‘Lethal Company’ Review: The Company is Now Hiring

Lethal Company is the new co-operative horror game on the block that has captured the imagination of gamers worldwide by storm. You play as a lowly employee of the Company, scavenging abandoned industrialized moons for scrap to meet the profit quota. And you have got to meet that quota, no matter the cost, even if it’s your life. Below is an excerpt from the logs of a party of three that work for the Company.

Day 1    

Moon: 41-Experimentation, Hazard level B.

The day begins by pledging allegiance to the Company (we love the Company) via the silly little dance number that the Company has ingrained in our mind, body and soul. After our little jig we head out to the facility to meet our profit quota. The decidedly harmless Manticoils circle over our heads like buzzards. An omen of what is to come?

Stepping through the main entrance of the facility seems like stepping into a cold mausoleum. Employee A warns us not to wander too far, we don’t have walkie-talkies and hence cannot communicate if we get separated. Sticking together we made our way scavenging what scrap we could find. Unfortunately, Employee B’s supposedly innate sense of direction proved to be our undoing. Perhaps Employee C’s offhand comment, “Is this dark hallway where we want to be?” should have been taken more seriously. Our ship took off at midnight as per the schedule (the Company’s “way of minimizing damage to proprietary hardware”) while we remained trapped in the dark labyrinth, leading to our life support being cut off.

Day 2

Moon: 21-Offence, Hazard Level B.

Somehow the omnipotent Company resurrects us and we find ourselves back in decidedly one piece. Employee A has the foresight to purchase two walkie-talkies with the meager spare change we have left to increase our chances of survival. We set off with renewed vigor — we will not fail the Company. Employee B’s enthusiasm is cut short due to his unfortunate failure to see quicksand on the ground, leading to his subsequent death. Employees A and C head off into the facility while Employee B now spectates as a disembodied ghost. Employees A and C encounter a strange humanoid entity whose head is balanced on a spring. The scanner indicates this entity to be a Coil-Head, that moves whenever they aren’t looking. Employees A and C carefully navigate their way around the facility and are successful in their supply run. They barely manage to return to the ship ahead of schedule as the cheeky ghost of Employee B advances the take-off time.    

Day 3

Moon: 41-Experimentation, Hazard level B.

What’s better than a devil you don’t know? A devil you do. Determined to meet quota in the one day we had left, it was unanimously decided that going back to a moon we already knew was a smart move. Employee A invests in three shovels which were supposedly to aid us to exterminate any threats we might find. The coast is clear in the facility and we were under the impression that things were looking up for us. Employees A and (happily resurrected) B, waited outside with our treasure trove of trash as Employee C lugged the stop sign back to the front. A shrill high-pitched scream cuts through the air followed by radio silence. Employee C fails to respond to any calls made by Employee A or B. Sensing their colleague is either dead or dying, Employee A turns to Employee B and gives a three-step tutorial to avenge Employee C (and collect the corpse). It goes as thus:

Lesson 1: Grab Shovel

Lesson 2: Equip Shovel

Lesson 3: Go in

After this quick lesson, Employee A shouts “I am vengeance!” and disappears into the facility. Not less than three seconds later, Employee A reappears badly bleeding but successful not only in retrieving majority of the scrap that Employee C held, but also Employee C’s corpse. As Employees A and B make their way back to the ship, they mournfully sing “We love the Company!” as a dirge.

D-Day

Moon: 71-Groidon, Hazard Level: Safe

Finally, the dreaded day arrives. We disembark on the celestial body where the Company resides. It is dark here, outside; time seems to be at a standstill. The imposing building looms in front of us. There don’t seem to be any flora or fauna. There is a single glass-paneled shop, seemingly unmanned, opening towards the left side of the wall. This is the slot where one must deposit all scrap to the Company. Whatever we deposited disappears in a flash. Employee C notices a bell at the front and begins to ring it continuously. Employee A warns Employee C that ringing the bell and irritating the Company representative is a bad, bad idea. Employee C does not heed the advice. Employees A and B back away warily when strange sounds emanate from the building. Suddenly three red tentacles burst forth from the slot and drag Employee C into the building. Employee A remarks, “I guess Employee C is part of the Company now.”

We meet quota, but at the cost of our friend. Just another average day working for the Company (which we love).

End of Log.

With that brief picture of a routine in the life of a grunt worker, it’s easy to see why Lethal Company is so popular. It’s challenging and near impossible to beat alone, but extremely hilarious while playing with friends. It’s anxiety-inducing at times, hunkered down in a dark corner hoping that whatever entities are roaming out and about won’t notice you. Even when you die, the Company manages to berate you by calling you lazy and paranoid. There is no escape from the Company, there is only suffering.

All monsters make unique sounds and have patterns that can be established so you can get around them without losing your life. You are racing against time to meet quota, the game encourages you to be smart and find ways to solve the problems that you encounter on these natural satellites. One can always choose to go to a moon where the risk level is decidedly lower if tackling something above one’s pay grade seems daunting.

A word of warning to those who suffer from entomophobia; there are lots of them crawling about the terrain. They can and will kill you. However, if you do like bugs, then this is the game for you.

Lethal Company’s graphics are a mix of a PlayStation 1 game in the format of a pseudo-graphic novel all seen through a sepia filter. The darkness is as much a threat as the monsters in it. With changing weather conditions, you need to constantly scan the environment. Scanning tells you what’s around you, it identifies useful information, be it scrap that you scavenge or adding entities to your bestiary. There’s nothing about this game that outwardly looks like a horror game, but there’s something about that alien terrain that makes you feel so ill at ease on occasion. At no point do any of the moons feel welcoming, not even the supposedly safest moon where the Company is.

The proximity voice chat system is gold. Do not use Discord, use in-game comms for maximum immersion. If you wander too far from your crew minus the walkie-talkies, their sound gets cut off. This also means that you are forced to rely on your walkie-talkies, which makes for an entertaining yet bittersweet gameplay element. Sometimes all you can do is listen to the horrified screams of your friend being slowly killed in a room over the walkie-talkie.

Lethal Company is still in the Early Access stage so we can expect more to look forward to as updates occur. It is however best played as a group rather than played solo. Full disclosure, playing alone makes the game repetitive and boring after a while. It is truly the company that makes Lethal Company a wild and entertaining time. Round up a group of friends that are willing to become cogs in this corporate murder machine and you are good to go.

Remember, this isn’t a game. This a job.