Review: Cult of the Lamb – Woolhaven (Nintendo Switch)

Cult of the Lamb – Woolhaven is the latest DLC for the 2022 indie title from Massive Monster. While the team has supported the game with various expansions over the years, Woolhaven is the biggest. It delivers so much new content, it’s almost a sequel, bringing as much to do as the base game. In short, if you’re a fan of the original, you will want to play Woolhaven.

Your Woolhaven journey begins within your existing cult after defeating the four Bishops of the main story. A new statue appears in the form of Yngya. Provide the right offerings and your area expands, delivering a blank slate beyond your existing village to cultivate and grow. It’s clearly the start of something significant.

If you’re not familiar with the original Cult of the Lamb, it’s a unique mesh of dungeon crawling and management elements. Half of your time is spent exploring randomized dungeons, with the ultimate goal of defeating the four Bishops holding your own god captive. The rest of the game is devoted to looking after your own cult of loyal followers. This includes holding sermons, feeding your flock, growing crops, and disposing of poop. It’s like a M-rated version of Animal Crossing crossed with something like Hades. And it totally works.

In Woolhaven, our cult leader – that’s you, playing as the Lamb – discovers that it is, in fact, the last of its kind. The ensuing journey involves two new dungeons and multiple bosses as you discover what happened to the rest of the lambs. Woolhaven itself is their ancestral home, ruled over by the giant sheep Goddess of Winter, Yngya. Yep, the one now summoned to your own cult. 

One of the biggest updates to come with Woolhaven is a new weather system. It seems Yngya’s presence also brings with it a seasonal change, allowing severe cold to fall upon your fragile flock of cult members. Your camp site will periodically be covered with snow, causing crops to freeze. What this means in practice is that you now need to be aware of the heat level of your flock, in addition to hunger and faith. Keeping them warm involves a large furnace and something called Rotburn. Fun name. There’s also a new type of follower that’s immune to the cold – although this comes at a cost, too.

Despite its dark premise, there’s an overwhelmingly cute side to running your cult. Depending on your real-life personality, you’ll want to care for and curate your surroundings, organise buildings, gift your followers, marry them off, and even let them procreate. It’s all in there. 

Or you can just sacrifice them, or make them work hard until they grow old and die. It’s your choice.

In Woolhaven, the management side of things expands to ranching. This new mechanic allows you to farm animals for resources like wool, milk, and meat. There are several animals available, starting with yak-like creatures creatively called Yakish. It’s a fun addition to cult life.

The sheer amount of content on offer is impressive. And the whole thing wouldn’t be complete without new follower forms. Woolhaven brings a massive 52 new types of animals to find, including snow leopards, iguanas, armadillos, and sea butterflies. If you love the collectible side of Cult of the Lamb, you’ll be invested in finding them all. 

Overall, Woolhaven is a solid addition to the base game. It adds so much that it’s almost like a sequel. The development team has done a fantastic job of expanding the lore, keeping fans invested with more to do as we strive to keep our cult thriving.