The maudlin, fantastical, and rather excellent survival game Don't Starve launched in 2013, followed three years later by co-op sequel Don't Starve Together. For the game's 10th anniversary developer Klei Entertainment has announced a two-way collaboration with 2022's brilliant Cult of the Lamb, a roguelike town sim with a winningly grim sense of humour that's an all-timer in the "one more hour at 2am" category. Both games are receiving content based on the other, and Cult of the Lamb especially has gone all-in.
Cult of the Lamb adds the new follower Webber, a character from Don't Starve Together's DLC that is essentially a fusion of child and spider. He's cute as heck and has a little trail of spiders following him around, but in Cult of the Lamb cuteness will only ever mean one thing: sacrifice his ass. On top of Webber there are new base decorations including a charming pig's head, and some new music inspired by Don't Starve.
The big addition is a new mode: Patience. This adds survival elements in the form of hunger and sleep bars to a game that's already something of a genre mash-up: they constantly deplete, and when empty cause damage until they kill you.
"Be sure to rest and feed your hungry little Lamb or not only will they perish, it will be game over... permanently," writes developer Massive Monster. "The key to survival will be to manage both your Hunger and Sleep levels: they will continue to go down, even when on crusades. You will be able to abandon a crusade early, but this will come at a slight cost of some of the resources you gathered."
Don't Starve Together's update isn't quite so comprehensive, focusing on mostly cosmetics. Simply logging in will net you skins inspired by Cult of the Lamb: The Lamb, The Lamb's Blade, Flock's Chest, and The Lamb's Reward. There's also a Twitch drop, the Camelia Flowerbed, and here's how to get it. Then there's The Crown trinket, which unlocks new blueprints.
The updates are free for both games, and come alongside a hefty 66% discount for Don't Starve Together and 35% off Cult of the Lamb. Finally, I do have to quote the Don't Starve dev team's patch notes and hand over a dad joke medal: "Something wooly this way comes! A charming change-up is coming to the Constant, and we can hardly contain our shear excitement. You’ll have it baa-d for this culty collab!"
