and cooking of ingredients. This way, elements of survival are mixed with group management and more action phases, creating a really rich and interesting mix.

Demons and little animals

this graphic style This is certainly one of Cult of the Lamb’s strengths, and the contrast between bleak and witty culminates: delicate little animals then become protagonists of shocking brutality in an absolutely hallmark riot of blood and cuteness. The special mix of 3D and 2D elements is masterfully mastered by Massive Monster, who manages to give everything a highly refined look without having to manage an impressive amount of graphics. The characterization manages to give the game a remarkable identity in this way, combining the disturbing quality of “evil” and esoteric elements such as tarot cards and various demons with the funny characters we are constantly dealing with. Given that the early stages seen in the demo mainly focus on a single theme such as scenarios and color choices, and the musical accompaniment seems a bit repetitive, at least for the time being, we expect to see a potential variety of settings. .