Hearing friends scream from across the railings becomes a typical occurrence almost every new landing. Out of the ordinary and exciting are the words to describe this new game, which puts players in these situations quite often. “Lethal Company,” a horror game released on Steam on October 23, 2023, took over the game-world. Within a week, the game made its way to the “Top 100 selling games” and has stayed in the Top 10 ever since its release. Not only did the game rank in charts, but was also able to win the “Better With Friends Award,” presented by the 2023 Steam Awards. Of course, seeing these stats I was deeply intrigued, as almost every game now is similar. Developer Zeekerss took on an interesting approach with the game’s objective and this allowed Lethal Company to not disappoint. 

The game at first seems pretty straightforward. Players are assigned a certain quota, which they have three days to complete. In order to meet this quota, players explore different buildings on sets of moons scavenging for scrap metal. On day three, players sell their collected scrap metal at “The Company Building” and if the quota is met, the players are awarded with in-game credits and then complete the same process on different moons collecting different loot. If the quota is not met, well, there won’t be a need to worry about the quota. 

There are three levels of moons that players are able to explore. Easy includes 41-Experimentation, 220-Assurance and 56-Vow. Intermediate with 21-Offense and 61-March. And finally the hardest of the moons, in which players have to spend the credits they earn include 85-Rend ($550), 7-Dine ($600), 8-Titan ($700). The harder the moon, the more loot there is. Sadly, the moons aren’t always in perfect condition. With ever changing weather, collecting loot just gets harder and harder. The weather can either be normal, foggy, rainy, stormy, flooded or eclipsed. I would not recommend going to moons if the weather is eclipsed or flooded. I just like the game being easy.

However, these aren’t just regular moons. On each moon, a series of different creatures inhabit the planets, making it harder for the players to scavenge their loot. The creatures range from very deadly to not so deadly, but the creatures all have one thing in common. They’re all out to make the hunt harder and if you cross their line, there won’t be any more scavenging. Shovels and flashlights sold by the Company are made to help the players reach their quota. With shovels to defend yourself from the creatures and flashlights to light up the dark rooms, the best way to win against the creatures is teamwork. Proximity chat makes for a great way to either hear your friends screaming or alerting each other there is tons of loot around. 

The creatures wait for you inside and outside the buildings. Outside, players can commonly face Eyeless Dogs, which can find you by your voice, and a Forest Keeper, which will stomp after you. More creatures can be found outside like Circuit Bees, Manticoils, and many others. Inside, there’s more creatures after you. Fan favorites include the Bracken, Ghost Girl, Coil-Head, Thumper, Hoarding Bug, Jester, and Bunker Spider. Even though there are many other creatures out there, those will scare you the most. The creatures help the game remain scary and unpredictable and timing is everything. Even after getting caught by the creatures over and over again, spectating your teammates getting chased by the same thing that caught you, makes it very enjoyable.

The game constantly pushes players to keep grinding until they get to the highest moons. Adding in new kinds of loot and a different map layout, Lethal Company keeps players engaged. Most of the time. With my infamous 31 hours I have on the game, after getting to the highest moons, my time was pretty boring after maybe the 15 hour mark. With no “real” ending to the game and the quota just keeps getting higher and higher, the game does get a little repetitive. Though little details like the players description after a day of collecting is pretty neat. Players can be described as “Laziest Employee,” “Most Profitable,” “Most Paranoid” and many more funny ones. 

Another feature keeping the game more interesting than others, is the amount of mods other players have created. Mods can either be changing the skin for a creature, making more loot spawn and adding more skins for the player. Installing a new launcher for a game and downloading said mods can take a while for someone who has never downloaded mods before (like me). I personally just play the game how it comes and as long as I reach the quota, the experience is pretty enjoyable.

Overall, the game is super fun with friends. I do hope the game gets more updates adding more creatures and loot, as after a while of playing, the game gets really repetitive and every minor mistake makes you want to uninstall or just quit. Any people considering buying the game, I would highly encourage you to. Make sure all your friends want to play with you because without them, it’s just you and the creatures.

My rating: 7/10.