The Cult of the Lamb poo fascination is an odd one, and it’s yet another quirk that marks the title as one of 2022’s best roguelike games. Turns out that there’s some scientific proof in your cultists’ obsession with all things ew, meaning that Devolver have actually done a pretty good job of showing off what it would be like to lead an animal army.
If you’ve finished taking down all of the Cult of the Lamb bosses, you’ll likely be turning your attention to your ever-growing following in an attempt to keep them happy (and, in turn, brainwashed).
Certain followers have unique interactions. For instance, you can pet the dog in Cult of the Lamb, but that courtesy doesn’t extend to any of your other animal companions.
Some of your woodland warriors, however, want you to provide for their specific dietary requirements – and by that we mean their yearning to, well, eat poo (and hopefully not die by natural causes, we want to sacrifice them of course). It turns out that there’s actually some scientific basis for their odd obsession, meaning that Devolver have actually managed to perfectly capture some of the weirder aspects of animal behaviour.
A tweet from ecological expert, Dr. Ashley Conway, explains the science behind this apparently bizarre meal choice. “This is an excellent opportunity to remind folks that monogastric [a stomach with only one chamber] hindgut fermenting species like donkeys, horses and rabbits regularly engage in coprophagy (eating their poo nuggets) to recapture important nutrients their GI systems missed the first time around!” she writes.
“So basically this game looks both wicked cute AND scientifically accurate. And that makes my little nerd heart sing.”
Whether or not the devs did this intentionally, or simply wanted to add a little more disgusting to the already bizarre world of Cult of the Lamb remains unknown, but either way there’s some fun science associated with the game. Maybe if I’d played it back in biology all those years ago, I’d have learned something.
If you’re looking to brush up on all things culty, though, be sure to check out our Cult of the Lamb beginner’s guide before you dive into the chaos. You can also check out the Cult of the Lamb system requirements to ensure that you too can dine on poo if you want to.