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Followup: Cult of the Lamb Needs to Call the Exterminator

Followup: Cult of the Lamb Needs to Call the Exterminator

Or: "This is why Game & Word isn't a news/review publication."

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Jay Rooney
Aug 20, 2022
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Followup: Cult of the Lamb Needs to Call the Exterminator
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"Lamb, once slaughtered in the name of the Captive God, ponder this: whose name does thou slaughter in now?"
Source: Massive Monster/Devolver Digital, via author screengrab.

If you read my piece last week, you know that I love Cult of the Lamb so much. Oh so very very much. But now that I've finished the main story, I find myself feeling more and more conflicted about this game. On one hand, it is a veritable indie masterpiece. On the other, it’s a buggy mess that becomes increasingly intolerable the longer you play.

As you progress, the game becomes an increasingly buggier dumpster fire. Serious lag, freezes, crashes, gamebreaking glitches... and it only gets worse the closer you get to the end (and ergo, the larger your cult gets). It's almost enough to sour the entire experience altogether. And I'm usually willing to give indie studios SO much benefit of the doubt, because I know how tough it is to make a game. Massive Monster made a phenomenal game, and they deserve all the praise for pulling off the impossible (successfully marrying roguelites and farming sims).

But Devolver Digital? They ain’t a scrappy upstart—Devolver’s not just Cult of the Lamb’s publisher, but a veritable indie publishing powerhouse. So… couldn't they have underwritten some more comprehensive QA1? Or delayed the game to sand out all the rough edges? To release a game that becomes borderline unplayable at the worst possible time (towards the end, after you've sunk a sh%t ton of time into it) is just inexcusably sloppy, especially for such a known name. And the fact that the rest of the game is just so damn GOOD makes the bugginess sting so much more.

Large cult = memory leak
Source: Massive Monster/Devolver Digital, via author screengrab.

I want to recommend this game. I really, really, REALLY want to recommend this game. But in its current state, I cannot continue to do so in good conscience. I also really want to start another run in another cult leader style and a higher difficulty. But that's becoming less and less appealing the more I think about it.

Hopefully, Massive Monster patches the bugs out ASAP, and Devolver Digital pushes the patch out to users just as soon. Hopefully, not just Massive Monster but every indie studio uses this as a learning opportunity and a reminder of how launching a terminally buggy and unpolished game is never a risk worth taking—even if the game in question is unquestionably brilliant.

In the meantime, if you’re a paid subscriber, please enjoy this montage of funny/frustrating bugs and glitches, all captured by yours truly, as a gesture of my appreciation:

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