Indie Feature: Lethal Company
by William Hernandez
Sometimes you don't need massive marketing campaigns to sell your games. Sometimes all you need is your own players to work as your publicity and that's exactly how Lethal Company has arguably become the biggest game of the month. On the surface, Lethal Company isn't all that innovative of a game. Gameplay-wise, it is very reminiscent to Phasmophobia, particularly with how it sets up missions for players. Its graphics are certainly a fun, stylistic choice, but, if we're being honest, it's mainly just designed this way to make things simpler for the developer (not a bad thing at all). Even the entire space aesthetic has been exhausted a lot in recent years.
But when you put everything together into a co-op sci-fi horror experience, everything just feels right. The quiet yet monster-ridden, distant planets have no trouble making you feel small, insignificant, and isolated. Collecting scrap is plenty rewarding considering that the alternative is getting chased through the dark, abandoned factories that you need to explore through. There's plenty of room to actually work as a team when playing in multiplayer and that is not an insignificant feature when it comes to replayability. It's a genuinely fun group experience that blends comedy and horror seemlessly. There is genuine terror that comes with playing the game, but seeing your friends panicking also creates special, funny moments for everyone to laugh about. Lethal Company wins your heart on two fronts and - playing it - you quickly start to see how it has been able to capture the interest of so many people.
Over and Out
I don't think it's a secret that the proximity chat is what really elevates this game as a standout experience. It provides just the right amount of eeriness and inconvenience to feel like a valuable part of the game. Those moments where you feel all alone is where the atmosphere of Lethal Company really starts to shine. When left to your own devices, doubt and fear really start to settle in. There's power in numbers. Some things just can't be handled all alone. There's also a responsibility aspect to it as well. Knowing that the success of a day may fully depend all on you just adds to the pressure.
Lethal Company makes great use of the limitations of the proximity chat by giving you ways to play around it. Most noticeably, it provides you access to walkie talkies. This allows you and your fellow coworkers to be able to strategize together even when miles apart. Communication is key because information is of the utmost value. Being able to talk together at almost any time means that you can plan things out better. One player can end up staying at the ship to monitor the other players' surroundings to scout for enemies and treasures. Certainly, you could still do that even without walkie-talkies, but being able to transmit feedback will allow you to act on that info without needing to go back amidst the danger. And hey, for what it's worth, screaming at the top of your lungs so that everyone can hear you has its value, too. Don't think there's really a better way to warn your friends about immediate danger.
Risk of Pain
Death is quick and fleeting in Lethal Company and just one wrong step could lead to your demise. Sure, there might be a lot of repetition in terms of the gameplay, but it's unlikely that the days will ever feel the same to you. Every new mission will have its own unique obstacles. Sometimes it might be the terrain...quicksand will kill you quickly. Sometimes it might be your own allies...surely it was just an accident. But most of the time, of course, your biggest threats are going to be the creatures. The variety of creatures available in Lethal Company is one of its strongest areas in design. The developer understood exactly what mistakes players would be liable to committing. And guess what? Even knowing about them, you might still find yourself messing up because some things are out of your agency. There's no way for you to know you're about to walk into a spider web if you can't even see what's around you. You can't really shout at your coworkers to tell them to shut up if there's an Eyeless Dog nearby. It's honestly clever how well the creatures force you to approach the game differently. In their own sick and twisted way, they can actually even support each other to get you killed. Risk and reward is what this game is all about so just make sure your endeavors always end up worth it. Losing all your scrap is a fate much worse than death so just don't ever get too emboldened as a party.
I don't think Lethal Company will be struggling for attention any time soon. And yet, you'd probably be surprised to learn that the game's being developed by one sole person, Zeekerss. It's impressive what they've been able to do and definitely deserves the shoutout. It seems like updates will be coming out on something of a biweekly basis so players should have something new to entertain themselves with fairly regularly. At its core, Lethal Company already seems to understand what players are looking for and I'd expect the same quality going forward; I'm sure upcoming additions will just give us more to rave about. I'm not exactly sure when this game will leave Early Access, but we'll be there when that time comes to give it a more proper review. There's lots of positives as it is now, though, and it's absolutely a recommendation I'd make to anyone.
