Cult of the Lamb has won Best Indie Game at this year's Golden Joystick Awards.
The single-player construction and management simulation game, with roguelike and action-adventure elements, lets you fill the hooves of a possessed lamb tasked with forming a cult at the whim of an ethereal deity who saved your life once upon a time. In order to do all of that, you'll explore a randomly-generated world conquering, and ultimately, corralling new recruits.
The work of indie developer Massive Monster and publisher Devolver Digital, Cult of the Lamb is as off-the-wall as it sounds, and got the better of a category brimming with top indie hits from the last 12 months – including Tunic, Rollerdrome, Dorfromantik, Neon White, and Teardown.
The full list of nominees looked like this:
- Cult of the Lamb (winner)
- Tunic
- Rollerdrome
- Dorfromantik
- Neon White
- Teardown
In her write-up earlier this year, Sam Loveridge described the nuts and bolts of Cult of the Lamb as "Animal Crossing meets Hades", while hailing its visuals and pitch-perfect presentation. She said: "It's somehow simultaneously cute and horrific, with monsters barfing acid and pulsating with warps and other grossness, compared to your cult folk that are tiny giraffes, unicorns, hedgehogs, cats, and other adorable critters. It's bright and colorful, but also dark and mysterious in equal measure. It's quite the feat to be honest, and utter screenshot fodder."
"There's a reason Cult of the Lamb is getting a lot of attention. The way it blends its two unique gameplay styles with those graphics makes it one you won't want to miss. After all, do you really want to anger a god and answer to a cult?"
Discover the best games of 2022 at the best prices by checking out the Golden Joystick Awards Steam sale page