It's sometimes easy to look at a game and get an idea of the artist’s inspirations. Titles from indie developers and AAA publishers alike exist in a world where the media around a person can influence what they create. This can often lead to fans comparing games to one another, something that can work out great for titles releasing in markets as busy as the ones for video games. Cult of the Lamb’s developers have leaned into this, and express enjoyment out of the comparisons between Massive Monster’s new title, published by Devolver Digital, and games like both Animal Crossing and Doom.
Cult of the Lamb looks like it pulls from these titles in its own way, and the use of both cute and horror elements is for more than just generating shock value. Massive Monster creative director Julian Wilton thinks of Cult of the Lamb as a game that pulls from narrative-driven horror movies of recent years such as Midsommar and Hereditary. Wilton and design director Jay Armstrong told Game Rant that rather than blood and gore for the sake of it, their aim is to have players experience something that can be as jarring as it is adorable, reliant on the story and players’ actions.
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Cute Versus Horror in Cult of the Lamb
Wilton's art style creates a palatable juxtaposition with some of the more surreal and horrific aspects of Cult of the Lamb’s gameplay in a way that he hopes will ensnare players. Anyone who jumps into Cult of the Lamb in 2022 with expectations for their cute animal followers celebrating around the shrine at the center of their community should be prepared for their altruistic ideas to be subverted, according to Wilton, which is something that may attract people who have compared Cult of the Lamb to games like Don't Starve.
"I think it’s impossible for me to not draw cute stuff still. So, I was going back to those cute things, but it kind of works like a nice juxtaposition. It makes the darker stuff feel a lot darker because the neutral stuff at the base is a bit more happy and cute."
This core idea is something that is also echoed by Armstrong’s inspirations when working on the game. Much like his colleague, Armstrong views Cult of the Lamb as an opportunity to take the adorable and see what kind of monsters players truly are. While the game was once intended to draw on Armstrong's Master’s Degree in Geopolitics, it has been formed into the side-by-side rogue-like and social simulator that was announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2021. The inspirations around social structures and communities in adverse conditions remain in Cult of the Lamb.
Cult of the Lamb's Inspirations
Early on, Armstrong said he felt these aspects made Cult of the Lamb comparable to titles like RimWorld and Frostpunk, but the team’s conversations ultimately led to Wilton focusing on unity. The questionable situations and dire circumstances players might find themselves in could stay intact, there just needed to be a unifying factor. While Cult of the Lamb went through several iterations based around this, the one being formed into the final game let their personal inspirations thrive into the present.
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For Wilton, this meant solidifying his art and narrative ideas, with an emphasis on avoiding comparisons to the stylistic choices of series like Happy Tree Friends. He wants the player’s experience with Cult of the Lamb to feel like something that can be compared to cartoons like Over the Garden Wall instead. Taking cute character design and world-building to the next level with complex environments that invoke fear and dread is their intent to subvert the flowery ideas some may have for the game.
For Armstrong, this meant fleshing out the Cult of the Lamb's social structures and interactions. With procedural generation in dungeons and randomly generated followers, there’s the hope that intricate complexities will pull difficult and decisive actions out of players. Appraising an adorable follower for sacrifice feels like a dilemma, but as players build up their followers, the normalization of occult activities should make it harder to break away from past behaviors. It’s through these actions that the idea of communities adjusting to abrasive events thrives, Armstrong said, something that could be enticing to fans of real-life simulation games.
"I’m looking forward to all the people going in looking forward to the cute animals and having their expectations really subverted. But I hope that they still find a really fun game anyway, so they’re kind of angry at themselves for all the horrible things they’re doing but they just can’t stop playing because it’s so fun."
Relaying these goals and points of inspiration for Cult of the Lamb is exciting for the developers. After almost two years in what they said has felt like a constant state of secrecy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re looking forward to fan feedback. Much like the comparisons to other games, they view this as a chance to challenge and continue to polish the ideas they built from unique inspirations: An opportunity to create a game where everyone can come together and be happy, despite their monstrous sides.
Cult of the Lamb releases in 2022 for PC.
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