why is this game so big all right let's not beat around the bush you know what lethal company is and chances are if you clicked on this video you're probably aware of its current and still ongoing increase in popularity with the cool new Niche and small game being destroyed by over popularity and soon to be overtaken with I played this game before to a schol you might be wondering how this game has gotten to where it stands currently although it may be seemingly obvious as to how it got to this stage for a few reasons or factors can probably guess a few reasons as to why this game has grown so quickly in the span whether it be the Retro in the art Style original mechanics are merry out of funny moments I promise you there are a few other hidden factors you may not have put that much thought into as to why this game is to where it is to this day he's amusing himself with the door again so why is this game so popular zeker is is a 21-year-old indie game developer responsible for other Niche but pretty publicly established games like Pac-Man of the game was designed to make you [ __ ] yourself and other lesser known but still amazingly well-crafted projects like dead [Applause] Cedar in the [ __ ] hand what zers is very clearly skilled at in his video games is creating an identifiable sense of charm and silliness while still utilizing powerfully simpl while still izing powerfully simple artistic techniques to make the feces exit your body faster than an ejector seed a good example of this is the after mentioned it deals basically a horror spin on Pac-Man where one of the main monsters runs away from you instead of having the usual indish loock of having a high school doodle reject chase you with a loud jump scare as your punishment witnessing even a mere blur of the monster is scary enough due to its terrifying speed oh my God not it's a wonderful mix of the unknown and the intimidating almost as scary as a speeding ticket this monster would likely get for existing on a Massachusetts Highway for even a minute it's incredibly fast borderline unrecognizable and definitely lets its presence be known with footsteps so loud your skeleton jumps out your [ __ ] faster than you can see the Monster the tension of it steals is definitely not a fluke and you can really tell zeker artistically calculated and hand tweaked the monster's Behavior to genuinely have you on your toes oh what the now out of 10 of my friends who have watched stream this game can't even play without having a pillow to release their misery into trying to even fathom that they have to keep touching the WD keys if they want to keep going the game is short sweet fun to watch others play and you can really tell the developer had a lot of fun making this so zers is probably doing something right so what about lethal company lethal company was released for the public on the 23rd of October 2023 right around the corner of Halloween for about £850 in the UK $10 in the US 356428 Brazilian rayal annual car engine just in time for Halloween nothing is more terrifying than Brazilian pricing the game advertises itself as a co-op horror survival multiplayer game the game was developed in the unity engine and was released as its first public version from then on with planned updates to be dropped periodically by either developer choice or player feedback this steam release seemed rather innocuous unlike every other game on the store page with not much hype prior to its release it just kind of popped out of Zer game orifice with no warning with the exception of being released by a niche solo developer with a solid portfolio nothing was really known about the game so with all of the hype that surrounds it to this day what is this game even [Music] about resources are becoming scarce [Music] sanity is [Music] Ding and I can feel myself slipping away most of what's left of our society has either fled light years away to the next B has vanished at the stars the universe is but a fleet of dying lights that are getting farther and farther away from each other there is a of Freedom amongst the black and all that's left roaming these secluded stations of rest and scrap bar convicts criminals of Nothing Left scared faces ill with Mala and Cosmic leprosy Expendable unworthy we were left behind in some fast desid black and oad cult space our Des inspiration is manipulated by the company they promise us a seemingly nebulous Freedom if we work for them dangling the perverted illusion of reward with money that'll buy you nothing but meaningless vanity I see flickers out there could be stars or people and I wonder are the people before us any better are we the product of the Civilized man's moral Decay left to float like Driftwood in Oblivion with the loome spur of my Fallen companions damning my survival and cing my eternal corporate servitude right ignorant of my friend King's true [Music] motives yeah um when I said what is the game about I meant like the game play [Music] oh are you [ __ ] serious okay this is the the fifth time I'm recruiting this wait hold on can you guys give me a sec I don't have a drum set model okay cool continue with the video the rules are dead simple you're an ambiguous intern devoid of motive working for thean your goal is to explore abandoned moons to retrieve scrap from randomly generated buildings taking the scrap back to your ship and selling it at the company in order to reach a quota bit you are on a real once you enter the moons as you oh God you were you on a I just T oh God I can taste the Chinese food you are on a real timer once you enter the moons as you need to return back to the ship once the clock