Low Five Gaming

Cult of the Lamb

• Studio Low Five • Episode 46

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Alex and Luke Talk Cult of the Lamb.

Ever wanted to combine dungeon crawling, base management, and theological terror into one cozy indie experience? That’s exactly the blend Cult of the Lamb serves. Developed by Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital, this darkly adorable roguelike management mash-up dropped on August 11, 2022. You play a resurrected lamb who must build a loyal cult, perform rituals, and crusade through twisted lands to free a mysterious deity. It’s cute, creepy, and weirdly compelling.

On Metacritic, Cult of the Lamb scores an 82 (PC) among critics. According to reviews and “How Long to Beat,” a standard playthrough lands in the 15–20 hour range. Go for completion, side content, or cult perfection, and it stretches further. It’s a neat balance point: deep enough to feel meaningful, short enough to avoid burnout.

Both hosts tackled this one on their Steam Decks, with Alex also dipping into the PC version for a spell. Neither of them made it to the ultimate “credits roll” — instead, they got deep into the loops, the rituals, and the existential questions of lamb-leadership. They came away with both love and critiques of the pacing, combat variety, and the inevitable moral compromise.

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Alex:

Hello, welcome to another episode of Low Five Gaming. You've got me, your host, Alex, and here is my brother and co-host Luke, my cult member.

Luke:

What's up, though? Cult leader, I would like to think.

Alex:

But uh cult co-leader, co-leader.

Luke:

Co-cult leader. That can't be a common cult. That can't be a common appearance or occurrence, is it? You think there's a lot of cults that like have extremely powerful dudes that trade off? You think that works? I feel like it's a coke. It's a couple of bros just setting the rules.

Alex:

No five cult, dude. We mostly get along. That can only be one. I'm doing well. I'm doing well, dude. It's been a crazy, crazy call. I have a little bit of a cold, but people don't care about that. Sound a little pissy, but it's alright. It's been a crazy couple of months, dude. September, and now we're in October, dude. September's buck wild. We got too many birthdays in the family of September. A lot of people just making love during the holidays, bro. Whoa, man.

Luke:

I thought you were gonna talk about getting colds because I got sick, but you went right into baby making. You nasty.

Alex:

A little bit of both, man. We got, I mean, that shit nasty, right?

Luke:

Back to back to work for me, so it's a bit of a whirlwind. But uh yeah, and then catching colds and then being busy. It was uh good times but busy times and sick times. Late night low five. Can't be getting too bug wild, you wake up them boys. Yeah, that would be a catastrophe. I'm not gonna lie. That would be a cancel. But nonetheless, dude, the game, the game of the month, cult of the lamb. Yes, the the cutest creepy game, which I guess is a subgenre of its own. It's just cute, creepy. Remind me, was this my pick, your pick, a dual pick?

Alex:

I think it was uh my pick. Nope, no, it was your pick. I think it was uh I think it was your pick, but I bought this game for you for Christmas, so it was like kind of like a Yeah. It's kind of like you forced me to pick it.

Luke:

Not really after this play. I was kind of voluntole this would be my pick, guys. Uh, you know, because Alex is he is not a benevolent dictator cult leader. Ugh, you don't edit that. I want everyone to know I'm stupid.

Alex:

Would they already do that?

Luke:

They already did uh yeah, so no, I've had it on the backlog. Uh, you know, backlog book club was taken, but that was our original idea. Um and we're just, you know, we're just a couple of guys trying to play all of the games.

Alex:

One and take it, we can take, we can get strong arm that shit too. Should we rebrand? Nah, I don't want to start a war. Start a branding war.

Luke:

This game, dude. And it's devolver digital, so it's like, you know, we already have, you know, we used to be a little Nintendo fanboy pod, and now uh we're not. Now we're just a devolver digital fanboy pod. And so look at that.

Alex:

We've devolved into Devulger, pure Devolger. We've devolved into stupid too. We've divulved we've devolved into Devolger Devolgence. Did I say that correctly?

Luke:

No, not at all. Um, but I love it. Um, yes, devolved into Devolver Developents. It's definitely not worth repeating again and trying to figure it out. Dang.

Alex:

Yeah.

Luke:

Um, yes. Well, if you're still here, cool.

Alex:

Uh we we got we're covering Call to the Lamb, dude. This game came out August 11th, 2022. Did you realize I didn't realize it was that old, man. I've been sleeping on this game for a while.

Luke:

Time has become a blur to me. Uh everything feels like it just came out, and then it's like it's the 10th year anniversary, and I'm like, oh great. And it gets on launch price? 30 bucks. 25, dude. You know, 25.

Alex:

I was in the neighborhood. Hell yeah. Um I love that. I love that though. That approach. I mean, they have DLC, but you know what? The DLC? Free. For the most part. They might have some paid DLC now.

Luke:

Um, obviously, I wasn't gonna jump in, but lots of added content over time, like post-launch content, I think is more big updates. So, yeah, I think the Woolhaven, is that the new uh DLC? This is right. Uh co-op. They've added co-op to it, which is pretty cool.

Alex:

Actually, they did that in 2024, so like they added that a while ago now. So I'm not entirely sure what Woolhaven is. They they're just adding to this game, dude. I love it. Like, this is that why why can't that be the why the why can't that be the model for video games? Why does it have to be let's milk them for all they're worth?

Luke:

Because shareholders, um, devolver digital must not be uh publicly traded just yet, so we'll see. But anyway, that could be you can go to both sides for that.

Alex:

Premise of this game, dude. Yes, the last lamb about to be sacrificed for four bishops who've hunted you down and your entire species. But there's a mysterious chain god called the one who waits that resurrects you with some like demon shit and this weird crown, and he tasks you with building a cult. And you gotta like, you know, the whole cult's supposed to be around him and stuff, and you're basically tasked to defeat the bishops and free him.

Luke:

I think that's a conduit. You so when you die in classic rogue-like fashion, um, or rogue light fashion, I remember the difference. Um because I, you know, on this pod bumbled that there's a difference between the two about 14 times until I committed to memorizing it.

Alex:

There you go.

