Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven is the perfect reason to return to the game. Full stop. I didn’t even want to bother with a fun, creative way to start this review. This is one of the most substantial DLCs I have played, and it brings a fresh, challenging, and rewarding new way to play Cult of the Lamb. Overall, it is worth it.
I have been waiting rather impatiently for Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven, and I did myself a favour by listening to absolutely nothing about it before I played. I avoided trailers and news entirely. I just knew that new content was coming to Cult of the Lamb, and I locked in and trusted my gut. Something I do think is important to know about Woolhaven, if you are a fan of Cult of the Lamb, is that it is nothing like the DLC packs before it.
Aside from Sins of the Flesh, I feel like the other DLC packs have not added much to the game. New decor, new follower forms, but nothing really substantial. Even Sins of the Flesh, you could get away with just ignoring, and it wouldn’t change much. With Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven, not only have they added hours and hours to the game —seriously, if you like to base build, you can easily spend another 20+ hours on just this expansion—but they also added entirely new mechanics that tack on more survival roadblocks than ever before.
“Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven is the perfect reason to return to the game. Full stop.”
On one of the coldest weekends in Canada, during a brutal North American storm, Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven was released, an expansion entirely about winter, blizzards, storms and your followers freezing to death. Doesn’t that sound fun? The timing couldn’t have been better. I spent a full winter storm enduring a digital storm, too! However, Woolhaven is about more than just winter; it is about the forgotten Goddess of the Lambs, Yngya.
You are being called to return the lost souls of Woolhaven and rebuild an entirely new area of the game. This expansion brings new characters, two new maps for runs, a new section where you can rebuild shops and other buildings, new follower forms, a ton of new buildings for your base, and a whole pile of mechanics. It honestly could have been a small game on its own.
The new mechanics are probably the most substantial, as they change how you play Cult of the Lamb. Woolhaven is only available after you defeat the four Bishops in the base game. You will be warned that once you turn it on, you cannot go back, and once you begin, it certainly takes some getting used to. You will enter Woolhaven and trigger winter on your base.
The season will come and go, changing in length and severity. Followers can freeze to death, work less due to the cold, and farm plots won’t be available. It is a whole new series of challenges. You aren’t just balancing hunger and loyalty anymore. You have to balance your food supply, warmth, and time. New buildings, such as the Furnace, can help keep your followers warm, but fuel runs out, and if you take too long on a run, you may come back to frozen friends.
I don’t want to dive too deep here, as I could go on and on about new items and things to constantly think about. I love the new survival mechanics here because it’s not just more of the exact same loop. Massive Monster decided to change the formula just enough to make things fresh and interesting without alienating its core fanbase. They hit just the right marks to bring something new to the table with Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven without turning it into a whole different game.
“Something I do think is important to know about Woolhaven, if you are a fan of Cult of the Lamb, is that it is nothing like the DLC packs before it.”
Something else I really loved about Woolhaven is its soundtrack and voices. A lot of the music reminded me of Imogen Heap’s song Hide and Seek, which has always been a favourite of mine. The tone is eerie yet soothing, and I thought it was beautiful. This was also the first time I really noticed the characters’ voices. Of course, it isn’t words, but it felt deliberate and purposeful anyway.
There was also weight behind what happened with certain characters. Choices you make could affect the game, your new followers and new characters throughout. You need to prove yourself to several of the characters, too; they don’t just trust you because you are on a mission for their God or even because you save them. Each new character brings a section to Woolhaven, which unlocks a Legendary Weapon hut, a new game (which I really suck at), ranching and more.
With all of that new content, there have been a few small bugs, and some things I don’t completely love. For example, I entered a room on a run and combat began quickly, as always, but at the same time, a complete story beat started taking place. So while there was dialogue moving, I was being attacked from all sides (the combat is FAST in Woolhaven), and I missed most of what was said before I realized it was glitched and I wasn’t being hurt.
“Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven brought more to the game than I have seen a DLC do in a very long time, and it was so worth the wait.”
With that, I am confident in the game’s willingness to update and improve these things, and wasn’t really phased by it. My other issue, which is probably more me than anything, was that I found the story a bit hard to follow. Returning souls results in more brutal, awful winters, and I didn’t really see why I should want to, aside from “I want to finish the game”, which was true.
I also thought ranching could be explained a little more. It is mostly self-explanatory, but when animals just kept dying, I wasn’t sure why. They would be fed before I left, but I have no idea if they starved, froze, or did something else, and I wasn’t sure where to find out. With that, though, I was obsessed with the tiny animals, especially gifting them to my followers.
My complaints about Woolhaven are really only there as a critic. Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven brought more to the game than I have seen a DLC do in a very long time, and it was so worth the wait. Not only did this DLC bring me back to the game, but it revitalized it and made it something new without losing everything I love about Cult of the Lamb.
