Massive Monster's JoJo Zhou Explains Why Cult of the Lamb Leaves Room To Imagine
JoJo Zhou, head of narrative at Massive Monster, spoke at gamescom asia x Thailand Game Show 2026 about how the world of Cult of the Lamb gets built.
1 source 44m ago
Reporting from 1 source: 4Gamer.net.
Why it matters
Zhou's account shows the Woolhaven story came out of a name the base game left unexplained, which is the same deliberate gap Zhou says fan culture taught them to leave in a world.
Key Facts
- JoJo Zhou is head of narrative at Massive Monster, the studio behind Cult of the Lamb.
- Zhou gave the talk 'Connecting the Dots: Flexible Worldbuilding in Cult of the Lamb' at gamescom asia x Thailand Game Show 2026.
- The Woolhaven DLC released in January 2026 and places the winter god Yngya at the center of its story.
- Yngya originally appeared only as a name in the text of a collectible in the base game.
- Zhou joined Massive Monster in 2021, about 10 months before Cult of the Lamb was released.
Zhou traced the Woolhaven DLC, released in January 2026, back to Yngya, a winter god who began as a name in a collectible's text. Zhou joined in 2021, about 10 months before the game launched, and has worked on four major updates plus the comic Pilgrim.
Zhou joined Massive Monster in 2021, roughly 10 months before Cult of the Lamb launched, by which point three directors had already fixed the visuals, the premise, and the main characters. Zhou's work was to connect those pieces without contradictions and make the land ruled by the old faith feel deeply mysterious.
On stage, Zhou sorted players into three groups: Skimmers, who glide across the surface and need only the beginning, middle, and end; Swimmers; and Divers. Zhou called Skimmers the hardest group to satisfy, because detailed ideas have to be boiled down into something anyone grasps immediately.
Written with AI by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.
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