Cult of the Lamb is all about making friends, albeit that may be through forming a cult full of woodland critters, but that doesn't make it any less wholesome. I've got a great little team with members who would all die for me in a heartbeat, but it can still get lonely at the top. So I'm pretty excited at the prospect of sharing power in Unholy Alliance.
Cult of the Lamb: Unholy Alliance is another free update that's scheduled for release on August 12—its main attraction is the new playable character for local co-op, the Goat. This fleecy little fella can join you for the entire main campaign, meaning that you and a friend can "enjoy new 2-player twists on existing minigames like fishing and knucklebones," according to a press release.
You'll also be able to pick up a range of corrupted weapons, tarot cards, curses, and relics. Although, if you still just want to play by yourself, that's fine, as there'll be new powers and abilities tied into this update for you as well—don't worry, no one's going to force you to give up total control of your cult.
The short teaser trailer for the update also shows off all the fun you can have with a friend, as well as some of the benefits of fighting together. The video starts off with the Lamb having quite a difficult time fighting a rival cultist, and after they dive for shelter, the Goat appears out of nowhere to help finish the job.
The fights won't look as flashy as they do in this animated short, but they should feel different from solo brawls. "The Lamb and the Goat can swap weapons, deal extra damage when fighting back-to-back, or deal a critical hit if their attacks are in sync," the press release says. While it's not a massive issue for me, only getting to play with one weapon can make some fights a bit repetitive, so it's cool that you can swap with your teammate during a fight just to change things up a bit. I'd like to think this would encourage me and a mate to think up some cool combo, but honestly I don't think we'll get that far.
Cult of the Lamb has been on a bit of a winning streak recently, with the last few updates all being really fun and also free. Sins of the Flesh was released last November and added plenty of new minigames, a tailor for making new clothes, and even sex, as you can now build a mating tent, but that only happened thanks to some dedicated Twitter followers. And before all of that, there was Relics of the Old Faith, which added a new post-game storyline, heavy attacks, forms for your followers to evolve into, and more. Free updates aren't unusual at all—plenty of games use them as a way to give fans more content and encourage players to try out a game. Recently, we saw Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone release the impressive 1.6 update for Stardew Valley at no extra cost. But regardless of how unique it is, it's still great to see beloved games adding new content for fans with no monetary incentive.