Lethal company is probably one of the best ‘friendslop’ games there are out there. I remember when it first came out and stumbling across this co-op horror game, before immediately falling in love and playing nearly 100 hours across the next few months. Hell, this game was so innovative it spawned a whole genre of games that would try follow in its footsteps, like REPO or Content Warning.
I think the beauty of Lethal Company comes from how open it all is. The players are just put into a spaceship and told to get $300 in 3 days and sent off. There’s definitely a learning curve for new players, learning which planets yield the most loot, learning the best route to the main entrance, figuring out just how the game works. It’s a certain feeling of being lost but it works so well for the eerie atmosphere of the game, and it’s a feeling I’d give anything to go back to.
This feeling definitely comes back in the late game though, with the harder planets having what feels like a whole new set of enemies. Although possible, I feel like enemies like the Nutcracker or Coil-head rarely spawn on the free moons, with the majority of the enemies being spiders or thumpers. It’s almost like a trick, the enemies on free moons are a lot less complicated or scary than on paid moons. I remember recently when I was playing, it was a shock when we could finally afford going to Dine or Titan. Also, paying for the trip to the moon means you’re almost forced to deal with the weather (something I don’t usually do on the free moons). My last time playing, I remember being just under quota on a stormy day. This meant that lightning would be trying to hit the metal objects in my inventory. I remember panicking, moving through the foggy, snowstormy, rain back to my ship, stopping every few metres to dump my inventory when I heard the faint warning buzz. Doing this cycle alone, mixed with the enemies I couldn’t see created such a tense adrenaline rush. I remember when I heard the ship I just ran, scared of the Eyeless Dogs roaming around, hunting me by the sounds I made.
The game is just so good at creating this type of feeling. It just floods you with adrenaline, all the enemies are so unique and genuinely tough to avoid. I haven’t even mentioned how fun it is to murder your friends or abandon them by having the ship take off without them. It’s just a genuinely fun game and I hope Zeekers continues to develop and update it. I can’t wait to see a 1.0 release and I’d highly recommend this to anyone. Just make sure you have a few friends and a microphone.
