Cult of the Lamb
Cult of the Lamb is the latest release from Massive Monster and Devolver Digital. You play as a cute little lamb who was sacrificed by a cult, but was saved in death by The One Who Waits, an exiled and trapped god. This gift has a price though, as you must now build your own cult and destroy the four bishops who trapped The One Who Waits and release him.
The Game
Cult of the Lamb is a combination colony sim/roguelike. You spend half of the game at your base, where you tend to your cult. There are a few main stats you have to worry about. First is the cult’s Faith. If it drops too low, your followers will begin to dissent and eventually leave the cult. You keep Faith up by keeping followers healthy and happy, and performing various rituals. Your followers will produce Devotion which unlocks new buildings for you to build at your camp. Each individual follower has a Loyalty stat that can be raised by interacting with them daily and giving them gifts. Followers with higher Loyalty provide more upgrade points during sermons and provide a Devotion bonus each time they level up.
The other half takes place in four different dungeons. You fight your way through several random rooms, gathering resources along the way, to take down various bosses then head home. To be absolutely clear, this is a roguelike in the “venture into randomized dungeons with different equipment and updates each time” sense, and not the “go as far as you can in random runs until you die and earn rewards that make the next run more likely to succeed” sense. It’s an important distinction to make, as a lot of people (including me) much prefer one over the other.
Combat
The combat generally feels really nice to play. It’s fast and fun. There’s so much breakable stuff in every room and it’s so fun to smash everything. There’s a wide variety of curses that are all cool and interesting. I really appreciate how getting hit feels noticeable in this game in ways that it hasn’t in others I’ve played. I’ve had several experiences in various combat games where I develop a complete blindness to my health and don’t realize how much damage I’m taking until I’m dead, but this never once happened in Cult of the Lamb.
Other Cool Things
The music is good, the art style is undeniably cute, and I love the design and atmosphere of each individual dungeon. I also love that there’s a bleat button. There are few things that I love more in video games than buttons that exist only to make a noise.
Something else I liked is that, for the most part, you’re never forced to be a jerk to your followers. Cruelty is an active choice that you have to make. You don’t have to sacrifice your followers, but look at how much power it gives you. You don’t have to imprison dissenting followers, but they’re annoying, and isn’t that the most egregious crime of all? A lot of games try to make commentary on various topics that are ultimately undercut by the fact that you as the player don’t really have a choice outside of choosing not to play it. Games condemning violence don’t really have much of an impact if the only way to progress through the game is through violence. In Cult of the Lamb you have to think about what you’re doing and decide how far you’re willing to go for the sake of power.
Issues
However, despite all the good things about it, there are some problems. The most pressing are the bugs. Most of the bugs I’ve encountered have just been annoying, like followers getting stuck until I made everyone come to the temple or the scrollbars not working sometimes, but some have impacted gameplay in pretty negative ways. During my 2nd boss fight, the death animation didn’t play and the corpse was invisible, so I almost ended up restarting the game until I stumbled across the reward item to properly end the fight. The game got stuck during the rewards screen after the 4th boss, so I had to restart the game and redo the entire dungeon. The devs have been good at patching bugs so far, but some of the patches have introduced new bugs. As I’m writing this, there’s some stuttering that wasn’t there before, and my faith level keeps getting stuck at a certain level no matter what I do to raise it until I perform a brainwashing ritual to lock and unlock it. While I would recommend this game, I wouldn’t blame you if you put it off for a while until all the bugs have been fixed.
The colony sim progression doesn’t feel balanced with the dungeon progression. I had fully upgraded everything a little while after beating the third boss, and I was playing “suboptimally;” I generally stayed away from sacrifices and didn’t do all that many rituals. I imagine if you were playing a bit more ruthlessly you could max out the upgrades before you even got to the third boss. It just felt kinda weird to be sitting on piles and piles of gold when it still felt like there was still a while to go until the end. It also felt like there wasn’t a whole lot to do with the special resource from the 4th area aside from building that area’s decorations.
Verdict
I give this game 4 out of 5 cthulhus. It’s fun, it’s cute, but it’s a little bit buggy and the progression differences can put a damper on things. Cult of the Lamb is currently $24.99 and available for PC, Xbox, Playstation, and the Nintendo Switch.
(4 / 5)
Asobo Studios A Plague Tale series consisting of Innocence (2019) and Requiem (2022) has been out for a while. Weirdly enough, I struggled to put my thoughts into words about these games until now. The way I see it, it’s impossible to talk about one without the other, so let’s dive in, shall we?
Plot and characters
The story of A Plague Tale games takes loose inspiration from the Black Plague times with a touch of the Hundred Years’ War. Amicia and Hugo are siblings on the run from soldiers while also fighting off infected rats, meeting allies along the way. A huge theme of Innocence is Amicia finding a solution for Hugo’s long-term sickness. As one would suspect, it turns out to be connected to the plague itself. Amicia also goes from being a disconnected older sister to his biggest protector throughout the game.