strikes midnight every Moon you explore has different environments and varying levels of Hazards these moons can be affected by various meteorological conditions that will change the course of which moon you rather pick I don't have any you have 3 days to achieve your quota and the company will buy the scrap at a higher value as you approach your deadline you can use the ship terminal for various functions that can help you such as scanning all the scrap on the planet opening doors inside buildings that can only be opened remotely through the ship and most importantly online retailing oh godam items are integral to exploring the buildings with some level of success letting you purchase flashlights talkie walkies ladders and my personal favorite shovels hey hey hey hey hey hey germ hey hey hey germ germ germ germ [Music] hey am I still recording oh thank so it's simple right enter Moon so explore buildings with scrap which shat the scrap and sell it back on your deadline and reach the Cota well I fail to mention there are also [Music] creatures but that's a whole different can of horse it's a [Music] lion the game has a lot of smart little things that does to vary up the gameplay since having a gameplay Loop so simple and short but so effectively fun lethal company adds a bunch of tiny modifiers that will make each run different from each other in subtle ways whether or not the planet is eclipsed flooded foggy and other stuff like that you're not guaranteed to come out alive or really go in all look perfectly according to plan 100% 110% while browsing the internet you have seen clips of this game scrolling through Twitter or through Tik Tok or whatever Punjabi IV Grabber website of your choice you have seen a clip of this game and you have thought to yourself well this game looks fun I wish I had friends if you are the average newcomer to the lethal company who's come from the clips you were most likely attracted by one primary appeal that this game seems to Rak in thousands of new players with despite not being part of the game play B that much you think you know comment the answer down below it's the proximity chat it's it's it's prox it's pick up okay so listen to me here for a second and don't lose me don't lose me what makes a good memorable product like it could be a game a character could be a show what personally made it memorable to you here's the short answer I don't care how much you tell me aarin jger from Attack on Titan has 400 layers of symbolism behind his morally complex character the fat [ __ ] from Puss and Boots 2 has left a much bigger emotional impact on my psyche than Aaron jger ever will or did you're an irredeemable monster what took you so long idiot from my personal experience I've always found something funny to be more me mble than something cool cool is good but funny is always closer to the heart now let me ask this if you're playing a co-op game What's going to be most of your experience yeah I'm crack shut the [ __ ] up never get me I'm a little like oh you'll never get me co-op games are less games than they are a foundation for you and your friends to act like children in it's fun it's entertaining to be with your friends and it most definitely get on your nerves you have to ask me because I'm the Pokémon guy okay okay now knowing that you and your friends are probably going to be behaving like lobotomites no matter what game you're playing horn what do you think happens when you put yourself in a horror environment land mine J can you st on that okay I think you get where I'm coming from citizens aren't supposed to have guns uh admins aren't supposed to suck dicks proximity chat is this game's Golden Goose is that a thing people say proximity chat is when a player's microphone input is diagetic simulated within the game Space with the simulated space aspect usually making it so that the Player audio input is tangibly existing within the game World getting quieter as you get farther away muffled one behind walls and if the developer is a super Chad the voices will Echo and reverberate accordingly to the spaces that they're in I personally believe that proximity shat is one of Gaming most untapped gold mines for funny interactions in social multiplayer settings and having a game set in a tense horror survival environment only makes it act as a catalyst for guaranteed banter and funny moments break it down it's going to break down Brian going as far back as the Halo franchise or any Source game proximity chat was always kind of seen as a weird and unconventional medium of communication in games but in the context of lethal company not only do you have to be on your toes and think critically about how to make the best of your situation with how little you have limiting the communication to be spatially conscious of the game's environment not only makes player topler chat integral to the survival and effective coordination but effectively punishes players who go off on their [Music] own le [Music] le to put it lightly this game encourages safety and numbers you may have noticed I had mentioned that Taki walkies are purchase ible item in this game as you can guess they let you communicate from one indiscriminate distance to another however using a battery as long as a device remains turned on and also one thing my friends don't seem to recognize at all takes up an entire inventory slot you have so what this game uses proximity chat this isn't the first time we've seen this in indie game fads how is lethal any different from other games well apart from its very effective use of immersion the proximity chat there's a lot more for this game