Lethal Company Review – An Incredible Multiplayer Experience

As you’ll learn from reading my review, Lethal Company has slowly become one of my favorite multiplayer games this year. But it’s not a perfect game by any measure, and it does come with its fair share of flaws as well which is to be expected since it is still in early access.

However, the roguelike implementation of survival horror with multiplayer on top has got me investing hours upon hours into what is basically an incomplete experience.

Story And Setting

There isn’t really much of a story to the game at this point, but it’s also intended to be a primarily multiplayer experience. 

However, you basically play as a corporate slave of The Company who has to fulfill the profit quota within the time limit, or they will get ejected into space as a punishment. So that is what can happen to all four players in a team should they fail, and the game restarts once you get evicted from your spaceship.

Tou basically play as a corporate slave of The Company who has to fulfill the profit quota within the time limit, or they will get ejected into space as a punishment.

As for the setting, this is where Lethal Company really shines, as there are eight different moons, like Assurance, that you can explore. Each moon also features a base where you will be scavenging around for scrap, and the facilities there are procedurally generated levels, each with their own challenges.

Gameplay

I understand that that overall gameplay might sound a bit confusing at first, but trust me when I say that when it clicks, you will not stop playing Lethal Company.

Basically, a group of four players gets spawned inside a spaceship after you start a game, and they are tasked with exploring the facilities of whichever moon they choose.

The mechanics of some locations like Experimentation are relatively easier to understand, but there are more challenging moons like Titan as well.

And whilst exploring these facilities, you’re tasked with finding scrap or junk you can sell to make a profit. Each team has 3 days to fulfill the profit quota, and if they fail, The Company will throw them into space. There’s even an Overtime mechanic you can exploit to make more money. But collecting scrap isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Lethal Company is a survival horror experience that will bombard you with eldritch horrors as you wander around these decrepit facilities. Monsters will eat away at each team member one by one, and you will have to not only survive against them but also the rising profit quota of The Company.

It also provides you with a plethora of mechanics to stay clear of these monsters. Each player in the team has four inventory slots that can be used to carry various useful items or scrap back to the ship. Out of the four players, one can even choose to stay behind on the ship and guide the other three players instead.

This mechanic, alongside many others, made me fall in love with the game. The three players inside the facility do not know what they’re about to face, but the guide inside the ship can see the horrors and the scrap items near the others. So that creates a feeling of mutual trust between your team and adds to the overall experience.

Once the three days are over for exploration, you must head back to The Company. If the credits the players earn fulfill the profit quota, the game allows the team to progress further with a new profit quota they must meet in another three days. The amount keeps increasing each cycle, and the tension keeps ramping.

Lethal Company is a survival horror experience, that will bombard you with eldritch horrors as you wander around these decrepit facilities.

And so the cycle of corporate slavery continues until you fail to meet the quota, and the adventure starts from the beginning again. The money that you earn can also be used to purchase many useful items from the in-game store, and the purchases you make can help future runs succeed or falter as a result.

Proximity voice chat is also a key aspect of the experience, and I would hear my friend’s voice clearly when we were close, but from afar, it would just be his whispers of getting hunted down by a monster. The voice also gets muffled underwater, which is an excellent design choice that I absolutely loved.

Every little thing in this game adds to the survival horror experience. But I feel like there still aren’t enough items to defend yourself against these monstrosities if need be, and the monsters themselves feel unbalanced at times. One mistake, and boom, you’re dead. However, this does not make Lethal Company any less fun. 

There needs to be more types of weapons that you can use to defend yourself, and the store needs to offer more items in general.

With a group of friends, you can easily sink hundreds of hours into this title, as the gameplay loop is really addicting.

Another gripe I have is that the layout of facilities looks really similar, no matter which moon you travel to. The procedurally generated levels do add some variety, but I wish that each facility on a different moon had that distinct look to it as well.

This is just me pointing out some minor problems with Lethal Company, which honestly will not take away anything from your experience.

With a group of friends, you can easily sink hundreds of hours into this title, as the gameplay loop is really addicting. And if this game is pulling off that level of enjoyment in early access, imagine what will happen as more stuff gets added with the gameplay receiving more refinements.

Visuals And Performance

Lethal Company’s cel-shaded visuals with a distinct retro look just add to the horror atmosphere. Weather effects can also get scary at times as they obscure your vision, and the sound design of some monsters can literally scare you off with a few screams. Overall, I really like the look of the game, especially the terrain.

As for the performance, this game will easily run on low-end PC builds, and the install size is a measly 800MB compressed to 300MB by Steam. I did experience a few bugs, but nothing too major. The presence of bugs is expected, which will be ironed out as more updates arrive for this early-access title.

Lethal Company’s cel-shaded visuals with a distinct retro look just add to the horror atmosphere.

I cannot wait for more content updates personally and just hope that Lethal Company gets the love that it deserves.

Verdict

Even in its early access form, Lethal Company is one of the best survival-horror multiplayer experiences you could ask for. The price of this game isn’t even that high, and I feel like fans of the genre should definitely give it a go.

If you have a group of friends with whom you like to play multiplayer games, then Lethal Company is built for you. Going through these scary sections with friends makes for some of the best memories and moments in games.

This has been our Lethal Company review. While you’re here, consider checking out some of our other articles. 

• • Super Mario RPG Review
  • The Invincible Review
  • Persona 5 Tactica Review
  • Risk of Rain Returns Review 
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Review
  • Jusant Review