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A few weeks from launch, early access indie Lethal Company has blown up massively, shooting to the top of the Steam Top Sellers list, beating out the likes of Modern Warfare 3 and Baldur’s Gate 3, and breaching 80,000 positive reviews on the platform.
A friend of mine recommended Lethal Company to me when it had just come out. It was this strange-looking co-operative horror game where you scavenge for scrap on alien moons to make money for the eponymous Company, like a kind of spooky Deep Rock Galactic. And since then, it’s managed the same astronomic rise of indie gems like BattleBit Remastered earlier this year.
The game itself is certainly worthy of all the praise it gets. Tapping into that same co-op horror angle that made Phasmophobia so popular a couple of years ago, solo developer Zeekerss has managed to put their own spin on the genre and make their own breakout hit. The game’s slightly cartoonish retro aesthetic is very in vogue these days too. It seems to have hit all the right notes at the right time and the developers have been handsomely rewarded for it.
But more than any of that, more than the solid game design, fun gameplay, or retro art style, there’s one thing above all that I see as the key to Lethal Company’s success – it’s absolutely hilarious.
The last few weeks, my Discord servers, my Twitter feed, anywhere you look, are jam-packed with the most ridiculous clips from this game. Not only is it a great game to play, but it might even be better to watch, seeing your friends flail around helplessly as they miserably fail to stay alive against the slapstick death that awaits them. Every clip has the comedic timing of a perfectly crafted sketch and whether you’re in them or watching them, it’s a wild ride.
Lethal Company launched into Early Access with the idea of a full release after six months of development. But with the massive reception the game has had, it’s probably unlikely that Zeekerss is going to stop there. For the meantime though, meet your quotas and glory to the Company. Lethal Company is currently available in early access on Steam.