substance than any of the intentionally hard-coded mechanics in this game I don't think that's you walking I think that might be the the gester I I saw it my [ __ ] proximity Chad and lethal company adds a complimentary layer of realism and intensity to the experience it after mention allows players to communicate only to those nearby reinforcing the vulnerability of the characters that you puppet and only strengthens the suspense of exploring the dark derel hallways when you can only hear the brief and banale communication between your teammates as they get farther away and Echo throughout the walls it intensifies the immersion and makes the horror elements much more palpable on the tonally parallel side of this proximity chat in this game often leads to unintentional humor players might joke around frantically panic and shut like maniacs in dangerous situations giving massive leeway to the developers calculated scares providing entertainment for both the player and the others I can't move what is this what is that it's a silly little goofball just sir pops out of the box he popped out of the box is it friendly it's looks like it's friendly holy the J Theos of fear and humor adds a certainly Dynamic and unpredictable element that is only really recognizable to this game so far creating often times memorable and amusing situations immortalized by Clips haphazardly uploaded to Tik Tok it's this juicy blend of Terror and laughter that makes the proximity chat in this game not only so special but so immersive as a source of shared enjoyment amongst the players oh my God what is that essentially to put it in simple words if you haven't noticed Gamers turn into voice actors when they're about to die thanks I'm helping fight me demon get out of here Brothers no oh [ __ ] step off step off [ __ ] they jumping me they jumping me help help don't kill me okay was that a grenade they coming there's a [ __ ] [Music] no with that out of the way let's talk about this game's gameplay [Music] this game has a shockingly effective gameplay Loop find Moon get on moon retrieve scrap and avoid danger return to ship repeat until deadline go to company building and [Music] profit despite its deceivingly straightforward loop it's the separative elements that are later introduced in in the game that spice up each experience you have every run for example every Moon you explore has varying fauna environments and levels of Hazards for example moons further classified down the list on the terminal become more dangerous as you descend down the list moons can have varying meteorological events such as eclipses which make the entire day cycle set at night this is dangerous because some of the planets have creatures that come out at night like blind dogs that sense their hearing or sandworms that send their steps through the dirt either way you want to avoid do some moons can be flooded which means that exploring buildings will be more difficult as some areas will be flooded with water some moons can be foggy which will limit the players's vision inside and outside you get the gist as players explore the abandoned moons they must work as a team to strategize plan and execute missions effectively each member contributes to the success of the group fostering teamwork and Reliance on each other's skills this shared responsibility strengthens the camaraderie amongst players the other things that can affect your run are the separate developments you can find with within the buildings such as landmines that only alert their presence through a sound cue that briefly plays every few seconds there can be automated turrets that will shoot players on site which can be disabled to the ship's terminal if a player chooses to remain within the ship and act as a mission control [Music] [Applause] agent there can also be certain creatures that will only lurk within the buildings such as demagorgon Zola Steven glutose [Music] slis sper Etc some moons will have fun and creatures unique to the moons but but most of the time you want to either absolutely avoid all the creatures at all costs or count the precious seconds you have left in this [Music] world finding loot inside of the buildings is also no easy task all the loot is randomized to be within a vague pool of value that gets distributed in rooms that are probably coded to have a higher chance of harboring loot you can find objects ranging from Cog engine cool cookie plate jailbroken iPhone robots and pretty much a bunch of other scrap with seemingly no value to have a strange tinge of Abandonment accompanying them what is half of this stuff anyways you'll be walking into certain areas and have fully intact vehicle engines and a clown horn and they'll both sometimes of equal value if this isn't to blame on the South American economy I don't know what is when you're done exploring these buildings and retrieving your scrap back to the ship you may have noticed that I mentioned that the company building will be buying scrap at increasing values as the date approaches the deadline in this case the word deadline is rather literal since the company seems to be cutting straight to the chase about your inadequate work [ __ ] your work deadline if you make it you make it if you don't make it you don't make it they call it the deadline but nobody actually [ __ ] guys welcome back but what I find interesting about the value system is that the game seems to be rewarding players straight up risk and that only proves further to me that this game was created with the intent of garnering as many Psychopaths into the player basee as possible completely and unashamedly encouraging you