Cult of the Lamb’s cutesy horror “simply naturally comes again to enjoyable”

With Cult of the Lamb set to obtain its large, free Relics of the Outdated Religion replace quickly, we took a while to take a seat down with the staff behind 2022’s cutesy however sinister roguelike recreation. PCGamesN spoke to developer Large Monster’s Jay Armstrong and James Pearmain at WASD 2023 in regards to the upcoming replace, the sport’s adorably unnerving artwork model, accessibility instruments, and the significance of Twitch streaming to Cult of the Lamb’s success.

Relics of the Outdated Religion is the primary large replace for Cult of the Lamb, and it’s going to be free. Armstrong tells us, “We had been so blown away by how many individuals love the sport – we’ve by no means had this earlier than. We’re simply so completely satisfied and grateful.” The staff sees this and the second deliberate free replace, loosely scheduled for later this 12 months, as a technique to give again to followers.

“I feel it’s actually essential for us to only make it one of the best recreation potential,” Pearmain explains, pointing to different large names within the roguelike style as inspirations. “We actually need to take a look at video games like The Binding of Isaac and Don’t Starve – how the sport is now in comparison with what it was at launch, we would like Cult of the Lamb to suit alongside these sorts of video games.”

As for what followers can anticipate from the replace, Pearmain guarantees “more durable variations of all of the bosses within the recreation” in addition to “a brand new useful resource that you need to use to spend on a brand new shopkeeper who may give you uncommon unlocks.” He describes the brand new, more durable mode as “form of a souped-up New Sport Plus – as an alternative of simply making you struggle the very same enemies, we’ve made them more durable.”

It’s not simply in regards to the fight, nonetheless – Pearmain remarks {that a} lack of dungeon depth and selection was one of many predominant criticisms raised in regards to the base recreation by gamers, so bettering on that was a giant precedence for the staff. “From the very inception of the sport the thought was, let’s construct a recreation the place we will simply continue to grow it.”

Twitch streaming was additionally a giant a part of the sport’s success. Pearmain nods to the idea of streamers letting their viewers be part of their cult and make selections, which he says labored very well for the sport. Nevertheless, it was essential to the staff that the tone of the entire thing leant in a enjoyable route to keep away from issues getting overly sinister.

“It could possibly be fairly a heavy material,” Armstrong notes, “you’ll be able to feed [your cult members] to different followers… [but] the DNA of the sport is simply to have enjoyable. Though there’s all these horrible issues you are able to do.” As such, the staff needed to strike a steadiness between the inherent horror stylings and one thing just a little extra light-hearted.

Pearmain explains, “There was loads of backwards and forwards – we needed it to be cute, however we didn’t need it to be sickly candy; after which we needed it to be horror, however we didn’t need it to be tremendous gross, violent physique horror. So it took various iterations backwards and forwards to search out the place these two goalposts had been.” As the sport’s artwork director, he notes that “All the pieces was simply too cute, and so they saved telling me to make it increasingly evil.”

“We knew we didn’t need crimson blood, as a result of we felt like possibly some individuals wouldn’t reply very effectively to that,” Armstrong says. As an alternative, the sport opted for tentacles that seize your villagers and yank them down into the mysterious void beneath. “I feel we couldn’t have accomplished it every other means based mostly on the kind of issues we make,” he explains, “We saved making an attempt to make it darkish, and it simply naturally comes again to enjoyable.”

There’s lots extra within the works for Cult of the Lamb. Together with the Relics of the Outdated Religion replace is a set of elevated accessibility instruments, together with high-contrast textual content mode and dyslexic font settings. Pearmain additionally mentions that the staff is engaged on choices to pause the day/night time cycle whereas in dungeons, and contemplating methods to permit gamers to regulate issue independently throughout the fight and base-building sides of the sport to raised fine-tune their expertise.

Are there any plans for rising the scale of the camp space, we ask? “Not with this replace,” Pearmain responds, “Nevertheless it’s positively one thing that I feel we’d love to do.” Nevertheless, he emphasises that the staff desires to “be certain we don’t increase the world too shortly in a shallow means. As a result of even [with] what we now have now, we may add extra depth to that.”

“We’re nonetheless open to exploring no matter makes the sport extra enjoyable,” concludes Armstrong. “It’s been an incredible downside to have.”

If you happen to’re simply getting began, don’t miss our Cult of the Lamb newbie’s information and ideas for combating all Cult of the Lamb bosses. We’ve additionally picked out one of the best indie video games on PC, when you’re searching for extra smashing smaller releases to maintain your self entertained.

Interview performed by Nat Smith at WASD 2023.