I think that going completely nuts after spending 20 minutes in a virtual alien planet, losing my shit laughing after seeing my friends die because they stepped on a random mine and screaming at the top of my lungs when encountering the thorn man for the first time has taught me more about myself than any psychologist ever could.

I’ve played a ton of games that are fun with friends, games that were a good distraction for a couple of minutes and from which we had a good laugh or two; few of them I could call good and even fewer I could bother remembering. Of course I cherish and even still play the likes of Duck Game or Ultimate Chicken Horse, but most other multiplayer focused games that I played are, too put it light it, unremarkable; they know the fact they are 2 player or more only can carry them as an experience, so they entirely rely on that fact and forget to add something more potentially meaningful; they are fun for the duration of a discord-call, but not much else. The games manage to truly stick are something that truly commit, whether is by doing an extremely simple yet effective experience that takes advantage of its multiplayer status to make something REALLY fun and enjoyable, or by putting some meat on its bones and creating a more complex, deeper gameplay loop that manages to stand on its own two feet while working as a 2 or more player experience. Lethal Company is a bit of an oddity, because despite being an early access, and despite not fully fitting in neither of those two categories, it manages to be better than practically all the examples I could give.

It’s a fairly simple loop: start, choose a moon, descend, explore, get materials, try to not perish during the turmoil and fight against the horrors that your own company which you are working for is putting you through, get out (step that may or be not be accomplished), repeat; I would make joke about how this is basically the average real-life current work routine, but I’m afraid it writes itself.

This pattern plays out in every 3 day loop, but whatever will happen in each of the days never feels the same; maybe you’ll get lucky and encounter a ton of items just after entering the facility and get out before the night falls, maybe one of you will stay in the cameras guiding the rest and helping them stay out of danger, or maybe you’ll face moments that rival a fucking horror film, like descending to a lower level and seeing a nightmarish creature run across the hallways in front of you; maybe hearing a sound, being told by your friend it’s only your imagination, only to turn back once again and watching as a shadow monster runs towards you at full speed; or maybe watching your companions being followed by unspeakable creatures through the cameras as they shout through the walkie-talkies, moments that make you feel like you are facing cosmic horrors so far beyond your capabilities, but still tangible and real, and your options are either facing them, or to embrace the coldness of space at the hands of your corporate overlords just because you didn’t hit a number, it doesn’t matter the way you look, you’ll only see danger… but it’s also really funny to see your friends panic as you close the door on them and dancing after seeing them being mauled by a giant moth that only became violent because they hit it with a shovel.

Perhaps there’s a statement to be made about how we as humans treat unclenching horrors as all in a day’s work… I just think this is really funny. Lethal Company strikes that perfect balance of creating a perfect terrifying ambience and actual in-depth mechanics as much as it tickles the funny bone: it knows it’s a horror game, but it also knows it’s silly as hell. You COULD spend your hard-earned money on better equipment that will help you during extractions, but wouldn’t be real funny to buy a TV that only displays propaganda or a fish and call it ‘’Suppository’’? You heard of fight or flight? Well, here at Lethal Company we have a variation called ‘’fight or flight or laugh’’, and you’ll be doing the latter at lot even when you realistically shouldn’t, and the former stops being a feasible solution when you realize that your best possible weapon is a shovel.

I say that, but you will have to face things no sane person would want to, be it running as fast as your legs allow you or fighting it head on to save your life or a friend’s. Fun thing is, each and every single creature you come across will prompt a different response; some are slow but unkillable, others are actually peaceful when unprovoked but will steal everything you come across, others are stationary and won’t attack unless you go too close to them or are detected through other means, and others are just nightmare fuel. The ’’Thorn man’’ (I know he has a real official name, but I think it’s fun to give these little hell spawns your own names, me and my friends called the big moth Antonio) is easily one of the scariest thing I’ve come across in any game, easily my favorite creature in all the game and one you NEED to play around and KNOWS how to make you scared, and he’s only one out of the many that are in the roster, don’t get me even started on the one that crawls around that the speed of fucking sound, me and my friends decided to call that one ‘’AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-‘’, it comes right out the tongue when seeing it.

You always need to play around all these bastards, even when you don’t know which ones are inside with you. You have to know what items are a priority, when to get out and when to stay, that rooms are safer and easy to maneuver in, and when to get out before even more dangerous creatures start to roam the outside, or when the weather starts becoming a true danger. So far there’s not much variation in the installations themselves, but I don’t see it as a problem; not only it sells you better the idea of a monopolized, dire universe, it also makes traversing them get a bit comfortable each time, but they never stop feeling oppressive, since they are always rearranging every time you land, and pitch black rooms and steam leaks are never not horrifying. I’m sure that this as the time goes by, more variety will be added, so maybe this seems like an odd think to praise, since of course if there was more types of rooms and structures it wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s one of those things that, as it is right now, it doesn’t bother me at all.

In fact… there isn’t much that bothers me in general; the sheer amount of fun, of satisfaction after managing to survive together or meeting the quota by the skin of your teeth, and the sheer laugh at either the hilarity of this madness is soul-healing. It’s more than a fun time; it’s a true experience that feels complete, with a ton to offer and amazingly designed, both for shits and giggles and for shits and screams.

I just really wish I could have recorded some of those plays; I’m sure more will happen in future playthroughs, but there were so many damn good and unbelievable moments that feel straight out of a B horror movie or a fucking sitcom… luckily, one of my friends managed to have one of his buddies record a moment in another run; I wasn’t present for this one, but this is the type of moment that’s worth seeing and summarized the entire game in seconds, enjoy…