Cult of the Lamb received generally positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise directed towards its gameplay and replay value.

There they can find or rescue other captured or lost animals in order to create and grow a cult following dedicated to the player.

After Shamura is defeated, The One Who Waits instructs The Lamb to visit him in his realm to return the demonic crown and to be sacrificed in his name.

They planned to make a roguelite dungeon crawler along with base building, but the premise was uncertain and evolved over the course of development.

[12] It originally featured a lamb god who had been kicked out of a pantheon over a lack of popularity, and had to rebuild his following on earth.

The next revision featured the lamb running hell, but the team did not want to include torture as a theme too heavily.

The premise of the lamb instead running a cult proved more popular with the team, and this line of thinking secured the publishing deal with Devolver Digital.

On March 12, 2024, a graphic novel adaptation of the game entitled The First Verse was launched on Kickstarter, written by Alex Paknadel and Troy Little, published by Oni Press.

[27] The game's original soundtrack was composed by River Boy, and was made available for purchase on the Steam page on launch day.

[29] On October 21, 2024, an extended play (titled Hymns of the Unholy) was announced by Massive Monster containing metal remixes of songs from the soundtrack by Pick Up Goliath, featuring current and former members of Light the Torch, Trivium, While She Sleeps, Polyphia and more.

[32][33][31][34] GameSpot praised the combat, calling it "fast-paced, fluid and fun" while also being surprised by the amount of customization and player-choice which in turns makes the game "very replayable".

[39] Nintendo Life liked the variety present in the dungeon crawling, writing, "New layouts and equipment loadouts keep every run unique, while its intense and chaotic battles demand your full attention".

[41] Destructoid felt the game tutorialized its mechanics properly, "Again, for all of the elements that come into play, Cult of the Lamb presents everything in a digestible way".

[35] PC Gamer compared the game to the Animal Crossing series, saying it's like "if Tom Nook craved power instead of money", and enjoyed the ways in which the player could manage their cult, writing that it could be complicated, "but it never threatens to be overwhelming".

[37] The Washington Post disliked the combat, feeling that it often devolved into a jumbled mess, "the game's 2.5D perspective would make it difficult to gauge where you are even if you weren't constantly sliding all over the battlefield".

[10] Polygon liked the characters that the player could find in dungeons, saying that they were "genuinely interesting, with their backstories mostly obfuscated and enhanced by their charming picture book-esque designs".