Luke:

Um, in classic roguelike light fashion, they have built a way for you to die and come back. Although I do like how your cult followers don't believe in you as much if you die and they're like, mm-hmm weakling. I actually like that. Uh so there's a tiny penalty to death, nothing crazy. But you just get reborn and then um it the roguelike function, the rogue-like function. So I like how I told you I know the difference between the two, but I can't verbally say the correct one each time. But the rogue light function is that you go in one of the doors and you fight, you know, the whole little you go on a run, so to speak. We talk about this enough in this pod where you know what I mean by you go on a little run, you do the combat, you go through the area, you find the power-ups, and then you have like a final little boss guy, and then you do that four times, is it, to unlock like the final boss or the bishop that you previously mentioned of the area?

Alex:

Yeah, I believe so.

Luke:

And then what's interesting about this game, this game's flavorful twist, other than the um cult setting and aesthetic combined with the cutesiness. Uh, what makes this game unique is it's also a management sim on your home base. So, in a lot of games, you have a home base and you add to things and power-ups over time. In Hades, you talk to people and build relationships and power up. In this game, you're running your cult.

Alex:

And that's like from what I've gathered on the internet. Like, I mean, some people really do like the the gameplay of the dungeon crawling because it's decent. Um, but mostly it seems people gravitate towards that base building aspect of this game, is what I've what I've gathered. And somewhat my experience as well. I'm a little torn to be honest.

Luke:

Yeah, I had um, so when we first talked, you can check in the Discord, I definitely called it a master of none. Um, because I felt like it was stretched out between these two deals. I would say that I kinda grew I had a nice I put down some other games and I focused heavier on it when I first thought we were gonna record a year ago. Sure. And I got like probably another like 10 hour jump in there, and I I got into more of a groove, and I found that um it's actually got decent balance because you can't do a whole lot on the management part, and then you go on the run and then you come back, and it's kind of a little chaotic because some things don't necessarily fall into disarray or fall too far behind, but you usually have to do some cleaning up and like some repairs and different things. There's a lot of poop out there, a lot of poop, a lot of weird poop focused things that I'm not super into. I actually found the process of upgrading your shovel way too gratifying. That little progress bar of upgrading that shovel. Like I was more proud than I should have been when I maxed out my poop shovel. Um, I'm a little further than you, so I got an outhouse, dude. So they shit in an outhouse and I said to clean the outhouse, and then I got a fertilizer bin for that they take out of the so yeah, dude. Uh it does some nice uh I'm more into management sims than you historically. Historically, no, but in our adult life, yes. I mean, our adult life spend most of our lives at this point, dude.

Alex:

Fair enough.

Luke:

Um within the last you know 10 to 15 years, I've been into a lot of management sims. So you can get into a supply chain stuff that I find gratifying, is all I was gonna say.

Alex:

And between between the premise and talking about poop, yeah, like this if anybody hasn't played this game and they're just hearing us talk about it, like it sounds scary, it sounds dark, and it sounds gross. The funny thing about that is though, is it's it's not. And I think that juxtaposition.

unknown:

Right.

Alex:

So that juxtaposition is I think one of the the like coolest things about this game is it has a very yeah, a cutesy vibe to it's like dark, but it's like a triple cult vibes, Dave. Yeah, dude. And that's like that's it. Um right, so it's got a real dark humor that lands like really well. The soundtrack's good. There is an addictive gameplay loop, but it's uh it's adorable yet disturbing, uh, which is which is kind of fun.

Luke:

Did you get far enough to find conflict, like inner conflict with doing some of the cult stuff?

Alex:

Yeah, I mean, like, so like you I mean, there's so many layers of this game that will, you know, it's one of those deals that we'll probably miss a bunch of stuff, but uh you you can decide whether to like sacrifice a cult member or whatever or not for various different reasons. Well, you talk about that or are you talking about or force him to eat poop and do the weeds?

Luke:

I want to pull a prank on him, dude. Make him eat shit. He hates that. I'm like, no, it's a dick move.

Alex:

But dude, this is because this harks back to our um Red Dead Redemption 2 like pod that that we cut, and then also when we guessed it on Tales from the Backlog, and that whole idea of being gamers and and just a couple of dudes that like have trouble kind of leaning into the uh the dark side, if you will, you know what I mean?

Luke:

Yeah, no, I have to like tell myself like your role-playing as a adorable cult leader, like you get to be bad, and I'll be like, it's okay if you make poor little follower that worships you eat shit to make the other one happy.

Alex:

Right, and even more so than like you know, my Red Dead example, where you are, I mean, you know, you don't really you're like rewarded for being evil in this, is what I'm trying to say. Whereas in Red Dead, it really didn't matter which path you chose, like it has some impact on the story, but for this, like the game wants you to lean into it.

Luke:

You're supposed to be a cult leader, yeah. Right, yeah, right, right. You're not supposed to be a you're not liberating anyone, you're building your cult. Um, it's also interesting, like you grab the followers from that overworld, those runs, you do kind of save them. Right. And like they die a lot, like of natural causes and things, so you're kind of like always losing them. So like that kind of helps soften the blow, but you can like build up your cult. And like, did you find it stressful when you first started playing? How many systems it kind of did a good job of slowly introducing you to a lot of systems, but it was deeply overwhelming in the beginning.

Alex:

So I don't mind the systems because you're right, they do a good job of layering them and introducing them, and things are kind of you're kind of locked out on things until you hit certain, you know, um achievements or whatever milestones. I think that uh that rollout made that manageable. I think to this day, the time, the speed of the game gives me anxiety, like the clock, the what how fast the clock moves.

Luke:

That never bothered me, but you've mentioned that so many times. I think that's so funny.

Alex:

Dude, it's because I'm like, I don't want to be, but I'm a min-maxer, so like I'm trying to get as much done on the overworld or on the home base, and then you also have to get a run in, and the clock continues to go during the run, so you have to balance that correctly, and like there's a day count. So I get even though I don't think it matters, like I get worried about the fact that I'm on like X day, and uh so this it's just one of those things. It's like the it's like the clock in Majora's mask, dude. It's just like having that, it's just it's just it's anxiety.

Luke:

I mean that one that one's real anxiety because you have to finish it with it.

Alex:

I mean, yeah, for sure.

Luke:

Um, well, the point I was making is like as you continue to level up your cult, you're making a lot of decisions, and like my nice guy shit's getting in the way, but you can like sacrifice followers to have like more intense control of your cult, but also like have more intense powers on your next run.

