Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
It's a hard time being a random number working for a mysterious company that has you search through abandoned moons for loot and scrap inside equally abandoned facilities. It's even harder dealing with the myriad of threats that lurk within their depths.
General
- The premise of the game itself evokes Paranoia Fuel and Nothing Is Scarier with only you and three other members delving into a dark and dimly lit facility, with its integrated proximity chat making things even more tense when your numbers go down and you stop hearing anyone else...
- If you stumble across the corpse of a player that didn't die to the more conventional methods, ambience starts playing to intentionally drive up the tension. It does this even if you "witness" someone dying in front of you in pitch black darkness. Nothing gets you wanting to Bring My Brown Pants like momentarily turning off your flashlight as your buddy walks up ahead— only for that droning sound to kick in as they're suddenly missing besides the blood and items on the floor a room's length away from you.
- The company that you work for certainly lives up to its name as it can honestly be considered just as bad as the monsters you come across. Your job is to explore dangerous planetsnote and find scrap to sell for money. You have a quota that you have to meet every 3 days, and should you fail to meet, you and your employees will be launched out into outer space to slowly freeze and die. And that's also not getting into what might or might not be the boss itself, which is a giant tentacle monster. Whenever you go to sell your stuff to it, you have to be careful to not make too much noise as noise will quickly irritate it (assuming it's not already aggressive). When he becomes too annoyed, he has a chance of randomly reaching out and instantly killing the nearest employee.
- Combined with Tearjerker, something that plenty of people have pointed out is the fact that the company cares more about the suits than the lives of their employees. If a person dies to the hydrogere, their body gets absorbed and their suit gets left behind, which can be collected for 5 credits and to avoid getting taxed by the company for "leaving behind a body". Just imagine that, being considered so worthless and insignificant that the company you work for values their suits more than your life.
- While it's still scary, playing with multiple people can turn the horror into laughs with your friends having a hoot, screwing things up, and generally dicking around. But, if you decide to go solo, the horror aspects get way more heightened, with no one adding some funny commentary to whatever happens, and there's one big risk with going solo: with multiple people, if you die, the others can pick up the slack and still complete the quota, but solo, if you die, you lose EVERYTHING, which can make clearing a high quota go from annoying to nearly impossible.
- Lethal Company almost perfectly handles the sheer horror of solitude. There will be times when you are deep in a facility and there is no-one. Everyone else (at least nearby) is dead. Your flashlight is almost out of battery. There could be monsters around the next corner and you wouldn't even know. You're lost, you're behind quota and the day is ending so it's almost too dark to see. Desperate, you reach for the radio and ask for help...and no reply. You're without direction, without light, without help and at the mercy of whatever is stalking you. For all of the game's comedic moments, it will not pull its punches and make it feel like you are truly ALONE when it counts.
- Some of Sigurd's logs can be this, not helped by him undergoing a Sanity Slippage while writing most of them.
- His log on September 4 has him note how he could hear sounds behind the Company wall, which he describes as "crying red faces all churned up and swept away by concrete". He was the only person in his crew who heard them until a later log on September 13, where he learned that he could hear the screams more clearly if you used the walkie-talkie at the company wall, which made them believe him.
- Another entry had him talking to someone else on the walkie-talkie, where the latter began discussing the "Golden planet", a real thing that had been perceived as a legend, and how it got swallowed by some beast the voice had no idea about, causing them to forget everything. Then you read the second paragraph.I couldn't get him to stop talking. but I said he was on the other side of a big wall and I could get him out. I said he was inside the building. and that's when he started freaking out/. I couldn't make out a word, I think he said something about "spitting out the rinds" So I just turned it off. what a wack
- Pretty much every revelation Sigurd has about the company, with the main red flag being the fact that everything is done through automated voices and the ship is on autopilot, nary another person in sight. Then, Desmond would attempt to trace the calls from the company number to find out where they came from. He discovers that the calls come from a group of people who pretended to call them from the company building... from across the solar system.
- His final log has him come to the realization that he doesn't recall a lot of memories of his life prior to the shuttle ride to the building where he signed his contract for the Company. If his Sanity Slippage is not to blame for this, then the Company did something with him to cause this.
Creatures
- Bunker Spiders, while being a common and relatively simple enemy that serve as a Warm-Up Boss, can still be nerve-wracking to deal with, especially if you're arachnophobic. So much as grazing one of the many spiderwebs on the walls while trying to squeeze through a webbed-up corridor will set it off and begin pursuing players, and fleeing from the sounds of four pairs of legs rapidly hitting the ground and getting louder is far from a nice experience, especially if you get slowed down by the aforementioned webs while trying to run.