to shove every single one of your eggs into One Singular basket taking the basket and shipping it off to your incomprehensible and mysterious corporate overlords for your sad little salary that you'll use to buy two toilets to cry into and a flashlight the oh my goding a protective suit oh my God suit it's not going to do anything the ladder Moon increasing in difficulty is no joke there's definitively an incentivized sense of high risk High reward but if your team is not coordinated enough the risk is definitely and absolutely outweighing the reward lethal company's procedural generation of environments very in creature encounters and dynamic weather conditions introduce a great and wonderful unpredictability the need to adap ad to unforeseen challenges encourages players to act strategically or at least attempt let in let let me in let no no no no go go go go go go run go there's AER there's a Jester there's AER there's a there's AER there's AER there's AER there's AER hope nothing's in here please teleport me please please teleport me please please I hope Ken's all right K I'm here I'm here this game's overall use of regenerative design encourages variation and guides players into various wacky situations walking among these deadly moons searching for scrap in infinitely procedural environments of varying levels of danger and suspense probably having the scariest but goofiest interactions turning this game into an absolute clip machine whether intentional or not Beyond The in-game Experience the lethal company Community has grown very large due to highly accessible the game is there is no high skill ceiling required for this game towards the start and that's what makes this game a very easy entry sort of game which absolutely contributed to its rapidly multiplying player base Reddit Twitter twitch and YouTube become spaces for players and content creators to share their side of the experience which really emphasizes how this game's basic Foundation truly nourishes itself off of variation every player is given the same goal and yet their Journey to the quota is always so wildly different this game has instantaneously garnered a highly active and engaged community that generally enhances the overall image and enjoyment of the game by providing a platform for players to connect outside of the game itself the game's design especially the after mentioned proximity chat system has made it virally spread among content creators streaming and video content featuring lethal company often showcases the entertaining and collaborative aspects of the game this in turn attract TRS more players to join the community feeding more videos and clips of the game showcasing more of the collaborative and social aspects creating a loop that I could argue is very Foundation if this game success check that out check that [Music] out this trend is rather familiar and undeniably has happened before with others the sort of Entry through exposure Loop is something we've previously observed in rapidly popular indie game fads lethal companies share similarities with previously praised indie games like Among Us and phasmophobia much like its predecessors lethal company has gained widespread attention due to its engaging in entertaining multiplayer mechanics the game's emphasis on cooperative play combined with the unpredictable nature of suspenseful quiet lingering death in the air draws parallels to the collaborative experiences that contributed to the success of phasmophobia phasmophobia achieved remarkable success by masterfully blending ghost hunting gameplay with suspenseful proximity shat and communication mechanics the game tapped into the growing popularity of Cooperative multiplayer experiences and capitalized on the emergent social interactions among players the Brilliance of phasmophobia lies in its emphasis on communication as a survival strategy proximity chat system echoing the real life spatial audio experience heightened the tension by allowing players to communicate only when close to each other this forced collaboration became crucial for avoiding the various dangers posed by the supernatural entities in the game something that lethal company reverberates in its gameplay body what the [ __ ] I'm dead I'm the back both lethal and phasmophobia success also stems from recognition of the entertainment value inherent in Cooperative fear watching players navigate through haunted and lethal environments sharing banter and reacting to sudden scares became easily popular form of content on streaming platforms we've already known that horror games is the most dominant content vehicle for churning entertaining reactions from all the way back in 2012 Fire Star doesn't like waffles fire star is like waffles the horror fat has not died since then and honestly I respect that Among Us achieved extraordinary success by ingenuously incorporating social deduction elements into its core gameplay the game captivated players with the Intrigue of finding the impostor within the friend group a concept that resonated deeply with the gaming community balance between completing tasks and identifying the Imposter added layers of strategy and suspense to each match the Brilliance of Among Us lies in its ability to create an atmosphere of distrust and uncertainty even among close friends how exactly does this link to lethal company however in contrast to games like lethal and phasmophobia where safety is found in numbers Among Us introduced the compelling Dynamic of needing to be alone and isolated the Restriction of communication during most of the game heightened the suspense as players navigated the spaceship