Hugo himself is more or less an annoying kid who wants his mother. This is frankly a realistic characterization as he actually speaks and acts as a child would act. Granted, him essentially walking into the Pope’s trap is frustrating but the climax needed to be set up somehow. I also enjoyed Lucas’s character as an alchemist apprentice as he proved to be one of the more consistent helpers to the duo.
While Innocence ends on a hopeful note, with the characters on the verge of starting over somewhere new and the plague contained, Requiem shows this was a fake out. The sequel really puts Amicia through her paces. Her character is broken both physically and mentally to the point where she is barely recognizable. Hugo is more mature, although his insistence on this magical island that will fix the Macula issue is an immediate red flag. It’s not surprising the supposed safe haven turns into hell quite quickly.
The generational curse where the protector and carrier story repeats itself means a tragic ending for our protagonists. This means it can feel fruitless to play the two installments as the whole point of Amecia’s journey is to protect Hugo at all costs, which proves to be impossible. Was it because of certain choices they made or just extremely unfortunate circumstances? Either way, I felt horrible for them both while playing Requiem, so at least it invoked a strong emotion in me.
Gameplay
The series is a third-person stealth adventure with survival horror elements. Innocence has a clear-cut mechanic that relies on Amicia sneaking past or distracting threats with a certain number of puzzles to get past the rats. She is also extremely vulnerable, dying from one enemy hit, forcing the player to start all over. This is something Requiem updates, adding the opportunity for you to recover by running away from the enemy.
It can be frustrating to have to restart a whole section because of one mistake. However, it does make the player think methodically about what the best approach is. I found the challenges a tad repetitive which stopped me from binge-playing the game, but that’s just my opinion.
Overall thoughts
After taking this time to digest my feelings towards A Plague Tale games, I can still vouch for the amazing experience. The historical aspects are endearing, and the graphics are beautiful, as is the score. The scriptwriters knew what kind of emotional punches would hit the players just right and the voice actors really gave it all. It’s obvious a lot of love went into this project and I am grateful to have played it.
Regardless, there were certain aspects of the story that for me personally, did not sit right. I am not a massive fan of a tragedy that ends, well, in tragedy, especially with hints history will repeat itself again. The entire concept of the ‘greater good’ and the main characters sacrificing their happiness has been done before and while I can understand why they went that way, it also left me feeling a bit empty.
(4 / 5)
The Last of Us series is winding down with only three episodes left. Directed by Liza Johnson and written by Neil Druckmann, “Left Behind” adapts the video game’s DLC story of the same name. Ellie and Joel are hiding out in a basement, and Joel is suffering greatly from his stabbing. He orders Ellie to go back to Tommy and leave him behind, but she’s reluctant. The episode cuts to a flashback of the events that happened before Ellie and Joel met, thus beginning the sweet, tragic backstory of our young protagonist.
First Love
Ellie is stuck in a FEDRA boarding school in Boston. Her best friend and roommate, Riley, ran away a few weeks back and Ellie has been grieving the loss. She gets into fights with classmates and even sends one girl to the infirmary to get 15 stitches. Everything changes when Riley suddenly returns and reveals she joined the Fireflies, the organization FEDRA is training students to fight and kill.
Ellie disapproves of her friend’s choices, but there isn’t anything she can say that will change Riley’s mind. However, as a sort of apology for leaving without saying goodbye, Riley asks Ellie to sneak out for a few hours and join her on a little adventure. Ellie reluctantly agrees.
The two sneak into an abandoned mall that was once used to hoard infected. Now it is filled with wonders and surprises beyond the youths’ wildest dreams. The girls connect like they haven’t been separated for weeks, and their chemistry is sweet and wholesome. Riley gives Ellie an array of gifts, from a photo booth and carousel ride to an arcade with Mortal Kombat and a brand new pun book.
All Good Things End
The evening comes to a halt when Riley reveals the Fireflies are sending her to the Atlanta base and this is her last night in Boston. Ellie is furious and runs away, fully intended on returning back to her dorm room. But she only gets so far before caving into her feelings and running back to Riley. They reunite in a Halloween store, where they wear goofy wolf and clown masks (replicas of the game’s masks) and dance to Etta James’ “I Got You Babe.” They share a kiss and the moment is so delicate.
Everything is perfect until it’s not.
An infected emerges into the store and attacks the girls. Riley shoots it and Ellie stabs it to death, but neither are unscathed. The clicker bit both of them. At the moment, any and all hope has been destroyed.
The Verdict
HBO’s “Left Behind” is the show’s truest adaptation of the video game thus far. The show cuts out the parts of the video game where Ellie roams through a mall and evades hunters as she searches for a first aid kit for Joel. Instead, The Last of Us focuses on Ellie’s history with her best friend and first love, Riley.
