Cult of the Lamb review – grow your own cult in darkly cute game

PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch; Massive Monster/Devolver Digital
This eerie triumph is both a dungeon crawl in pursuit of heretic bishops and a society-builder where you build a legion of worshippers

In the first few moments of runaway summer hit Cult of the Lamb, the protagonist is sacrificed and summoned back to life as an emissary of an imprisoned elder-god. Your job, as this titular lamb, is clear: gather devotees to worship the eldritch being, and murder the four heretic bishops who oppose him. It's no small ask for a tiny sheep who has already been slaughtered. But the tables turn quickly in your favour, and soon you are the one wielding the blade and performing the rituals.

Cult of the Lamb is a game of two distinct parts that operate in sync. One half is a dungeon crawler. You, the Lamb, move through each of the bishop's winding realms towards its leader, whom you need to defeat to free your own god from his chains. Your weapons are chosen for you at the start of each run, and your power-ups are determined by equally randomly selected tarot cards that you can uncover on your way. This surrender of choice means no two runs are ever the same, hearkening back to the structure of 2018's critical darling Hades, and 2020's tech-world satire Going Under.