aware that danger could be lurking around Any Corner the isolated moments added a psychological thrill although I'm realizing halfway through the script that they aren't really that many similarities between both games I couldn't help but kind of ponder on how both of the games place an imperial importance on collaboration and communication with both lethal and as being complete opposites from each other regardless of their differences both are incredibly popular independent games that taught the importance of [Music] communication showing us in both the light of isolation through Among Us and teamwork in Lethal company both clearly exemplify the weight of words in the face of danger lethal company seamlessly inherits the engaging social dynamics pioneered by either games blending elements of Cooperative survival and strategic communication like fasmo lethal company employs proximity chat to Foster Real Time Communication amongst players simultaneously from Among Us lethal company introduces elements of isolation and vulnerability and they also both happen in Space the game success hinges on its ability to weave together the collaborative fear seen in both fasmo and the intricate weight of the survivors Guild and Among Us stitching together a uniquely thrilling multiplayer experience that resonates with players seeking both suspenseful horror and strategic Intrigue [ __ ] it God I can't pronounce anything I hate English the games appeal to content creators and streaming platforms especially further Echoes the communal and entertaining aspects that propelled most survival multiplayer games in the internet to start him solidifying lethal company as a notable contender in the realm of rapidly popular Indie Games The Game's spontaneous popularity as well as its genuine care in the craft will absolutely cement this game as another pillar in charming and memorable Indie [Music] Games okay so I had an entire conclusion that I was kind of meh about because generally speaking I think conclusions are kind of lame and it's the part of the video where you just want to click off cuz you already digested most of the video I'm not going to repeat everything I said I I think you get my point and after working on this for a few excruciating weeks during the toughest part of my life I I think you get the idea but here's the stick in my wheel I had an entire paragraph where I discussed about the game being still new and the new kind of content I'd like to see I talked about ship upgrades for communication player mimics and even a more um advanced form of Defense but literally four [ __ ] days ago version 45 came out with exactly everything I said I wanted I was even going to finish the video screaming about how Giants needed to be were like overpowered and they even fix that so all of that's down the drain but I'm still going to ask what do you guys want to see at it in the game there's still plenty left to be put in and personally my stuff is just more quality of life things that don't really mean much I think my biggest idea that I really want to put in the game is that since players can only hold up to four items items could maybe show up on the player models risk of rain two style the little items could show up attached to the character's back or the front utility belt to serve as a nice visual representation but as well as indicating other players how full on loot other teammates might be on another idea I had that's probably less likely to make it in the game I think it'd be neat if the player models got upgraded as they leveled up in ranks I just like the feeling of progression and lethal company's progression can grow especially stagnant as you begin to reach the near andoss levels of cotas signifying a players experience through their model would be nice another big piece of Miss potential in this game is the health bar this game likes to keep your health and stamina ambiguous by using featureless Hut elements like bars rather than numbers hey am I going to die rather than having an actual health bar this game shows a little icon of the player's body status however when hurt the body will get redder and redder in addition to make the suit really feel much more diagetic and cool would be by having various sorts of injuries show up on the little body icon they don't actually have to mean anything they can just be purely visual stuff to remind the player that they're wearing a high-tech suit if the game goes as far as showing a critical injury popup when at very low Health why not have parts of the body be specifically highlighted with red as well as the accompanying injury for example a half could affect the bottom part of the body probably giving the message laceration since they can only reach that far or a coil head could really only get the upper parts of the body like shoulders and neck with the message of bruise or even fracture it would be generally just cooler to emphasize what kind of attacks the monsters would do on you and really show your character how it's being affected but once again I'm just a huge second for menial detail in games but what about you guys what would you guys like to see in the game comment below and I'm not trying to farm engagement I just I genuinely do love to see you guys' comments uh I did not script this part because I want to be done with this already so I'm going to like like make like a a a baby and and a head out Jer just stop the video it's already already 30 minutes long just stop the the game is not even 2 months old [Music] bro do I look like the kind of person that wants to sit down watch a 30 minute video you think I'm white [ __ ]