Alex:

So you could like there's a whole big skill tree to this too.

Luke:

Yeah, you could build your whole cult like and kind of more or less specialize and in the path of sacrifices where I'm such a lame o I went the other direction, and I was like, I want uh all my followers to have a belief in the afterlife so when their homies die, they gain a little faith and they're not as sad. Oh, that's cloudy. Yeah, so I'm you know, you know, listeners, if you want to join our cult, I'm pretty pretty chill. Whereas Alex will probably make you eat poop and um I don't make them eat poop, dude, but I do be sacrificing folk. Dude.

Alex:

Especially if especially if they're like getting kind of sultry of me or like a little upset. I'm like, you know what? You're gone. We don't need you. You're not you're not benefiting me.

Luke:

I'm sorry, all less for dinner is grass or poop. Die then.

Alex:

We'll eat early on, especially. Early on, especially that's annoying, dude. Like the cooking. So that's I mean, I don't that's where I'm torn on this, dude. Like, I don't mind those layers. I don't like mind like because I that's what I wanted, dude. Like one of the reasons I was stoked to play this game is because I've been craving a management sim uh or like a life sim, probably more cra more craving a life sim, to be honest. And I think that's where I was misled. I felt like what I had gathered about this game is that it was more life simmy than I want than I wanted it to be. Or no, it wasn't as life simmy as I wanted it to be, right? Yeah, I think that's partially like why it took me a little bit longer to warm up to it. But um, but I do like this game, and I think that, you know, I think you're correct in saying at the get-go it did fell feel like master of none. Um like I was on board with that, but it definitely gets to the point where I'm like, okay, like I'm learning this stuff, it's making more sense. Uh I'm into it. I I like this. So like we've been talking about, and we can definitely talk more about the overworld and the management sim part of this game. But how did you feel about the combat? How'd you feel about that whole section of this?

Luke:

It it was torn because in the beginning, you're trying to learn the management, the sim management stuff, so you're almost not giving that enough time, or vice versa. Like you're kind of trying to really groove with another. So as I got into that, like past that five-hour mark, closer to that 10 to that 15, I would find that it was a nice change of pace from the fighting to do the sim stuff, and then I was excited to go do the pillaging again. And I I did find the roll, the roll dodge is really nice. And the enemy variety is pretty great through the different gosh, just to the I'm just gonna say the different doorways or areas to go through because I forget if the game even has like a specific word for those, but each of the bishops' realms, that's probably it. They each have a different aesthetic, it's cool. You can go back to the old ones and get like higher difficulty, higher rewards things. So, like I found it a scratch and itch. It's almost like I've played enough of these games where like doing it really well is getting pretty close to like a comfort food. You're clearing each little room, and then you know, you have this little map, and then you get to this little point where you know you get to choose a doorway, and then there's like this winding path thing. How would you describe the winding path thing within each run, so to speak? So you're in an area, you clear the set of rooms, and then you go to a doorway, and then there's like almost this uh overhead map of like a path where you have just like different options of different things.

Alex:

What is a game that you've put about 4,000 hours into that is a good example of uses the same thing. Which one's that? How many games have you put 4,000 hours into? Just Tetris. Oh, wait, not Civ. Not Civ. Civ it's not quite like Civ though. It's nothing like it's another what's that card, the card builder that you that you play? Oh, Slade of Spire, yeah. Yeah, so Slade does the same thing, but it's basically a tree, like a uh like a branching, a branching tree. So they call them crusades. Um you know, when you go into the dungeons or whatever. So the dungeon crawling bit of this game is considered crusades. Nice. Four regions, which you mentioned, each ruled by a bishop, and they're procedurally generated rooms, so it's always going to be a little different, which is you know, a little spice of life, a little roguelike thing going on. But you get to collect resources, which is important for the overworld stuff or for the base building stuff, and you get to rescue followers in there, which is also important. Uh, and very much like Slay, you you know, you do get that map and you get to choose. I think um there was another card builder game that we played that did this as well. Uh, what's that creepy one? The creepy card builder game.

Luke:

Yeah, with three guns built in. Um it's similar to Enter the Gungeons map, and then it becomes like when you're actually going through the levels, it's like Enter the Gungeons map. And then when you get to that tree part, that's like Slay the Spire, where you pick your next part of the path. Although think of it as much more condensed and smaller, but like you'd be like, Do you want a crop-based reward, like for different seeds and things to bring back to your colony? Or do you want a follower-based reward? Or do you want a weapon upgrade for just this run? And that's like kind of fun and rewarding because like maybe your people are starving and you're like, ooh, like hell yeah, dude. What is that? A grape? I'm gonna add grapes to my colony.

Alex:

Inscription was what we're looking for. Yes, thank you. So inscription has a similar thing too, right? Where you can kind of choose what direction, or am I making that up?

Luke:

Oh man, it's been a while, and I only played the first one really well because I sucked at the second game. Right on.

Alex:

Well, it's got that going, dude. And like inscription, and I guess like Slay, I mean, there is a card element to this too. So you get to collect the you collect the resources, you collect followers, and you also collect tarot cards. Or tarot cards, right?

Luke:

Yeah, I actually got this like upgrade where I automatically start each run with four. Oh and I don't get to pick them. Oh, so I don't run into them. So it's like you get these power-ups that are like a pro con thing later on. And you can switch those out. So if you wanted to, you could change that boom, correct?

Alex:

Yeah, call it a cowl or something because it's a part of your cape. Right, right, right. That makes sense. And then the boss structure there, which you also touched on. You've got the four mini bosses, the apostles, uh, per region, and then you have the bishop boss.

Luke:

So that's kind of that's the core loop of the Crusades. Look at you using the internet for the proper terminology. Nice.

Alex:

Ah, dude, I just like knowing this game like the back of my hand, bro.

Luke:

Uh I like the different weapon choices though. Like you start off and they usually give you, I don't think they give you a choice. No, it's just like your your main weapon, and then like what you're on a PlayStation 2 would be triangle. Uh on a Steam ED, it would be Y. Uh Attack, and then you have like this kind of overpowering, or not overpowering, but you do actually have an overpower attack. It kind of just keeps building combat layers. So I would go ahead and say it's like good to very good roguelike combat.

