I'm late to the party, but ewe were all right - Cult of the Lamb is fast-becoming one of my favorite roguelikes

My favorite faithful follower in Cult of the Lamb just died and I couldn't be more excited. I know that might sound callous and cold, but I just unlocked a handy dandy ritual to resurrect the deceased, and I've been itching to see it in action. Up until this point, death has been a pretty sad, lackluster affair – with me either burying the dead or returning them back to the earth by turning them into fertilizer. But now I've put the work in and progressed far enough that when my most loyal cult members keel over, I have more options, and resurrection feels like the ultimate reward for my time.

I mean, what greater power is there for a cult leader than the ability to help my flock cheat death? Surely it's what every self respecting lamb aspires to. After my dear fox friend finally dies of natural causes, I pop their wrapped corpse into a nearby tomb and race to my temple to put the ritual to the test. The results do admittedly leave me feeling a little sheepish, because while my beloved follower does technically come back, they're, well, undead. It's a slight snag to be sure, but I'm relieved to discover a quick visit to the healing bay will make them feel right as rain again. Not everything pans out the way I'm expecting it to, but therein lies one of the greatest joys of Cult of the Lamb.

Part roguelike, part management sim, with a dash of dungeon crawling strategy mixed in, Massive Monster's adventure is an adorably violent, satisfying cocktail topped off with a dark sense of humor that I just can't get enough of.

As one of the gems I was gifted for Christmas, I'm honestly kicking myself for not playing Cult of the Lamb sooner. If you haven't tried out Massive Monster's adventure already, it humorously turns the sacrificial lamb on its head by making you become a possessed woolly leader who can do the sacrificing instead. As the lamb, you set about building up your own base and growing your following by recruiting cute woodland animal followers and adorably weird-looking creatures to do your bidding.

Right off the bat, I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that there's actually quite a bit of depth to the way I can progress in just my base alone. With doctrines to set that will affect my cult members, new abilities to unlock as I build up faith, and all sorts of buildings to unlock that will improve the quality of life for my cult and give you access to new features, everything I can either earn or discover makes my experience as the lamb feel consistently rewarding.

On top of that, I'm also working towards casting down the false prophets of the land, who each lord over their own dungeon. Each dungeon is randomly generated, which means that every excursion offers up something different, and damn if it isn't downright fun to tackle every one multiple times until I can take on one of the big bosses.

It is so satisfying to play, in fact, that tending to my flock has become my new hyperfixation of late. I know I'm late to the party here, but it really is the perfect pick-up-and-play-in-short-bursts game. But more than that, there's something about its blend of action and management elements that perfectly clicks with my brain, making it easy to switch off and get lost in the trials and tribulations of leading a cult.

What's more, I love how its base-building and dungeon-crawling is wrapped up in a deceptively cute package. The lamb might look very sweet, but I can be anything but if I so choose. There's so much freedom given to let me lead my cult my way. If I want to sacrifice followers to become more powerful I can… even if they look like friendly little donkeys or giraffes that dutifully gather up wood and stone for me. As it is, I've actually opted to let many of my loyal group die of natural causes after years of service - with the occasional resurrection for those I become overly fond of.

I really didn't expect to enjoy Cult of the Lamb quite as much as I have, nor did I think it would become my new go-to game to unwind. But the wool is no longer over my eyes and you better believe I'll continue to tend to my flock and fight against all those pesky false prophets and heretics.

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