![]() ( ABC Arts: Kate Disher-Quill) Making approachable games Julian Wilton, the creative director of Massive Monster, won an Australian Game Developer Award in 2019. ![]() But the game's early success also has something to do with his studio's respect for the breadth and diversity of the people who play video games. Speaking to ABC Arts ahead of the global launch, Wilton graciously ascribed the game's reception to the marketing campaign by the game's US-based publisher ("Devolver Digital really know how to do their job!"). It's a game that puts fun first, welcoming in a wide variety of players without sacrificing (no pun intended) the strategic edge and replayability of a challenging title. When Massive Monster released a demo of Cult of the Lamb a few months after its trailer, it was clear that the game's blend of creepy and cute ran deeper than its aesthetic: it combines action-packed dungeons and tightly designed combat with gentler gameplay such as fishing, community building and home decoration elements inspired by titles such as 2020's smash hit, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Set to a groovy, ethereal beat by First Nations musician and producer Narayana Johnson (who wrote the game's soundtrack), the trailer triggered a flurry of activity on social media that has continued to grow in the year leading up to Friday's release. The announcement trailer focused on narrative and aesthetic rather than the mechanics of gameplay in stunning cell animation, it dramatised the game's titular protagonist as it escapes the sacrificial altar to start its own cult of adorable animal followers, exacting revenge in the name of a mysterious entity known as The One Who Waits.Ĭult of the Lamb is animated by Half Giant, an Australia studio. In the year since his studio Massive Monster's fourth game was announced at the European trade fair Gamescom, Cult of the Lamb has become one of the most keenly anticipated video games of 2022.Īhead of its global release on Friday, pre-orders alone had driven the Melbourne-made indie to the top of the sales charts on digital video game marketplace Steam.Īt its Gamescom debut in August 2021, Cult of the Lamb immediately distinguished itself from other games. "I was refreshing the Steam store page yesterday, and watching the numbers continue to go up … this is in a totally different league to our previous games." Similar to other "rogue-lites", players start off with random gear and must progress through each procedurally-generated dungeon, with death ending the run prematurely.On the precipice of release day, Cult of the Lamb's creative director Julian Wilton was still pinching himself: "I haven't taken it in yet, because my priority has been getting the game out," he told ABC Arts. ![]() Much of the game's action comes from performing runs through a series of linked dungeons to defeat enemies, gain resources, and acquire new followers to indoctrinate. As players progress through the game, they unlock new places to visit, new buildings to help automate the village, new perks to ease gameplay, and bonus activities (such as fishing and gambling). Much of the game is split between managing the cult's village and venturing out into small dungeon-crawling "crusades", both of which use a clock with a day/night cycle. Possessed by the Red Crown given by the entity, the lamb has demonic supernatural powers to help them fight non-believers, strengthen the cult, and seek revenge on the four heretical prophets that sacrificed them. ![]() Set in a land of anthropomorphic animals and other creatures ( demonic and otherwise), Cult of the Lamb puts players in the role of a lamb who is saved from sacrifice by a mysterious demonic entity ("The One Who Waits") and is tasked with forming a loyal following in the entity's name. Cult of the Lamb is a horror-fantasy third-person action-adventure / colony management game developed by Massive Monster and published digitally by Devolver Digital for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on August 11, 2022. ![]()
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