Cult of the Lamb is wading even further into hell with its next big expansion, Woolhaven, set to launch in early 2026. While hints of the lower darkness encroach into the base game story, this DLC is set to bring hell in more visceral form, with brand new, bloody dungeons, as well as icy caverns awaiting players. The expansion introduces a new layer of challenge, including new weapons, cult members, cult needs, and more.
Getting hands-on at PAX Aus 2025, I found Woolhaven immediately striking in its high contrast visuals, and incredibly heavy-hitting on all sides. This expansion aims to grow the mythos and world of Cult of the Lamb, and Massive Monster has clearly aimed to go bigger and better here, pitting players against the newly-encroaching threat of the Rot, and ensuring its danger is well-understood.
The PAX Aus demo charted one of the game’s new dungeons, which is clearly inspired by the pop culture vision of hell – it’s all oozing red structures, disembodied eyes, blood running, and separated flesh. It’s as far into the world of horror that Cult of the Lamb has gone, to date, with these new dungeons intricate and beautiful, but equally, horrific.
Paired with new, vicious monsters, the expansion is shaping up to be a real hell of a time. As you wander, you encounter beasties that split off into different, smaller monsters. Ones that crawl like worms, and must be chopped into individual segments. Others that shoot fireballs from their bodies, in a halo that must be avoided if you want to live.
Flail around in Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven
At the very least, you do get new weaponry to face down these hordes. Woolhaven introduces new flails that are perfect for the job, with these being meaty and satisfying to swing. There’s a very neat trick to these tools, because they’re melee-adjacent, with ranged capabilities – you need to figure out how best to position yourself, and then let your weapon swing with enough distance to then escape any encroaching attacks.
It makes Cult of the Lamb feel a lot more tactical, with strategy and good timing needed to avoid new, more aggressive enemies.
I’m a pretty experienced Cult of the Lamb player, having spent dozens of hours completing the base game, and roaming through some of its post-game dungeons for the good of my flock. But I had trouble here, with the new layers of strategy baked in allowing for more complex fights that require patience, practice, and good timing. That’s not to mention the fortitude of enduring the hell dungeons and their creepy, spooky towers of blood.
The balance of difficulty
The balance of difficulty is just right, at least – and I know my felling came about due to my own skills, and that need for observation, rather than rushing in. My second run went better than my first, and I know my next run will be better again. It’s all about building up your understanding, figuring out exactly how enemies move, and then smashing and dashing your way to glory, in your quest to fight back against the Rot.
While not shown off in my particular preview, Massive Monster has previously confirmed Woolhaven is much more than these new, bloody dungeons. You’ll venture into an entirely new realm in this expansion, with fire and ice pushing you back, and devastating your flock. You’ll need to conquer dungeons to defeat deadly beasts, and push back against a new enemy, but you’ll also need to spend time saving your flock from freezing temperatures, and other deadly threats.
While only a slim taste of what’s to come, playing through Woolhaven at PAX Aus 2025 gave me plenty to look forward to, and to fear. I’m slightly terrified the new, freezing weather patterns will completely decimate my cult – I had trouble keeping them from diseases and death, even without this threat – but the layer of challenge will certainly add more spice to Cult of the Lamb, and even more reasons to forge onwards.
For now, Massive Monster plans to release Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven in early 2026, so stay tuned for more news.
