Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven Review - Biting Cold, Biting Wolves
Cult of the Lamb felt all-encompassing when it launched, but I’ll freely admit to falling off before all of the post-launch content. Before Woolhaven launched, I ploughed through vast swathes of it, consistently surprised by how good it was, but also how much it added to the game in both depth and content. By the time I’d done that, I was more than ready for the expansion.
Woolhaven practically demands you be at end game to start it. A statue will appear in your town, and it will need to be given various offerings to unlock the DLC itself. As you do, your town will expand, and you’ll need that room later on. Once the statue is given all its offerings, a whole new set of maps unlocks, and that’s where the fun really begins.
Woolhaven is your first port of call. It’s a small town similar to your own, with a giant effigy to Yngya in its centre. The town has been left to ruin as the entire flock of sheep followers got massacred (yourself included), which all happened at the start of the game. I really enjoy the way the game links to its own lore, and I can’t imagine that Massive Monster had plans to do so at the get-go. There was characters fleshed out I didn’t actually expect to see again, which rocks.
From there, new mechanics get laid upon you pretty quickly. Yngya is god of sheep and of winter, and as she grows in power you’ll need to protect your followers. One of the major new mechanics is the ‘seasons’ mechanic. As winter rolls in, your flock will require warmth. If they don’t get it they might be bound to their tents, or worse, freeze to death. You’ll need to build a furnace to stave off the cold, as well as potentially stop the blizzards which can really mess things up. Stocking up the furnace will mean you’ll need a consistent supply of another new material, Rotburn.
The rot is the second big new mechanic, as well as the second style of map. Where one side of the map is climbing Ewefall, a mountain where one of the main antagonists resides, it’s inverse is climbing into the depths of the mountain to the source of the rot. I like the rot as a mechanic. The more you awaken Yngya, the more the winter and rot awakens too. The rot will even spawn rotten followers, who cannot be frozen, nor do they need sleep or food. Unfortunately, they will die after a week or so. You’ll also need some of them to unlock additional things at the Ygnya statue, so having some around is useful. They can also be sacrificed for rotburn, and they poop fertiliser that’s good for staving off the cold on your crops.
The speed at which new systems unlocks is nice though. If you were just looking at a shopping list of new features, there’s a tonne, but the pace means you’ll have the time to ease into the new content, while still ramping up the challenge. Once you feel like you’ve gotten on top of your town again, unlocking things and keeping your people warm, you’ll progress through Ewefall and it will make things harder. It’s good progression. Gold star.
One of the things that really surprised me though is just how many new buildings and divine inspirations there are. After finishing the original slate of free DLC, it felt like I didn’t know where they could go next. Woolhaven proves to me that there’s still juice left in the tank. Which is great, because this very much feels like the company’s cash cow. People might scoff at a paid expansion after years of free updates (and some paid cosmetic DLC), but there’s so much to Woolhaven that those people are just plain wrong. It took me around 20 hours to get through Woolhaven, that’s almost as long as the main game. It’s incredible. It also expands upon the vanilla offering in cool ways. When it’s a blizzard, you can cross the ice in earlier areas to find new things. There’s quests that encourage you to visit base game places. Even if you’re bored of that stuff (which is all optional!), there’s a whole ranching system which I really liked!
Woolhaven is a labour of love, for sure. I don’t know if this’ll be the end of Cult of the Lamb, but I’d be fine if it was. This feels a little bit like a send off, but I’d also be elated if there was more to come in the future. If you liked Cult of the Lamb, do yourself a favour and pick this up. Show the devs the same appreciation they’ve given their game, and I don’t think you’ll regret it.
Cult Of The Lamb Woolhaven was reviewed on PC with code kindly provided by Devolver Digital.
