"I don't feel different. I just feel empty, I don't feel traumatised."

HFTGOOM offers a very succinct discussion on trauma from the point of view of a trans sex worker, and I think with its short runtime it does an incredible job of connecting you with both of those points of view. I think this is something which is going to land on a more personal level for most trans people, but I feel it probably offers a view that most cis people have never really considered before, which is extremely valuable.

This game made me cry, it's uncomfortable, and vunerable, and relatable, and probably the most deeply personal project I've played. I wish more people would use the medium of video games for these exact kinds of exploration.

Cult of the Lamb is a game I should have really liked, it's a game I went into expecting to really like, but I came away somewhat disappointed instead.

Don't get me wrong, the presentation of this game is absolutely incredible. It looks flawless and it sounds flawless, they really went all in on the game's aesthetic and it works out perfectly in that regard, but I think I went into it looking for something more. A roguelike dungeon crawler, with village management outside of the runs to allow you to reap the benefits of your delves into the dungeon is something I've written designs for myself. However Cult of the Lamb unfortunately doesn't lean hard enough into either of these aspects, leaving both sides of the game feeling somewhat lackluster.

The dungeon gameplay in this game feels like it would have lent itself better to a more linear approach, than the soft roguelike that has been implemented here. Individual fights are fun, and some of the boss fights play great, I think those fights are where the game shines, but Cult of the Lamb feels like it's scared to let the player feel powerful at any point. Most of the fun of roguelikes like this is working out a build, following it through, and gaining power in reference to where you started. Cult of the Lamb instead gives you tiny, low % incremental increases, which feel so minor that they don't change the way you play at all. The player doesn't feel any different when they are fighting the final boss and fighting the first boss. Hades is an easy, and likely unfair, point of reference for me here. In Hades I can get a power up which reads "create a spinning blade every time you dash", in Cult of the Lamb the similar power up instead reads "create a bomb when you dash, once every ten seconds". This is just one example, but this perceived neuturing of the player's power curve leads me to believe that a far more satisfying experience could have been gotten from following a linear, crafted power curve.

In a similar vein, the player never feels fully incentivised to revisit any of the areas for repeat runs, outside of the number you're made to do in order to reach the boss fights. You absolutely can, and likely will, finish the game off without ever having to more than the neccesary amount of runs in each area. I could see the dungeon gameplay of this game being more focused, more based around the big boss fights with their bullet hell sections, which all play really great, and coming out way better for it.

On the other hand you have the town/cult management gameplay. There's not too much to say here, it's fun for what it is, albeit it very simple. I can see others enjoying it more, if they wanted to go and collect every single decoration and really make their town pretty, but functionally it ends up playing itself towards the later parts of the game, with all of the functions automated by cultists. The player just has to turn up, give a speech and make food every now and again, which leads to it feeling more like something you have to do, instead of something fun to play with.

One of my biggest issues with the game, which is almost a culmination of what I've discussed above, is a negative feedback loop the player can fall into during the later parts of the game if they begin to struggle. Dying during a run results in a loss of Faith among the player's followers. Less Faith means followers can leave your Cult. Less followers means slower progress towards upgrades to help make the player stronger. Less upgrades means slower progression and more difficult gameplay. There's a situation I can envision in which a player starts having a hard time, dying multiple times back to back and losing follower numbers the whole time. This player would then have to go back to grinding the easier content in order to regain followers and attempt to reach those upgrades again, which isn't fun motivation to replay content you've already done, it almost feels forced. I think the game feeds back into itself in a way more positive way if the player just breezes through it all, not running into any trouble, and I'm not sure that's a good direction to design in.

There were some moments I did really enjoy in Cult of the Lamb, the last boss fight definitely being the stand out moment for me, and as mentioned earlier the game's presentation and aesthetic really carries it. I don't think I would have carried on playing the game to it's conclusion if it hadn't looked and sounded so good. But the overall product just feels lacking on both sides it promised to deliver, the roguelike dungeon crawler and the cult management.