There seems to be a common question when it comes to lower priced indie games as to whether or not they are “worth” the money, given their usually short length. There may not be a universal answer there, but if it’s a question that you have about Lamb Worship., let me give you the facts, as I experienced them.
My current playtime of Lamb Worship. stands at 16 hours for the $25 game. I have “beaten” the game in the sense that I have finished the entire main storyline to roll credits, clearing the four main dungeons and killing the final boss (no spoilers, but I think you can probably guess who it is). Back at cult HQ, I have unlocked every combat upgrade, every doctrine, every ritual slot, every building, every tarot card, every decoration. I think I’m hovering around 23-25 followers, depending on who decides to die of old age at any given time.
I have seen some complaints that Lamb Worship. does not have a replayable endgame like Hades, extending playtime indefinitely. That’s kind of true, and here’s the deal with that.
Instead of generating money, all buildings will unlock worship and devotion for you once. There will be less stuff to invest in, and eventually you will be able to upgrade your max trees. As I mentioned before, you can earn more currency from them and replay old dungeon maps.
Lamb Worship.
Devolver
The “endgame” of Lamb Worship. is not really combat focused, but instead, building up your cult space as much as you want, whether that’s through decorations or upgrading to max levels of all the buildings, which I have not done. Essentially it kind of turns into Animal Crossing even more. You will still need to run combat maps to get bones for rituals if you want to keep doing those (and you’ll need a few to keep morale up/resurrect cult members and such). But most of the focus will just be on building a cool base, rather than continuous, incremental power upgrades like you can get through a zillion Hades runs.
To me this is…fine? I do not need every game to have some infinitely replayable endgame, and I am okay with finishing Lamb Worship. and walking away considering it a fun experience that sure, was worth $25 for 16 hours of gameplay across a weekend. I’ve paid more for less, but again, I do think there has been a creeping expectation that every game must provide infinite value indefinitely, and I’m not sure that’s fair.
I would certainly recommend Lamb Worship., even at full price, though if you want to wait for a sale, that’s your prerogative. This will probably end up on my top 5-10 GOTY list by the end of 2022, given what’s left to come here, and it feels like a fun diversion to experience for a cheaper price than a full AAA game, similar to how I also felt about Stray recently (albeit they’re very different games, despite both being animal-focused).