Ryan S Rogers

Synopsis

Synopsis: You and your crewmates visit derelict locations looking for scrap in order to appease "The Company", but other things are lurking.

Quick Thoughts

Note: All of this pertains to the latest Early Access build of the game as of December 9th, 2023

On the surface the game doesn't seem like much. It's an early access procedurally generated horror extraction rouge-like, and it has all the jank you would expect to come with that. As a single player game, this would be a 1/10. Add in coop and proximity chat, and it skyrockets to a 10/10.

It's hard to describe the magic of the game, because that magic comes from outside of the mechanics.

You're going to die in the game a lot, and you're going to lose runs a lot, but it never feels punishing. There isn't any player progression in the game outside of individual runs. Normally, I wouldn't like this, as I enjoy a meta progression in rougelikes to keep me a little more motivated to get another run going. This gets turned around in lethal company a little bit, as dying seems just as fun as living.

I've never had a death that didn't make me laugh out loud. And being able to watch and listen to your crewmates wonder where you are will never not be hilarious.

For as janky as everything in Lethal Company is, the one part that isn't scuffed is the proximity chat. This is the first game I've played of this kind that absolutely nails the voice part. It's extremely immersive. The jank of everything else is charming, but the game wouldn't be nearly as good without this pretty much perfect audio system.