With Cult of the Lamb set to obtain its huge, free Relics of the Outdated Religion replace quickly, we took a while to take a seat down with the staff behind 2022’s cutesy however sinister roguelike game. PCGamesN spoke to developer Huge Monster’s Jay Armstrong and James Pearmain at WASD 2023 concerning the upcoming replace, the sport’s adorably unnerving artwork fashion, 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Relics of the Outdated Religion is the primary large replace for Cult of the Lamb, and it’s going to be free.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 glad and grateful.” The staff sees this and the second deliberate free replace, loosely scheduled for later this yr, as a strategy to give again to followers.
“I believe it’s actually essential for us to only make it the very best recreation doable,” 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 wish Cult of the Lamb to suit alongside these sorts of video games.”
As for what followers can anticipate from the replace, Pearmain guarantees “tougher 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 can provide you uncommon unlocks.” He describes the brand new, more durable mode as “type of a souped-up New Sport Plus – as a substitute of simply making you struggle the very same enemies, we’ve made them tougher.”
It’s not simply concerning the fight, nevertheless – Pearmain remarks {that a} lack of dungeon depth and selection was one of many principal criticisms raised concerning the base recreation by gamers, so bettering on that was a giant precedence for the staff. “From the very inception of the sport the concept was, let’s construct a recreation the place we are able to 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 course to keep away from issues getting overly sinister.
“It could possibly be fairly a heavy material,” Armstrong notes, “you possibly can feed [your cult members] to different followers… [but] the DNA of the sport is simply to have enjoyable. Although there’s all these horrible issues you are able to do.” As such, the staff needed to strike a stability between the inherent horror stylings and one thing a bit extra light-hearted.
Pearmain explains, “There was lots of forwards and backwards – we wished it to be cute, however we didn’t need it to be sickly candy; after which we wished it to be horror, however we didn’t need it to be tremendous gross, violent physique horror. So it took numerous iterations forwards and backwards to seek out the place these two goalposts had been.” As the sport’s artwork director, he notes that “The whole lot was simply too cute, they usually saved telling me to make it increasingly evil.”
“We knew we didn’t need purple blood, as a result of we felt like possibly some folks wouldn’t reply very effectively to that,” Armstrong says. As a substitute, the sport opted for tentacles that seize your villagers and yank them down into the mysterious void under. “I believe we couldn’t have finished it another means based mostly on the kind of issues we make,” he explains, “We saved attempting 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/evening cycle whereas in dungeons, and contemplating methods to permit gamers to regulate problem independently throughout the fight and base-building sides of the sport to higher fine-tune their expertise.
Are there any plans for rising the dimensions of the camp space, we ask? “Not with this replace,” Pearmain responds, “Nevertheless it’s undoubtedly one thing that I believe we’d love to do.” Nevertheless, he emphasises that the staff desires to “be sure that we don’t broaden the world too rapidly in a shallow means. As a result of even [with] what we have now now, we might add extra depth to that.”
“We’re nonetheless open to exploring no matter makes the sport extra enjoyable,” concludes Armstrong. “It’s been an awesome downside to have.”
For those who’re simply getting began, don’t miss our Cult of the Lamb beginner’s guide and ideas for combating all Cult of the Lamb bosses. We’ve additionally picked out the very best indie games on PC, should you’re on the lookout for extra smashing smaller releases to maintain your self entertained.
Interview carried out by Nat Smith at WASD 2023.
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