Alex:

I agree. It's uh and then it's like, you know, you can die, and like if you die, it's not a game over. But like you said, your your followers are kind of like, what's this weakling all about? Lose some clout, dude, low auro. Yeah, so you go on and crusade, like that. The idea is that you that you win and you can decide to keep crusading or you can go back, but you have to kind of do the balance, right? Because you have to decide, okay, like, do I need to go back and make sure my people are doing good and are they fed? That kind of thing. I mean, you already hit the main. I think we've kind of covered more of the more or less the main core loop stuff of the the cult management things. But what we didn't mention, or we maybe just like touched on, so you've got to feed the followers, manage their needs, faith, loyalty, hunger. Uh you get to build structures. So you mentioned like outhouses, but like the farm, sleeping quarters, ritual spaces, etc. So has that built. So and then I think what we didn't fully mention yet is that you perform sermons to gain faith and unlock upgrades. So there's that's kind of a fun little thing. You go into your like little church and you can just decide to perform a sermon. You can also conduct rituals, what you mentioned. So, like that can be a sacrifice, that can be a wedding, a resurrection, etc. So it's like most fun rules.

Luke:

Yeah, you could do funerals, mostly funerals from have fallen homies. Yeah, and I got my dudes tripping on shrooms. You got your dudes tripping on shrooms, dude. No, that's dope though. Max out their loyalty, dude. It's a little brainwashed out.

Alex:

Uh then, and then like you were saying earlier, too, you got to deal with dissenters. Uh, your cult members actually get older, so you have to deal with old age and like they die off, they die off. They can also get sick. A lot of times my cult members are getting sick because I'm making them poopy food. Because like you want to feed them, but like the only thing you can like feed them, they're like, you don't have the ingredients for like good stuff unless you're gonna be able to do that. Oh, yeah, for sure.

Luke:

Because you could use a poop too as fertilizer, like for your farming. Or the giant poop that you harvest for many poops. Have you seen that? Right, yeah. This game, this game is like we've made these jokes because it's easy jokes. They're like a little oddly obsessed with poop in this game. The devs were like a little in the poop when they made this game.

Alex:

Um and the last piece of the call management it would be the doctrines. So we kind of mentioned that. So that's like a skill tree piece of this where you get some.

Luke:

I'm choosing your cult's direction. Right. Your power is cool. Yeah. And you set your workers to different tasks. So some of them just worship your shrine, and that shrine you collect more or less faith, um, and that faith you use for upgrades, and then some of them you can have be building, some of them you can have be harvesting rock, lumber, farming for you. Um I would never say it gets like intensely complex, but it gets a little busy.

Alex:

It does force you into like different paths, right? So like you get to kind of what you're saying, like you're kind of like, I'm playing the nice guy, but you can so basically you can like you kind of either you find yourself like choosing between like, am I gonna allow murder or am I gonna like build prisons? Like, are we gonna buy feed into cannibalism? Stop believing in you, dude. Right. And then it's like uh, you know, do you want to lean into camel cannibalism or like you know, are they gonna be a bunch of grass eaters? Like are you gonna have weddings? You can have fight pits, like it's it's interesting, like the different you know, branches that you can can go down.

Luke:

It's enough of an RPG that they felt obligated to make a shitty fishing mechanic as well.

Alex:

I was gonna bring that to that too.

Luke:

There's a fishing piece in the didn't ever want to go back because I didn't think you really needed to, and then my people were starving, and I was like, I could probably just like fish for five minutes, and then I did that and had a bunch of food, and I was like, okay, it's not the worst, but it didn't.

Alex:

I don't mind the fishing mechanic, it reminds me of Stardew in a way. Like it's not right, yeah. No, fair enough. It's probably like a mixer of like uh it's like a cross between Stardew and Sea of Stars. Yeah, that's actually what I'm gonna do. Not as good as either.

Luke:

If you could if you weren't able to pull it, I was gonna bring up Sea of Stars. Um, yeah, it's just funny. It's like a classic video game trope. So it's almost like they had a meeting and they're like in between poop jokes and poop mechanics.

Alex:

Like, how about fishing, dude? That dude that you meet that teaches you how to fish, and then you have to do the little side quest. That's another thing the same as side quests too. Like this game is pretty complex, yeah. But then uh so that dude like it wants you to gather a certain amount of fish for a fish pretending not to be a fish, that guy, right? Right, yeah, for sure. Uh I think it was like the crab, or there was one of them that it it literally took I don't even want to know how much time, but like I was trying to collect the last one for him, and it just took forever. I was like, this is ridiculous, like days and days and days until I caught the crab or whatever. Really? Yeah, dude, it was dumb.

Luke:

I think that is just some sort of ritual that increased my fishing bounty, and I just went over there and crushed a bunch of fish one day. So smart, smart man. Yeah, well, teach a man to fish.

Alex:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So those are the main uh gameplay loops, got a little fishing in there.

Luke:

Um there's also like a mini game uh in the upper left of your dude. There's like an there's a lot of world maps now that I'm saying out loud. On your home base, your management sim part, you like enter a little fast travel thing to get to the fishing area, to get to the mushroom area, and then there's this other like cabin area where I don't even remember what the mini game is, but I know it was better than Gwent.

Alex:

It is not better than Gwent.

Luke:

Yeah, it's Rage Bait. Um, but I'm trying to think what that little game is.

Alex:

I'm not good at it. I just know that it's like a betting game, and I can't remember. It's it's more of like a dice roll thing, right? I can't remember. Yeah, I think so. I know that all I know is I was so bad at it, I lost all my money, so I didn't do it again. Clowning.

Luke:

I like beat the guy after like the first attempt, and then there's like a few people waiting there to play me, and I'm like, I'm not interested enough in following up with that. Um, it I mean it's you know, it's a little something for everybody, and it feels like the developers were probably just having fun making different little aspects, like almost homages to different things in different genres, but that part didn't cook me or tickle me. Did you play this almost entirely on your Steam ED, or were you PC on this for a lot?

Alex:

I had had a couple sessions on my PC, but uh Steam ED I would say 90% of the way.

Luke:

I would say the aesthetic of this game very much lends itself to a Steam ED game and it plays really, really nice on there. But it gets that thing cooking, dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like when playing a little bit of silksong, and like I never hear the fan on the Steam ED. The second I open Call to Lamb, it's like Oh, interesting. And it's a bit of a ticking time bomb as far as like if I'm playing it, I can't be passively paying and like pausing a lot. I gotta like play the game or else I'll just be wasting battery. I thought that was interesting. I was like, it doesn't look like it's a heavy game like that.

