Cult of the Lamb hands-on: Animal Crossing meets the dark arts

Enlarge / You know the sweet old nursery rhyme: Mary had a little lamb, but then it was resurrected by the devil and forced to create a murderous cult. (credit: Devolver / Massive Monster)

When I first played Cult of the Lamb, launching August 11 on PC and all major console families, I imagined that its demonic tone originated as an internal joke for its development team. Perhaps the creators at Massive Monster sat around looking at the sim-management likes of Animal Crossing and The Sims, then thought that the only way they'd surpass those games is by striking a deal with the devil.

Then they went ahead and made a sim game where players do exactly that. After 90 minutes spent playing the game's expanded demo, provided by its publishers at Devolver Digital, I'm inclined to think its choices about tone, art direction, and sim-meets-Satan gameplay were the right call. (There's currently a free public demo as well, available on Windows and MacOS, but it's much shorter than what I've sampled.)

The One Who Waits

Seems like a trustworthy entity. Let's make a deal for our soul. (credit: Devolver)

Cult of the Lamb begins with the game's hero, a Disney-like cartoon lamb, being led to its slaughter as a form of religious sacrifice. But death is only the beginning in this game. In the afterlife, you meet a mysterious underground beast wrapped in chains, simply named The One Who Waits. You're given the option to rise from your grave, grow a cult full of devout followers, expand your mastery of the demonic arts, and defeat a series of monstrous rivals. You can answer this call in one of two responses: "yes" and "absolutely."

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