As the employee wanders through the halls of the mansion, he spies a hairdryer. Along with the toy robot he found earlier, he now has no more free space and so he retraces his steps to reach the building’s exit. Flashlight in hand and shovel in the other, he makes his way through the dark domicile and hears the sound of someone or something sprinting towards him. As he quickly turns around the sprinting stops and the employee sees the outline of a beat-up mannequin with a long coil where its neck should be. The employee turns his head away from the figure but the moment he does so the sprinting resumes, and the next time he sees the mannequin, it’s much closer than it was before. Weighed down by the items he is carrying, the employee must decide if he should make a break for the exit or radio for help from the rest of his team.
Lethal Company is an Indie Cooperative Horror game made by Zeekerss. In Lethal Company, the player takes on the role of an employee working for the mysterious and apathetic “Company” by collecting various kinds of scrap and items from different moons and selling them at Company HQ to meet the profit quota. The catch is that each of these moons is inhabited by extremely dangerous beings both inside the facility and outside of it and that once the clock hits midnight, the conditions of the plane become so hostile that the ship will automatically leave with or without the player on it.
Photo courtesy of Zeekerss
To assist in scavenging the game can be played with three other players, expanding the crew and allowing for more specialized roles such as a radio operator who relays instructions to those inside the building. In addition, the profits made from selling the scrap accumulated can be used to purchase tools, decorations, and ship upgrades, all of which are generously provided by the Company. This player count can be increased through mods such as Morecompany, allowing more employees to struggle in vain attempting to meet the ever-increasing quota before the deadline.
Lethal Company does several things very well. One of those things is its atmosphere. Although the game can feel goofy and silly when traveling with friends, as the mission progresses and the body count rises, players often become separated from the rest of their group, leading to tense moments where players walk through a dark labyrinth where death lurks behind every corner and every sound could be a monster. The atmosphere is only further compounded by the sound design and the nostalgic graphics, which give the game a unique look compared to other games in the genre. The second thing Lethal Company excels at is difficulty. Lethal Company is a difficult game where players are very mortal and nearly everything in the game can kill the player, but the simple use of strategy and sense can improve the odds, the player may die to a Thumper, but next time they will know to watch out, and each monster has its weaknesses that make them avoidable or even killable. The third thing that Lethal Company does well is its length. Each mission takes a maximum of 11 Minutes, which is how long it takes for the ship to automatically leave at midnight, though players can choose to end the round at any time by manually taking off with the ship. The length of each round and the ability to talk in the “dead chat” means that dead players rarely have to wait for very long before they can play again in the next mission while also providing a sense of urgency for all living players to hurry and possibly make mistakes in their rush.
Photo courtesy of Zeekerss
Though Lethal Company is fantastic in several ways, the game does feel too empty on occasion. However, the game is in early access at this time and these issues may be addressed in later updates. There are few enemy types and the number of moons is small. In addition, decorations, tools, and scrap are not very varied and players will often find themselves seeing the same tools being used, the same decorations being available, and the same scrap being collected. Ultimately, the game, while amazing in idea, gameplay, and execution, suffers from a lack of content which leads to some players becoming bored with exploring the same facility type over and over.
All-in-all, Lethal Company is a great game whose only “downside” is that there is not yet enough content in it. Given that the game is only $10 on Steam, Lethal Company is worth every dollar and its cost will be far outweighed by the enjoyment gained from playing this game with friends.