Alex:

What I did notice for sure is that battery life aspect. I'd with the very, you know, that cutesy dark uh art style we talked about, like it's it's another one of those games kind of like Plucky Squire in a way where it's like it's it looks decently chunky. So it's like you wouldn't think that it's gonna be so taxing the battery, but I'd I would say probably like unplugged, get maybe an hour 15 minutes tops. That sounds about right. Yeah. So it I mean it tears through the battery, which you know that's about the amount of time I want to play. You know, I don't want to go much more than that, anyways, when I do a run like a stint in this game. Yeah, I thought it was worth mentioning though, just because like it runs really well, but it's always kind of like interesting when a game's just a little bit heavier, runs a little hard, and you think it's gonna I I will I will note though, it's like kind of like all these games that I love to be able to play handheld, and it's like definitely presents themselves for handheld when I do play them on PC and like on a bigger screen and with like faster FPS and everything. Uh it's nice. Yeah. Uh so there's that. There we go. You know, like a Hades is an example that's that way. Like, I like 90% of my time playing Hades is handheld, but when I have played it on the PC, I'm like, oh, okay. This is shit. Uh this is that way. Um I'm sure, you know. So there was the management sim that we played for the pod that I felt that way too. Actually, I preferred it on the desktop um for that one. Which one is that? Uh Against the Storm.

Luke:

Ah, yeah, that was like a game I picked up. I tried to pick that back up recently, and I was I just got fucking wrecked. A little in the weeds. It's a stressful game. I forgot how shitty I was at it for a while. But yes, uh, back to Call to the Lamb. Seems like it never really hooked you, although you appreciate it and thought it was cool. It seems like you kind of like scratched your curiosity itch, but never really loved it. Does that seem fair?

Alex:

Right. It didn't get it's it didn't get as hooked in me to the point where I'm like uh was obsessing over it or like got to the point where I'm like, I can't I can't wait to play cult tonight, that type of deal. But it's uh it's a game, but it's it's also not so it's like right in the right in the middle there, because it's also not a game like I don't want to pick that up again.

Luke:

You know, yeah, I would not uninstall it for my Steam ED if I needed like space for a different game. That would not be one of my immediate like choices for the chopping block because it goes back to the once you learn the systems, like I don't feel like I'll be overwhelmed if I like if I jumped on right now, it's been like a week or two since I've played it, uh, because we're late on this pod. Um but if I jumped onto it right after this pod, I wouldn't suck. And I think that's like cool that it has a lot of depth, but I don't feel overwhelmed when I jump back in.

Alex:

So and the balance is tight, right? I mean, like, because because you can choose whether you want to kind of lean into the management part of it or the the dungeon crawling part of it, like I think that's like an interesting aspect. Whereas if you wanted to get into Hades or something, like you're gonna get your ass beat if you haven't played Hades in a long time, and then you might feel a little bit like, and now I'm like, because of story driven and all those things, I feel like I shouldn't just I have to start completely over.

Luke:

And it's been too long since I've played last. So this game is a grip it and rip it, which if you've been listening long enough, you know that that means a lot to my heart. Indeed.

Alex:

Well, Sitman, how many sacrificial lambs out of five would you give this game? How many poops from the outhouse? How many poops scoop from the outhouse?

Luke:

Uh on a five point pentagram, uh, I'm gonna give it. Three points out of five. And I feel like that's good. It is. But it's not it's closer to very good than great.

Alex:

I'm right there with you, dude. I'll give it three out of five as well. Three out of five poop scoops for the off house. And that is exactly because of what I just said, where it's like it's it never got to the point where I was like, I need to keep playing this game. Not that you should have unhealthy obsessions with games. But but you know, it never like it never like really got me to like, you know, I need to keep going, but it also like never got to the point where I was like, man, I wish I wasn't playing this game. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, so it's good. It's like middle of the road, but better. It's better than middle of the road. It's not a two-five, it's a three. It's good to very good, yeah. No doubt. Indeed. And who knows, like it has potential to get a little bump if I get a little deeper in it and I I change my mind there. But you know, if you like were to pair it up against different roguelikes, like I would probably I mean, I'd have to say that like Hades is better, you know what I mean? Like roguelite, but yes. Yeah, sure. Uh and when it comes to management sims, like I mean, uh Animal Crossing better, you know? Yeah.

Luke:

So yeah, I think like if you're looking, if you like those types of games, and it is literally October when this is coming out, spooky season is upon you, it would be a fun flavor to pick up. 100%.

Alex:

I think I would definitely recommend it to the div devolver heads. Um, you know, and I would also recommend somebody that is anybody that likes those two genres. But I wouldn't I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone that's like new to video games, a little too complex or a little too standoffish for that. Um I would agree. But if you if but if those are genres that you're into, it's definitely worth. I mean, the 25 bucks at launch, bro. Like, I mean, come out.

Luke:

Let's end it. Oh, great price point, and it'll go on sale. Uh right.

Alex:

So I love it. Yeah, that's a good point. Right now. Well, she with that, should we take a little break here from our unsanctioned sponsor? Yeah, let's perform a ritual.

Luke:

So this week we are brought to you by uh a weird argument from me and also a yearly um addiction that comes in strong and hot. It's got its claws in Alex a little bit, got him kicked out of a bar once. Um, but it's not the alcohol, it's fantasy football. Right out. And specifically, I was thinking the other day, it was like a sober high thought, but I was like, is fantasy football a video game? Uh well, it's in an app, right? Like so. Kind of like how board games evolved into video games when they're just electronic. Right. Interesting. So basically you're playing like an electronic gambling, but it's skill-based game companion to this entertainment product that you're consuming on Sundays and sometimes Mondays and sometimes Thursdays. And I love it way too much, dude. I have way too many hardcore takes on players that I don't actually bother to watch. I know a lot of my friends actually do watch them, and that's tight, but I follow so much like auxiliary content and I'm obsessive, and I yeah, yeah.

