Cult of the Lamb is quickly becoming a stapple of the PAX Australia showfloor, it has been around for a few year now and for good reason, it is a great game and the fact that it is locally made does not hurt.

But with developer Massive Monster currently in the middle of building a massive expansion for the game, Woolhaven, a lot of folks were curious about this new location and more. I had the chance to chat with Harrison Gibbins, the head programmer at Massive Monster, to find out more about the studios first paid expansion for the beloved title.

Maxi-Geek: Yeah, so I'm more curious about why Woolhaven, why now? It's been three years since the game came out.

Harrison Gibbins: Three years since it launched yeah and we have done three free updates, as you know, they've done really great, you know, people love them. So Woolhaven is actually paid DLC, so that's the big difference between the previous three, they were free and this one's a massive content update, basically doubles the length of the game. Yeah, I don't really know why we chose to do it. I do know that one of the directors was unsure and that we should just make something new, but I think Devolver were kind of like, you guys should do a DLC. That's what we've done.

I personally think it's incredible, I hope the players think it's incredible. It's taken quite a while for us to make it, it's been a long development cycle, but like I said, it's going to double the length of the game. It means the game's going to be even better for forever.

MG: So why Woolhaven? Is there an importance to the name that players will discover, or is it just you thought it was cool?

HG: Woolhaven is a location in the game, so that's what Woolhaven means and that's what it's centered around, like the whole update is centered around this location. You see in all the trailers, these ghosts and things, and that's kind of what it's all oriented around. So yes, everything is about Woolhaven and the players will soon find that out.

MG: Now, snow is a bit of a thing with this one (The booth was a temple covered in snow). Was that one of those things that it's so different to what you already had, you just had to do it, or is it because you wanted something that just visually pops?

HG: So firstly, we actually started working on snow, like this update, before Sins of the Flesh, which was our second free update. But then we kind of put it aside to work Sins of the Flesh, and then we worked on the Unholy Alliance, and then we brought the snow back. One of the big reasons for the snow was actually we wanted the game to visually look different for players. So, they knew what the DLC was, what they were buying, so they could say like, ‘Oh, DLC equals snow’. So, if the player is playing the DLC, you know that because you can tell it's snowing. But also, the winter mechanics itself introduce such a fun but challenging experience for the player.

MG: Challenging how?

HG: Well, your followers freeze and all those kind of things, and your crops freeze as well, so it's just kind of like... maintaining your cult whilst keeping them warm, whilst going through the dungeons, whilst also still having the original challenges from the game. It basically just adds another layer of depth to the game that I hope players will enjoy.

We did do one thing where we added this feature where if the players kick off the DLC, it backs up their save file. So, if for some reason they struggle or whatever may happen, their original save file's still there, so there followers, they're still gonna be alive in a different save because, like I said, we do introduce challenges and we don't want players to pay for it and then be angry with what they got.

MG: Fair enough. I think, I can't remember which one it was, but you had one update where it added a third eye to a character. I can't remember the update of what it was. Is there anything bizarre like that that players will find in Woolhaven or is it just more of the same at a new location and other challenges?

HG: Oh, this update's bizarre, oh yeah, absolutely. We have introduced so many new NPCs, so many new elements you know it's still the same kind of formula as the base game but we've thrown in spanners here and there you know suddenly this is different, okay maybe there's not a mini boss with this dungeon there's something else. Like I said there's you know the NPCs they're also unique, the boss fights are you know just like crazy compared to the base game ones and the base game ones are already crazy, so we've added a lot and I really hope the players love it.

MG: Something I'm curious about, is the game obviously has had a lot of success. You guys have been at PAX for the last three years, or four years, I think now. Has it surprised the studio just how much people keep responding to what you guys are doing?

HG: Yeah, I don't think anyone expected the game to do so well and to continue doing so well as well. We come to PAX each year, we have a bunch of merch supplied, we sell out within the first day or two. Next year, we're like, all right, double the merch. We're still out the first day or two. The game has been out for so long and yet people still love it. So I think that's always going to be a bit of a surprise and I really hope that kind of consistency continues with the release of Woolhaven.

