WIth how increasingly popular roguelike games have become in recent years, new titles within the genre need truly unique and captivating levels of core gameplay to stand out. The recently releasedCult of the Lambby Massive Monster does just that with its captivating blend of roguelike dungeon crawler and city-building simulator game mechanics.
Allowing the player to oversee and develop a cult comprised of deceivingly cute animals,Cult of the Lambhas been long anticipated by fans since its initial announcement at Gamescom 2021. Game Rant recently spoke toCult of the Lamb’sArt Director James Pearmain, who detailed the many different original concepts and forms that the game initially took during the early stages of its development, many of which were wildly different to what the game eventually became.
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The Original Framework of Cult of the Lamb
The development process for what would becomeCult of the Lambwas always rooted in the overarching desire to blenda typical roguelike experiencewith a form of base-building colony simulator. With this core gameplay ethos in mind, the problem remained of what would be the best setting and context to merge these two beloved forms of gameplay, in a way that remained engaging and symbiotic.
“Achieving these two things and making them work together in a smooth and accessible way took a lot of work and design iterations. There are randomized dungeons with combat and bosses and all the things you would expect from a traditional roguelike… But building, growing and running your cult is at the heart of the game. The base-building colony simulator is just as important as the dungeon crawling, and the marriage of those two genres is what sets it apart from any other roguelike you have played.
Cult of the Lambis being published by Devolver Digital, known for its prior work on other belovedroguelikes such asEnter the Gungeon. With the publishing studio building a repertoire of visually striking titles, Massive Monster has not disappointed with the adorably dark aesthetic ofCult of the Lamb. While building a colony in the name of worship to a sinister deity is the perfect compliment to traditional roguelike combat and resource gathering, the game looked wildly different early on in its development process.
The Previous Concepts for Cult of the Lamb
Speaking to Game Rant, Art Director James Pearmain gave insight to the plethora of different initial design choices thatMassive Monsteroriginally considered for their ambitious roguelike title. While these concepts started out drastically different to the cult-simulator that fans have come to love, it is clear how the final product began to take shape as these ideas were tweaked and built upon.
“One initial concept was about Girl Scouts that grow magical weapons, then the game was a “make your own hell” afterlife simulator, then you played as a God and its tribe living atop a floating whale… We did a lot of work before eventually landing on the idea of running a cult of woodland animal worshippers.””
It is interesting to see how these concepts contain many of the primary elements ofCult of the Lambas a final product, with the cutesy elements of magical Girl Scouts combining with the more nefarious and sinister aspects of the afterlife.Cult of the Lambprides itself on its inherent juxtaposition between traditionally innocent characters engaging in ritualistic sacrifice and cult worship, and it appears this intriguing blend would not be possible without such a thorough selection of early concepts. With how much of a layered and unique spinCult of the Lambputs onthe roguelike genre, it is no wonder that discourse and hype surrounding the title has been so widespread leading up to its release.
Cult of the Lambis scheduled to release on August 11 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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