LOS ANGELES — Twitch streamer Amber “CroniK” Stokes is worried that playing the game Cult of the Lamb would be a little too on-the-nose for her parasocial viewers.
“My entire business model revolves around the fact that my viewers, who worship me and send me money because I’m cute, hanging on my every word as if I were their leader, don’t realize how weird that is. And Cult of the Lamb dares to threaten all of that. But it looks so fun!” Stokes reportedly told her boyfriend, another streamer. “And I know I want to play with the Twitch add-on that lets you recruit your viewers into your cult, but it really feels like a hat on a hat. In many ways, they’re already in my cult — we just haven’t summoned any Lovecraftian monsters yet. Yet.”
Despite reservations, Stokes did eventually play the game on stream for viewers, who responded well to it.
“Watching CroniK play Cult of the Lamb was so fun! For some reason, I found it super relatable. Like SUPER relatable. Like a mirror was being held up to my screen. Really weird stuff. Cool though!” said one of Stoke’s moderators in her Discord server.
“When CroniK recruited my little Axolotl into her cult, I was so excited. CroniK really changed my life and how I think about the world, so it was just such a cool little moment for me. I know it was just RNG but I felt chosen — I felt a connection to her,” said another Discord user. “Watching her order my little avatar around, it made me wonder what his life was like. Did he like being in the cult? Did he ever have dreams of leaving? Was he being indoctrinated? But then CroniK sacrificed him to The One Who Waits so I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. When that happened, I cried for two whole days. But they were happy tears. I was happy to be a part of something larger than myself.”
At press time, some of Stokes’ Twitch viewers had been chattering about whether or not they were members of a cult themselves, but quickly lost focus when a really sick hype train started popping off.
Hey this article is sponsored by Devolver Digital! Whether you’re playing it for a legion of devoted fans willing to heed your every order, or just looking for a cool indie game to fuck around with on your own, you should check out Cult of the Lamb!You can grab it on Steam right now for a cool $25. DO IT. YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE HARD DRIVE CULT. FOLLOW MY COMMANDS!!!!