MG: Now, obviously, the Lamb, you see cosplayers in the Lamb outfit all the time. I don't think I have seen a non- Lamb character cosplay, but there probably is some.

HG: There's plenty.

MG: Is there a new outfit or look at this game that you think people will start cosplaying as?

HG: Yeah, actually, that's something we've been thinking about. There are so many new NPCs in this game, so I can imagine that people will cosplay as hopefully all of them. But for like, I guess maybe the main one that they might cosplay as, it was probably going to be maybe the more antagonists that are introduced in the DLC, because they play a big part. There's these new ghosts that are kind of popped around in different locations that I think players will probably want to cosplay as, but ultimately, you're going to see lots more lambs; You're going to see lots more ghosts. People love them. Maybe we'll see some snowy lambs and ghosts or something, but you'll see more of the same.

MG: Something that a lot of indie games have done over the years, and it's something that I love, is when they crossover with other indies. Have you considered approaching other studio to say, ‘Hey, we'd like to bring your character into our game’, and if not, why? Also who would be your wish list?

HG: Oh yeah, I already approached Team Cherry. So, my mate's Team Cherry. So I went to their office, gave him one of my plushies, and I said, We're good if I chuck some Hollow Knight shit in Cult of the Lamb and they're like, Yeah. So that's something that I've done. We've also done crossovers from one of the studios, like we did Don't Starve, we did Others that I can't mention, but yes, I personally went to Team Cherry, it was like, yoink! and players will see that.

Actually, it was it was revealed in, sneakily revealed in one of the trailers, that's why I'm kind of sad about it, because it is it is in there and they're the big dogs at the moment, so I thought it's a good idea to utilise my friendship with them and bribe them with a plushie and get some Hollow Knight stuff in there.

MG: So, the last thing I really want to know about Woolhaven yeah except it doubles the size of the game there's a lot in here a lot of games these days offer these you know roguelite type experiences, you guys already have that. Are you doubling down on that in any way, or are you still keeping it where it is now so players aren't too confused about what's changed?

HG: Yeah, we definitely wanted to keep it pretty similar to the base game. We've added, we've made it a bit harder, kind of tweaked some things here and there, but really the game is very similar to the base game. The roguelike elements are the same. We keep it accessible for people that aren't too much into their combat side of things because then you know Cult of the Lamb is like a base builder cross dungeon crawler roguelike and we get folks all the way from Binding of Isaac that hardcore roguelike fans to folks who play Animal Crossing so we really need to make sure that we are accessible to both. Julian, our creative director, is terrible at video games, so he's very much our benchmark to make sure that if he's struggling with going a bit too hard, if he's finding it too easy, it must be too easy.

MG: So, with the roguelite stuff, when you first created it, was that always the case you wanted to have that in?

HG: Yeah, so like I wasn't around at Massive Monster for the birth of Cult of the Lamb. I did come in around halfway. So, the elements were already there, but I do know that the base building side of things did come kind of first and then like, the inspiration was like Stardew Valley's dungeon mechanics, where you go down in a dungeon, you collect some resources and come back up. That was always the inspiration for this game. So, both elements were always there. It wasn't like, Hey, we should make a roguelike, or Hey, we should make a base builder, or it was always you want to do both of these. We'll try and, you know, target both genres like that.

MG: I have to ask now that the Switch 2 is out, are there any plans of a bespoke version on Switch 2.

HG: Yeah, we'd love to. Nothing that we can say or nothing that's set in stone yet, but it's just getting our hands on all the Switch 2 required stuff. There will be, it's just a matter of time. Just a matter of time, we'll do something.

MG: That was all the questions that I had.

Many thanks to Harrison and Devolver Digital for taking the time to answer my questions about Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven. The expansion is aiming for a 2026 release and you can stay up to date on all official updates around it here.