By Kyle Walker
Staff Writer
On Oct. 23, the cooperative survival-horror game “Lethal Company” was released in early-access on Steam. The game was both self-published and solo-developed by online alias, Zeekerss.
Since the game’s initial release, it has very quickly become an instant viral hit. Within the weeks of its release, the game has already reached over 100,000 concurrent players, and based on its massive popularity and my own personal experiences with it, I don’t see the hype train stopping anytime soon.
This is especially evident since the game has become the highest rated Steam title of the year, after only being out for a little over a month, beating several of this year’s triple-a smash-hits such as “Baldur’s Gate 3” and the remake of “Resident Evil 4.”
In the game, you and up to three other friends play as contractors for “the company” and your only goal is to meet a quota of money within a three day deadline. Within this time your objective is to visit various alien moons and collect junk from the industrial buildings to then sell to meet the quota. If you miss the quota, you all get ejected into outer space and have to restart from scratch.
Seems simple enough… right?
While collecting the scraps from these moons, you will run into several obstacles such as bad weather, radiation, landmines, and deadly monsters, all of which could end your trip abruptly. Combining this with random-generated layouts, you are always in for a surprise.
Upon first look, the game has a very charming low-quality art style to it. The choppy and pixelated cel-shaded graphics make it seem almost cartoonish while still having a sense of realism. At some points when objects are further away, it can be hard to process what you are looking at, but I think that just adds to the challenge of the game.
The game itself has little to no story to it, making the communication, teamwork, and hijinks among your crew crucial to the enjoyment of the game. It’s often that I am dying of laughter whenever I play this game. This combined with the overall simplicity make the game very easy to enjoy for both casual and veteran players.
I began playing this game not knowing too much about it, so everything was a surprise, and I absolutely loved that. This made the game feel unsettling as I didn’t really know what to expect. This made traversing the facilities unnerving, and I enjoyed that quite a bit.
The best moments I had in this game were from silly errors and overreactions made by myself or crewmates. Failing the objective of the game allows for moments like that to happen, and it’s weird to say but honestly I prefer that over playing the game “correctly.”
Although I have really enjoyed my experiences with this game thus far, I definitely see it getting old, at least in the state that it is in now.
What might make this game get old quickly is the lack of any real reward for completing the quota. Yes, you get to stay alive and complete more quotas, get slightly better items, and even cosmetics for your ship, but I don’t think that is enough to keep me playing long-term. This is especially since you run the risk of losing everything you’ve gained if you don’t meet the quota.
I do also understand that this game is in early access, so more features will be added in the future.
However, even in the state it is currently in, this is a fantastic game to play with all your buddies due to all the unique situations you will get into. I can’t say I am tired of it just yet either, and I am very excited for the future of this game.
Rating: A-
OSHA Violations: The Game