Alex:

This month is brought to you in part by unofficially fantasy football. Is it a video game? Is it a video game? Uh uh well that's a tough one. I could you can make an argument for it. I I I hear you making an argument for it, and I'm not saying that it's not. Um, paper. What's that? Numbers go burr. Right. What platform are you playing on? You on ESPN, you on Yahoo?

Luke:

Sleeper. That's what it's called, sleeper. It is the it is the premium, it's the best one, uh, in my humble opinion. I'm in a league for through work on ESPN and I fucking hate it. Their app is dogwash. Um, I have done Yahoo in the past, but sleeper is the way. It's kind of like the gold standard these days for a lot of people. Are you completely out? Do you not even have your college league anymore? I've been out, bro. Yeah. That's crazy. How did you guys let me know?

Alex:

They pulled me back in for a season or two and then uh because dude, like I'm okay, I'm down to play fantasy. If people out there, like, I really want Alex to be in my fantasy league. I will join your fantasy league. But if people ain't fucking talking shit, if people aren't like making trades, doing like being active, like I don't want to, I don't want to just like do this to do a draft and then like be the only one that talks shit.

Luke:

So the college boys just the passion was gone. No passion, bro. No passion, y'all like dads and shit and not caring.

Alex:

This was before we were dads, dude. They all got lame about it like before we became dads.

Luke:

You went from getting kicked out of bars celebrating on championship weekend to just knowing. Yeah, I mean, you say that, but uh a panicked younger brother had to pick you up, and I was like, I'm tired. And you're like, I'm getting kicked out of this bar right now. You need to come get us.

Alex:

I love that you came and got us. That was walking distance for sure.

Luke:

You were pretty dramatic. It didn't seem like it was a question at the time.

Alex:

It was like, save me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, to be fair, the homie I was with probably wasn't able to make the walk. So not peacefully.

Luke:

No, he physically could have made it. But not peacefully. So yeah, uh, I definitely wanted to bring it up. One, because I'm too deep into it, dude. And two, I was thinking to myself, like, is this a video game now?

Alex:

Like, could I make how's your team looking?

Luke:

You uh we had to start over. What's your record? The teams I start over. Well, I do a dynasty now, which I care too much about, and that's where you uh keep your players a year in and year out and you just draft rookies. Right, but I won it two years in a row. So the rule is if you win it two years in a row, you get the empire pot and you gotta blow up the whole league and redraft the whole thing. So we start all the way back over. So uh I don't know how my team is yet on that league anymore. And then my other redraft, I'm doing great. Although, uh, if you're a Vikings fan, uh did you watch the game, Alex? Uh I watched bits from it, but no, I didn't watch it. London. Uh a kicker, our kicker kicked a ball, and the field goal just radically took a sharp turn, and it appears as if he hit a wire. I lost by less than a point this week. Stop.

Alex:

That affected you.

Luke:

So I would have won pretty comfortably uh because my tight end on Monday Night Football caught one ball and then got hurt. So I lost by like less than half a point to a full point, and uh those two things are wild, which is why I both love and hate fantasy football, because that's fucking garbage, dude.

unknown:

Right.

Luke:

So it's a good thing I'm not a gambler.

Alex:

What do you mean? You straight up winning money.

Luke:

Yeah, it's a skill-based game, dog. Uh legally, legally speaking. No, like can you imagine like gamblers that lost like fortunes on a kick like that and how fucking irate they get?

Alex:

So uh you hear about that and the DMs of certain players and whatnot.

Luke:

Yeah, that loser shit. But it's kind of funny how fantasy has grown from like a niche thing from when you we were doing it as little dudes to now it's like people's moms and aunties and random uncles be in leagues together. Our family's low-key kind of lame for that. We have for not having a league. We have two massive families, and there is not a family league in either of them. That's kind of crazy, dude. What's up, Kamish? Me? Never.

Alex:

Well, there you go. So fuck right off. I don't need any responsibilities. I don't want to be tear down the family, but you won't even set it up. I want to sell it. Dude, that's another reason that I'm out on the fucking uh on the on the college homie deals. Like, all of us got jobs, dude. Like, no reason you're not playing your fantasy dues. And like at least at least two or at least one, maybe two a year would not pay their fantasy dues. And it's like, come on. Sheesh, dude. Right, right. So there we go. Fantasy football. I can dig it, dude. I can dig it. You're high on fantasy football though, because you you got to you got to buy that watch, you got to buy your your girl some shoes or something like that. She lost tragically. Never forget. That's right.

Luke:

Never forget. No, I'm into it. It gives me extra reason to watch on Sundays than play Slay the Spire on my couch. It's great.

Alex:

That is, I will say that is like I'm I do enjoy fantasy. Like when when folks, when you're in a league where folks are into it, is it is definitely fun. I do under I understand the gaming angle that you're giving it. I can see that it makes sense. I would say yes, it's a video game. Uh, you know, with our at least uh a compan, yeah, it's a companion video game. I don't know, whatever. Um I think that's always been the most interesting thing about it is like I'll root for my teams, right? But when you have a fantasy team, that gives you, you know, you got a little skin in the game on different games of the week that you may not have tuned into otherwise. So it keeps you very alert to what's going on. Yeah, so the NFL is uh, you know, all the all the leagues that have fantasy going now, that it makes sense for them to push fantasy and to get people on it because it makes people more interested. I tried fantasy basketball and fantasy basketball's dog shit, dude. You ever do fantasy baseball? I don't I don't have the heart for that. I got a homie that was really big into fantasy baseball. Both basketball and baseball, there's this I mean, like if you have a problem updating your roster for football, like don't don't tread water in any of the other sports.

Luke:

Dude, uh basketball's crazy with the rest era, dudes just be out and you're like, huh, constantly getting hurt, it's crazy.

Alex:

Right on. Brought to you in part, unofficially, by fantasy. Nope. Is it yeah, it's about video game.

Luke:

It's brought to you by the question of is fantasy a video game, dude?

Alex:

Right on.

Luke:

Side quest, and we are back. Um, we have sacrificed the unsanctioned sponsor. We are here. I got two games I'm gonna highlight, dude. You got two games, but you got two major side quests. Two major side quests that I'm pretty pumped about, and I'm not gonna talk about NCAA football. First, mini motorways, gift from Ace. Boying. Boing. Threw that one into the birthday, Bonanza Bash. Um and he's been playing it forever, and he's always told me to get it. And I've always been cute, or have always been cute. Yeah, you have bro. I've always been like a little bit curious because it looked like it was adjacent at least to like some management sim stuff I like to do. And I would not call it that. It's more of a puzzle game. So if you like puzzle games, I think this game's a slam dunk for you because it's usually relatively uh inexpensive and it has a cutesy aesthetic once again. Is that your computer fan?