- Thumpers, grotesque Land Shark-esque creatures that are another relatively common enemy. While they're deaf and can be avoided or evaded by staying out of sight, letting it see you will cause it to let out an enraged, earsplitting roar and charge you while making the loud thumping noises on the ground that are its namesake. Pissing one off will likely make you piss yourself when you hear its roar, and you have little to no chance of successfully escaping one if you don't have corners to turn around to slow it down. Even a jumpable space between two walkways won't save you — a Thumper can just charge across to maul you anyway.
- Even something as simple and common as the Snare Flea brings its own brand of terror, as they will drop onto an unsuspecting player that walks beneath them, or jump on them if they fail the initial drop. Once a Snare Flea gets onto you, you are effectively blinded and begin taking gradual damage over time, which will eventually kill you if you don't manage to find an exit or another player knocks it off, and that's assuming you know the way to the exit and know how to evade or survive whatever's on the way, or have a teammate who also happens to have a shovel on them. Incoming and outgoing audio is also heavily muffled, so attempts to scream for help can go unheard if you aren't close enough to your team, and your teammates' attempts to save you by guiding you to the exit can fall on literal deaf ears as you die a slow death, assuming you don't fall off a ledge or get killed by another unseen threat before that.
- Brackens, Brackens, Brackens. While not as common as the afomentioned monsters, they can still spawn rather frequently on lower-level moons, and are easily the most terrifying monster you can deal with on them. They spend their time stalking a particular player, creeping behind them and staying out of sight, and if it manages to reach a player who isn't watching their back, it'll subject them to a Neck Snap and drag their body off to an unknown corner of the building, with the victim only seeing a set of long, dark fingers across their face and having a brief moment to scream before they're instantly killed. It's arguably even worse if you're just accompanying a victim, as you could be minding your own business with them before hearing a potential scream and a very audible "SNAP", and turning around only to see a trail of blood and possibly catching a glimpse of it quickly making off with your teammate's corpse. Just seeing one can cause you to freak out, as they're large, dark-red humanoid things with large leaf-like protrusions from their backs and glowing white eyes, and if you're in the dark, those eyes will be the only thing you can likely see. And while they can be warded off by taking a short look at them and looking away, doing the opposite and staring at it will instead enrage it, letting you hear its lovely growl and rattling leaves as it runs at you to try snapping your neck.
- Coil-Heads. Weeping Angels are already widely known due to Popcultural Osmosis. Many who've streamed the game have called coil-heads the scariest monster they've seen in a game in a long time. Seeing a Coil-Head and then being asked by your team-mates if you know what a weeping angel is will cause an Oh, Crap! moment and possibly some serious pants-wetting, followed by cussing and a wave of severe fear and cold. And finding a co-worker killed by one is even worse. Not only is the death grotesque (the co-worker's head and forearms are blown off, with a spring forced into the now-vacant neck stump), but if you don't know that a Coil-Head is present, finding proof of one loose is sure to amp up the paranoia and fear.
- The Jester is the page image. Unlike most other monsters, which are either bioweapons or natural fauna, the Jester is something that isn't natural yet biological with its true face and appendages, but artificial with its Jack-In-The-Box appearance. But despite that, it is among the most deadly creatures you can find indoors. If one notices you, you have about two minutes to get the fuck out and never look back. At first, it only follows you ominously, its front face fixed upon you; you could be forgiven for assuming it's a harmless creature like the Spore Lizard. But give it a minute or so, and it'll begin winding its own crank to that familiar little tune (which itself gets freakier as it goes on). If you're still in the building less than 60 seconds later when it finishes, then pop goes the weasel. With the nightmarish skull-and-bone fusion bursting from the box, it'll sprint through the facility at breakneck speeds devouring absolutely everyone who hasn't left the facility. Think you can outrun it? Think again - the longer it's hunting, the faster it gets, until it can cross from one end of the facility to the other in seconds. And no, it can't be killed, not even with a shotgun. Pray you don't encounter any of the other lethal lifeforms in your mad dash to the exit...Bestiary Log: "Get out of there before it goes APE!! You cant hide from it, just evacuate THERE'S NO FREAKING SCIENTIFIC RECORD!"
- The V50 update brings along The Butler, Zeekerss answer to the "Pop Goes The Human" and "The Worm That Walks" tropes. While they may be dressed in snazzy outfits and act (in a darkly comedic sort of way) like prototypical whodunit murderers, that's all overshadowed by the fact that they're walking balloon things full of deadly hornets. And just when you thought killing one would be safe, it expands, pops, and spreads hornets everywhere. If "Pop!" Goes the Human is a trope that makes you shiver every time you see it, you're gonna hate these things.
- What's worse is that if you get close enough to one, you can hear the wasps buzzing inside it.
