As a contracted worker for a mysterious space-faring company, players are tasked with scavenging random scrap from abandoned, industrialized moons. This is you and your friends in Lethal Company, a first-person survival co-op game with a unique combination of survival, cooperation, and resource management
Lethal Company's gameplay is a carefully orchestrated dance of survival, cooperation, and calculated risk-taking. The core objective of the game is to meet profit quotas within a limited timeframe by collecting random scrap from moons. Players can land on a chosen moon once a day, and after the third day, you must meet the required item value quota or suffer disciplinary action.
The gameplay is not solely about individual survival; it emphasizes collaboration as players can choose to guide their crew from the safety of the ship or venture into dangerous environments together. One player can stay in the spawn to provide intel while the rest of the team go out on the field.
Cooperative play is emphasized, allowing players to efficiently navigate procedurally generated levels for scrap and meet quotas, earning credits for purchasing tools and gizmos from the Company store.
The best feature is the immersive proximity voice chat, creating a realistic and exciting layer to cooperative play. The game encourages reliance on voice communication to navigate labyrinthine buildings and to always stay close together so you can all hear each other, adding tension and sometimes --- or most of the times.... humor.
While categorized as a horror game, it's not really as scary as true horror experience, mainly because you play in groups. Nevertheless, the game successfully builds organic tension and fear for the players especially with its creepy atmosphere.
The game was released in Early Access on October 24, 2023, and is rapidly gaining popularity recently. The game is designed around a maximum four-player co-op experience, but it is also playable solo or with more than four people with the use of mods.