Alex:

Yeah, bro. Um take it off. All I want to do is open Steam to look at my game list. Uh all right, anyway. Is this that big, bro?

Luke:

Is it that big that backlog go crazy? Literally go burr. Gotta get the fans on to see this man's backlog. Umreal. Anyway, sorry, everybody. It's all good. Mini Motorways has a very cute minimalist uh color pop aesthetic, and you're basically getting these cars from these little houses to these little factories. And uh just imagine like a little house-looking thing, like a monopoly house, like that type of color. Imagine it with like a little bit of a neon, not many, maybe pastel color pop. And what I like is they do different world maps that you unlock, so it'll be like this is Dublin, this is Moscow, and like sometimes they'll just do like a little thing that pays homage to these global cities. So I'm a pretty big dork when it comes to uh geography, so I love that. So shouts out to that one. I suck at it, but I've enjoyed it quite a bit, and very addicting. Um, one last time, if you're a puzzle-based boy, those are great. And second game of playing is it swept the internet dorks by storm, and shockingly, I actually uh uh inform Alex of this, which I thought like I was gonna be like, hey, have you heard of Tetris type stupid when I asked Alex if he's played this game because it was literally made in an algorithmic lab for Alex? But uh Megabonk, if you have not heard of Megabonk, it's great. Um if you're a fan of vampire survivors and you're like, but what if this was 3D? We've made a game for you. I want to passively play a game where I kind of move around and take down hordes without button mashing, they kind of passively get attacked by my different power-ups, it's awesome. You can now jump. That's a different element of verticality. And uh I guess it's like risk of rain too, because you wander around the map until you find the portal slash boss, you fight the portal slash boss, and then you go into the portal and you go to the next thing. So that's how it gets the risk of rain and two-ness. But it's great. It's ten bucks. It's got a kind of crude PlayStation 1 era, maybe if you're being generous, PlayStation two-y era graphical look to it.

Alex:

Would you looking at some pictures? Would you agree? Uh I didn't go. I haven't looked at it since you told me.

Luke:

Oh, I saw his face glowing, so I assumed he was looking up this sweet game I was talking about, but he's just looking at his backlog again. So, yes. Um love that game. Strong recommend. It's super addicting. It's so fun. Like, I've talked a lot about how I like these passive games where I can grip it and rip it and just pick up and get a little run going. And this game delivers hard and it's super cool. And you unlock all these different characters. Uh similar once again to Vampire Survivors. So if you burnt yourself out on vampire survivors, but you have an itch for that lizard brain type shit, it's back, baby. Mega bonk. It has delivered. Megabonk.

Alex:

I'll have to check it out.

Luke:

Yes.

Alex:

Right on. Side quests. Well, I have entered the virtual reality, brother. First of all, the buy nothing movement. If folks don't know what that is, check it out. All the all your neighborhoods are hopefully who knows. I don't know of all neighborhoods, but a lot of neighborhoods they have buy nothing groups set up. You can join them via Facebook groups, but also buy nothing has its own app. So a little plug for buy nothing. I'm in my neighbor, I'm in my local one, and there's a homie that lives, oh, I don't know, about five blocks away or something. And he was getting rid of his HTC Vive. I want to say it's from 2018-ish, maybe it's an early version. Ancient technology, continue. I mean, it's older, but like they, but it's dope. Um, but it is, you know, it's like VR has come a long way. Dude, I've never really I've had I've I've tried VR a couple times, it's for a couple different minutes or whatever. It's always impressive, but it's like, you know, it's like it's a bit of a commitment when you're like gonna go out and buy a ring.

Luke:

Even the cheap end options are like 300 bucks.

Alex:

Even the cheap ones, yeah. Uh super dope though, dude. So buy nothing. Uh basically he was like, hey, like I don't really set this up anymore. Like, if anybody wants it, I'm giving it away. I was like, dude, that'd be dope. I'm about it. So uh I got lucky. Uh me and a few other folks expressed interest, and I ended up being the one that he like you know randomly chose to to receive the the HTC vibe, and I've been being virtual reality in, dude. Been in that virtual reality, plug me in. Pretty cool. Uh I didn't have a bunch of VR games for sure. Uh, but there's some fun ones, dude. Like so VR regetta is a sailing game, regatta, maybe. So, anyways, regatta. It's like a you're in a sailboat, dude, and that's like kind of the vibe. You can do like sailboat racing, you can just kind of sail around, but it's one of those crazy things where you know it's just weird. You're sitting, I'm sitting in my office, but I'll put this thing on. You look around and you're like, shit, I'm like on the ocean. Do you get nauseous? I do. Okay. So uh so there's a little bit of that. Um, I can't do it for that's partly from everything I've read, is that it's pretty normal to experience some nausea from a lot of VR games, and you kind of have to build up a tolerance to it, which I don't have a lot of interest in doing. Um, for instance, uh the PS5 has I don't remember what version it is, but they've got you know, PS5 put out its more recent VR set, and one of the homies' dialeries, he's like he's got a whole racing rig, and he does the VR thing with Gran Turismo, dude, and it's dope. Like it has eye tracking where you like don't even have to turn your head, you just like move your eye, and you can like see that movement or whatever, you know. Uh, but you're also in a race car and like things are moving, and like I played for probably five, ten minutes, and like I was ready to throw up. Yeah, for sure, dude. For sure. And uh, but you know, he was saying, like, yeah, totally, that's the thing, and you just kind of like get used to it, you build a tolerance over time. Uh, yeah, I get VR version, dude. Dude, for sure. But don't puke like a little bitch, dude. VR is good. Dude, I get nausea playing it first-person shooters like on my desktops. Yeah, so like VR are kind of intense. So I do it for little spurts, and most of the like games out there that and the games that I have for VR, it kind of works that way. I wouldn't want to do like long periods in them anyways. But the ones like the the regatta thing is really tight. There's a VR version, like it comes with it, but like for Star Wars squadrons, and that's really cool. So, like to be able to fly around in the Star Wars universe, like in your in like a cockpit of like a TIE fighter or X-Wing. Because that one, like the VR isn't super intense. You're more or less like you would be when you're flying, but you're looking forward out your cockpit, but like when you look around and stuff, you see like the dashboard and you see inside the ship. So, like most of the time you're not looking around too crazily. Uh, so that one's that one's pretty pretty darn cool. I did end up picking up half like half like Alex, half life alex because that one's supposed to be really dope. So I haven't checked that one out yet, though. So I'm excited to check that one out. And then Colossal Cave VR is another one that I'm excited about. Like, shout out to Game Informer, but they had an article about the um developer that made um King's Quest, which you probably don't remember. Name's familiar King's Quest. Yeah, so King's King's Quest V in particular is one that I used to dick around with when we were kids uh that I was never very good at, but it's uh it's a really great article at the end of the last uh month's issue. But Colossal Cave, uh, she is the developer by it, and it's supposed to be quite good for um for VR. And I had so I'm really excited to try that out. Uh, but for most of my VR time, and I also got uh Super Hot, which you maybe seen super hot around there, it's kind of like a weird shooter thing. It's fun to be in that in that uh area, but my office is not that big. And when you got that headset on, it's so funny, dude, because like super hot in particular, it's like a shooter, but you could also like you can hit enemies and stuff like that. So I'm like turning around, I like go to like slap an enemy, and I like knocked all my baseball cards off my shelf, smacking in amiibos, and dude, for sure. It's this is kind of clowning. That is funny. Uh man. So I've been playing around with that, dude. Uh not to my not to my racing wheel yet. So, like, unfortunately, there's not a ton, and like I don't, you know, I'm not trying to go out and buy every game there is, but uh, there's not a ton of games that have that capability on Steam uh right now. But I did end up getting um there's uh there is a racing game that I did get, and I have tried it, but I haven't tried it with the with the rig yet. And that was like the whole reason I bought it. But that's like, you know, that's not only you gotta set up the VR, you gotta half an hour setting shit up to play 10 minutes of VR, dude.

