Lethal Company

Lethal Company is a co-op horror game by Zeekerss. You work as a contracted crew for the company that gives the game its name and land on abandoned, industrialized moons to recover usable scrap. The goal of every expedition is to bring back enough loot to meet the set quota while surviving the increasingly dangerous facilities and their creatures.

The appeal comes from the mix of exploration, time pressure, communication and deliberate risk: more valuable targets can bring better returns, but they also raise the chance that a run ends in losses.

Lethal Company launched in Steam Early Access on Oct 23, 2023. Zeekerss still has not given a set date for version 1.0. The developer describes the game as already fully playable, but plans to continue Early Access until additional creatures, items, adjustments and map variations, along with further refinement of balance and design, reach the desired level.

Lethal Company is currently officially available for Windows PC via Steam. Steam lists single-player and online co-op as supported modes. A native PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, macOS or Linux version is not currently officially listed.

A round begins with choosing a moon. There, the crew searches outdoor areas and abandoned facilities for scrap, scans creatures for the bestiary and tries to bring as many valuable items back to the ship as possible. The earnings can then pay for trips to other moons as well as equipment and cosmetic items for the ship.

Time of day is a key risk factor: expeditions become more dangerous as night falls. This constantly creates the decision of whether another route inside is still worth it, or whether the crew should turn back with the loot they have.

Steam lists the minimum as a 64-bit PC with Windows 10, Intel Core i5-7400, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050, DirectX 11, a broadband internet connection and around 4 GB of free storage. Requirements may still change during Early Access.

Lethal Company places great emphasis on role distribution. Up to four players can officially cooperate; not every crew member has to enter the facility. From the ship, the team can monitor the area via radar, warn about traps, and use the terminal to open certain locked doors remotely.

Equipment includes flashlights, shovels, walkie-talkies, stun grenades and boomboxes, among other things. Because communication and inventory space are limited, how well the crew coordinates often decides success or failure just as much as the exploration itself.