- The V50 update also brings us another enemy, the Old Bird. If you know what Daleks are, you're sure to learn to fear these guys, and you're almost good as dead the moment you step into their searchlights. They appear to be dormant Humongous Mecha at first, and they indeed are at day. As time passes, they slowly begin to activate, and they attack anything and everything (that isn't another Old Bird) that happens to cross their searchlights with a nonstop salvo of exploding missiles, while playing the dissonant, distorted sounds of a crying baby as a psychological attack. Eyeless Dogs, Baboon Hawks, and even Forest Keepers aren't spared from their wrath, going down in a few hits. Think you can run away once spotted? They move fast and are extremely persistent, using jet boosters and flight to close in on fleeing targets. Old Birds also have a unique kill animation where they grab an employee and then torch them at point-blank range with their flamethrower, giving the player a lovely close-up view of their fate. And if that's not enough, certain moons also spawn Old Birds in massive numbers, turning nightfall outside the ship into a walking searchlight-filled death-trap.
- On the topic of these "certain moons", hidden in the Old Bird's bestiary entry is a moon that isn't available on the moons command list: 5-Embrion. The moon is referred to as a condemned testing ground for Old Birds. Compared to the complex terrain of the lush forests, icy mountains, and dusty deserts, Embrion is an amethyst-lined moon that is mostly flat. That flat area is lined with innumerable deactivated Old Birds, as the moon has a much higher amount of monster spawning power, with 5 times as much as the hardest moons in the game. Don't overstay or remove the apparatus in the facility, or else you'll be greeted with a flurry of missiles and horrific crying. Surely being referenced on the bestiary entry alone would be enough to deter employees...
- Ever wondered how players would act if there was an enemy only one of them could see? Well, Zeekerss asked the same question and decided to answer it by implementing the Ghost Girl. And holy shit, Nothing Is Scarier. Imagine being in a group and hearing someone start panicking over seeing a girl only to look in that direction and see nothing. Then they start maneuvering around an open area to try and avoid her all while continuing to insist the girl is real. Then they are suddenly gibbed right in front of you even though both of you were in a safe area. Then someone else will claim to see the girl, and you'll either believe them right away or believe them after the ghost has already killed the rest of your crew and is now hunting you. Finally, unlike any of the other monsters (including the Jester), the Ghost Girl can't be scanned and has no bestiary entry.
- Think leaving the building will save you? No. She will follow you outside. Try to lock yourself in the ship? This won't stop her, she'll phase through the door and will likely kill you.
- The Ghost Girl tends to target the worker who's most frightened, measured by a hidden fear stat.note Imagine being the last one alive, having witnessed all your co-workers being slaughtered by the rest of the wildlife; you've found a safe area to catch your breath, you've killed everything living inside with a shovel, and now you're checking every corner and looking over your shoulder in case you missed one - and right as you notice the facility's getting brighter, that the main entrance is close by, you see ''her.''
- The sheer fact that the ghost of a small child exists on some of the planets. Everything on the moons will try to kill you on sight and all the buildings don't seem like places children should be allowed to be in. How was a child able to get there?
- The Masked can come in two varieties - firstly, players who are stupid enough to put on a Dramatic Mask. The second variety are enemies who spawn on moons, looking like other players but already wearing the mask. The Masked will initially attempt to mimic human players non-verbally (they can't communicate verbally, and if they're laughing or crying depending on the type of mask they're wearing, which can be a distinct tell) and then eventually move in for the kill, and if they get a hold of a player they'll spray blood on them and convert them into another Masked. This is Paranoia Fuel personified, and it can ratchet up the tension if players suspect there are Masked in the building. Oh, and they appear as actual players on the radar, will replace those they've possessed/converted on said radar, and can follow you outside and all the way back to the ship. If you're on the ship and are teleporting players without caution, you can also teleport a Masked worker right into your ship. Needless to say, kill them on sight.
- Think you're mostly fine if you just don't put on the mask in the first place? Nope, you aren't. As mentioned, they can still spawn naturally on moons, which also raises questions about the fate of previous employees that got there.
- Even more Nightmare Fuel is the AI for the Masked. They're actually very smart. If two or more masked employees have you cornered, one will choose to come and chase you while the other(s) will stay back at the entrance ready to catch you if the first one fails. They aren't as predictable in direct combat either, occasionally stopping or breaking into a random sprint towards a player. Should a Masked manage to get onto the ship, especially from being teleported onto it, it will decide to just stay there, waiting to ambush any unsuspecting players. And speaking of teleported, the masked will be shown occasionally spinning around when they're idling by, which has been the signal for players to let the person on the ship know that they need to be teleported, meaning that anyone that doesn't know any better could end up teleporting a Masked onto the ship and likely end up becoming one.
- Ever spawn into the ship and hear the sound of laughter come from out of nowhere? Or how about when you're busy viewing the monitor, alone on the ship, and you hear a deep giggle? Well, as it turns out, if you don't put on the Dramatic Mask and store it on your ship for selling, they will make the sound of laughter when you least expect it. They will also do this if they spawn from the vents, or even when they possess a player. And yes, it does sound incredibly creepy
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