Luke:

That's tough. There's some steps.

Alex:

But it'd be cool. There's some steps. It is cool. It is so that's super fun, dude. Major little side quests there. Outside of that, haven't been doing too many, too many video games, man. Life's been kind of crazy. You know, obviously a little bit of cut of the lamb. I did start playing uh Hollow Knight, and I'm not super far in it, uh, but I've been enjoying it, dude. That is a game, you know. Everybody, you include you and and and everybody else, are like, dude, this is like you're gonna love this game. And sure enough, it's I mean, it's a Metrovania that is very nice.

Luke:

Don't be afraid to look some stuff up in the beginning because they don't hold your hand and what's going on. Right.

Alex:

So feel free.

Luke:

Right. I mean, I didn't know that's been cool, but you might need to, is all I'm saying.

Alex:

Uh, I gotta I gotta drop uh Mario Strikers in the mix as a little side quest. All right. We had uh my son's birthday uh this you know recently, and we had some of the cousins over, some of uh my my nephew and niece, nephews, niece on on my wife's side, stayed the night a couple nights. Um, and one of my nephews is super into soccer right now. Uh-huh, clown. He's also like 11 years old, 10 years old something like that. So, like in very preteen nature, I do the dude I know loves to play video games. Like Uncle Alex, he got the video games, right? So it's one of those deals. Like, I know how it is, man. Like, I remember like every time we fought to Sue Uncle Greg's, like just being stoked. Like, I was stoked to go over there because I'd be trying to play the video games they got. So I know how I know how he'd be feeling, but he being a little coy about it because he comes over and I'm like, yo, dog, you want to like try some Mario Strikers? He goes, That sounds stupid. I was like, get the fuck out of here. You ain't trying because after he's like gassing up soccer and how much all this, and I was like, Alright, then you ain't gotta play. What are you playing? Did you get it for the switch? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Strikers? Mario? It's only on the Switch. I don't remember you buying that. I bought it a while ago. It's been sitting on my shelf. The new one? So, yeah, dude. The newest one, yeah.

Luke:

Oh shit, I didn't know you had that. That's funny as well.

Alex:

Yep. I got it on sale a while back. Um, and I didn't play it too much, but um, it was really fun though, because eventually he was like, So gotta try that strikers out, Mario Striker. Yeah, I was like, oh, that's that's for sure. I was like, oh yeah, you try to play that now, aren't you? Uh so we played that. He's fucking loved it, dude. He got super into it. Like, I whooped him up a couple of times, he started getting a little better. He still couldn't take me down because I got big video game knowledge, but nothing bad.

Luke:

Dude, that was a lot of fun. Hell yeah.

Alex:

And shout out, shout out to Nintendo for like making games that are you know one part complex, but also like approachable enough for a kid that doesn't play too many video games to start to figure out. Uh, but that was a lot of fun, dude. So that was another major side quest. Uh, other than that, just been reading books, but no need to go into those because they're nonfiction marketing books, and ain't nobody got time for that. Set me a very good steaming romance novels. Yes, dad porn they call it. So those will be the major side quests, bro. Uh fun, fun, uh fun to play. Called a lamb, fun side quests. Thanks everybody for tuning in. Uh holler at all the folks that reached out, being like, where y'all at? Appreciate you. Uh we we here, we just been doing stuff. Uh excited to get this one out. We got more coming.

Luke:

We're trying to hit you with a bonus to catch up. So it's coming, it'd be coming. Stops big timing with his cool plans.

Alex:

This is busy, bro. You just is busy. Nope. Not when I'm talking shit, I'm not. Right on, brother man. Much love. Thanks all for listening. Give us five stars on your platform of choice. We ain't got time for that one star bullshit. If you listen this long, why are you giving us one star? Give us five stars. I need it for my ego. Hate listened, would not do again. Also, jump if you're not in that Discord, jump in the Discord so I got people to talk to about video games. I know we got social media and stuff, but here's the deal. Sometimes I like to take breaks. I get hot and cold on social media, but I always got my Discord open. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And there's a so there's a link, there's an invite link in the in the show notes. You can get that at Low5Gaming.com. Much love, y'all. Peace. Peace peace.

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Alex

Host
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Luke

Host