Ahorror comedy that plays like a more chaotic Phasmophobia
“Let’s split up, cover more ground,” says one spaceman to another. “Yeah, that always works out in Scooby Doo.” They turn off in opposite directions at the dark concrete intersection. From the left, voice raised to be audible over the hissing steam pipes, the Scooby-savvy one speaks. “Got some metal scrap. You?” “Nothing. No, wait, I’ve found…”
Something beeps. “…oh.” Abright flash. Aplume of flame. Chunks of meat launched down the hall. Silence for a moment. “Landmines, then,” the survivor notes, before dutifully picking up their exploded teammate’s possessions without missing a beat.
HORROR COMEDY
LethalCompany –recently released into Early Access and already clocking in among Steam’s ten most played games – understands that horror and comedy are very closely related. Both bank on building tension and anticipation, followed by an unexpected release of energy. Whether it’s a sudden screaminducing scare or rib-straining laughter depends entirely on whether you’re the punchline or not.
Vaguely similar to Phasmophobiabut more immediately chaotic and deadly, LethalCompanyis a first-person co-op horror game where up to four players are expendable interns sent in to scavenge anything left of value after some horrible space disaster swept through a series of lunar facilities now populated by wobbly, low-poly monsters that would look funny if they weren’t so good at pouncing at the exact best/worst moment.
AN ARACHNID THE SIZE OF A SMALL CAR DROPS FROM THE CEILING ON TOP OF THEM
You’ve three days (each day an 11-minute real-time scramble) to scavenge everything you can from inside dark, infested industrial facilities, return to the company HQ, sell what you’ve found and pray that it’s enough to hit your quota so you can buy more gear and do it again, but harder. You start with barely enough to buy flashlights for your team. Atotal team wipe will lose you everything you’ve hoarded on board. It would be incredibly stressful if it wasn’t so damn funny.
LethalCompany’s lone developer, Zeekerss, clearly understands comic/ horrific timing. His previous game, The Upturned, was singleplayer but imbued its set pieces and monsters with fantastic comic timing. Tension is built and released with clockwork precision, whether it be with jumps or jokes; often both simultaneously. LethalCompany, despite being agame of procedurally generated mazes populated by AI-driven horrors lurking in the shadows, captures that same energy almost perfectly.
HERE BE DRAGONS
Aplayer will hop across a deadly chasm ahead of the team, turn around and celebrate with a jaunty little dance just before being snatched away silently by somet