Just as Bella Ramsey is the perfect casting for Ellie, Storm Reid is perfect as Riley. The actors’ chemistry maintains the game’s charm; their portrayal of teenagers after an apocalyptic pandemic is pure and authentic. For the first time, Ellie and Riley can act like the kids they are, not the soldiers every adult is training them to be. It is endearing to see their relationship come to life.
Ellie’s backstory mirrors Joel’s in that it emphasizes their experiences of loss and grief. The pair have formed a connection they cannot lose. It is because of this that, at the end of “Left Behind,” Ellie goes against Joel’s wishes and stays with him to help him heal. She had to leave one friend behind before and she refuses to do it again.
“Left Behind” deserves five out of five Cthulhu.
(5 / 5)
There are only just a few episodes left in The Last of Us. Episode 8 releases Sunday, March 5, where we should expect to meet the notorious cult leader, Dave. Until then, check out the other shows and games we’re loving here at HauntedMTL.
Joel reunites with Tommy in The Last of Us‘ sixth episode, “Kin.” It was written by Craig Mazin and directed by Jasmila Žbanić, who take us to Jackson, Wyoming, a town with electricity, hot water and community. It’s a reality that feels like a dream. After worrying so long about where Tommy was, it turns out he is in better shape than Joel could have ever imagined.
Moving Forward
It’s been a few months since Henry and Sam’s deaths, and Joel and Ellie have finally reached Tommy’s rumored location. But it’s not just Tommy who’s doing well for himself; his younger brother has a new wife, Maria (Rutina Wesley). Together they help run the whole town, taking turns doing patrol and other maintenance that keeps the town running. The Last of Us‘ set design of Jackson is akin to the second video game; in the first game, Tommy and Maria were still working on the getting the town running and nowhere near as accomplished. This minor adjustment adds a new immersive experience to the show, and emphasizes Joel’s qualms about how competent he is to take care of Ellie.
While Joel and Tommy reconnect, Maria brings Ellie into her home and let’s her take a shower and gives her a brand new period cup as a present. It is with Maria that Ellie discovers Joel had a daughter who died at the beginning of the outbreak in 2003.
Kin
Joel and Tommy reconnect in a bar, where Joel begins to wonder if Ellie would be better off finishing the route with Tommy in his place. Joel confesses that Ellie is immune and needs to reach a medical center in Colorado. Joel recounts everything he’s done wrong, how he’s not equip to take Ellie any further and protect her. He asks Tommy to do the journey for him, but Maria is pregnant and Tommy is reluctant to take such a drastic risk. After more pleading, Joel finally convinces Tommy to take Ellie. A new plan is set for the next day.
Ellie, however, overheard this conversation between the two brothers and is disappointed with Joel. He’s the only person he trusts, and he betrayed her. Ellie argues that she “is not Sarah,” to which Joel counters, “I sure as hell ain’t your dad.” Whether she likes it or not, she’s going with Tommy.
Changing Places
The next morning, Ellie sits in her bedroom and is greeted with disappointment when Tommy opens the door and asks if she’s ready to leave. She reluctantly says yes, and they head to the stables where Joel is prepping a horse. He tells Ellie that she should have a decision in the matter, and she immediately chooses Joel. They move forward to Colorado.
The duo eventually reaches an abandoned university in Colorado and discover the Fireflies are now located at a medical center in Utah. Suddenly, an ambush hits. Joel and Ellie are able to fight their attackers off, but one manages to stab Joel in the stomach before falling to his death. Ellie helps Joel onto the horse and they ride far enough away to safety. However, Joel can only go so far before he succumbs to the stabbing and falls off the horse. The episode ends with a horrified Ellie, trying in desperation to resuscitate him, but he cannot wake up.
The Verdict
Just like the video game, HBO’s The Last of Us is more than just a show about “zombies” or violence. It implements empathetic writing and various cinematic elements to study personhood and the human connection in dire times. Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin do a phenomenal job writing scripts for characters fans can connect to and love no matter how long they exist on screen.
Bill and Frank, Henry and Sam, and Tommy and Maria only exist in one or two episodes. Yet their impact is enormous, shaping the world in a way our two main protagonists could not do alone. While in theory they may just be supporting characters, The Last of Us finds a way to make them more than that. They are characters that stick with you long after they’re gone.
The filmmaking also cannot go unnoticed. From the intricate set designs to the natural outdoor world, the camera continues to bring the beloved video game to life through intimate still shots, timely cuts and a gorgeous score to support emotional scenes. The show also knows when to have fun with itself by including little Easter eggs, like when Ellie yells at a girl staring at her (a girl who looks quite similar to Dina in The Last of Us 2.) This is a rather slow part in the game (minus the various shootout sequences), and there is little to no action in episode six. This further proves The Last of Us‘ strength of a well-made series that benefits from creative liberties and changes, while still staying true to the source material.
(4.5 / 5)
Until next time, check out the other shows and games we’re loving here at HauntedMTL.
