Summary

  • Indie horror game Lethal Company becomes top-rated on Steam in 2023, beating out popular titles like Resident Evil 4.
  • The game's success is attributed to its unique combination of horror and cooperative gameplay, as well as its affordable price.
  • Lethal Company's achievement is reminiscent of other indie games making a mark despite smaller budgets, like Stray in 2022.

Indie horror title Lethal Company becomes the top-rated game on Steam for the year, beating out the likes of Resident Evil 4 and Baldur's Gate 3. Shortly after releasing into Early Access, Lethal Company has already proven a hit with fans and critics, quickly hitting 100,000 players despite only releasing in October 2023.

Developed and published by Zeekerss, Lethal Company is a first-person horror game that sees players scavenging items from different moons to rake in profits for a massive corporation. While the game does offer a solo mode of sorts, a key driving force behind Lethal Company is the inclusion of cooperative play, as players can work together via proximity chat to achieve their goals and help enhance company profits.

Lethal Company: How to Survive the Coil-Head
Lethal Company: How to Survive the Coil-Head

Coil-Head is a dangerous monster players can encounter in Lethal Company, so here are some tips to help fans survive a meeting with this creature.

By 

At the time of writing, Lethal Company has an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on Steam with the vast majority of reviews praising the game. While rankings are hard to compare directly on Steam, thanks to data provided by Steamdb.info, fans can put these numbers into context with other games. It means that Lethal Company has come out as the top-rated game for 2023 with a rating of 97.32%. To put the feat into context, Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 has a similar number of total reviews but an overall score of 96.41% due to a higher proportion of negative player responses.

Steam_Top_Reviews_2023

Some of the success can be attributed to the user reviews, but fans already consider Lethal Company one of the best horror games in 2023. This is in part due to its rare status of being both a horror and co-op game and when coupled with a modest price tag of $9.99, the game is all the more appealing to players.

It may be surprising to some to see Lethal Company beat out the AAA experiences, but it isn’t the first time an Indie game has surpassed games with a bigger budget. Annapurna’s Stray had a similar impact on the Steam charts in 2022 as the futuristic cat simulator gained momentum thanks to strong reviews and user recommendations, which also saw it nominated for multiple Game of the Year awards.

While Lethal Company may have missed out on the Game of the Year nominations, it is an impressive feat that the Indie title topped the Steam charts so soon after its release. It is worth remembering that this happened in the same year that Baldur's Gate 3, Hogwarts Legacy, and Resident Evil 4 hit the platform after years of hype.

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Lethal Company Tag Page Cover Art

Lethal Company
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Horror
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Systems
PC-1
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Released
October 23, 2023
ESRB
t
Developer(s)
Zeekerss
Publisher(s)
Zeekerss
Engine
Unity
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Number of Players
1-4
Steam Deck Compatibility
Playable
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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You are a contracted worker for the Company. Your job is to collect scrap from abandoned, industrialized moons to meet the Company's profit quota. You can use the cash you earn to travel to new moons with higher risks and rewards--or you can buy fancy suits and decorations for your ship. Experience nature, scanning any creature you find to add them to your bestiary. Explore the wondrous outdoors and rummage through their derelict, steel and concrete underbellies. Just never miss the quota.

These dangers prey upon the vulnerable and lonesome, and the protection of your crew may be your only hope. You can guide your crewmates from your ship, using the radar to call out traps and using the ship's terminal to access remotely locked doors--or you can all go in together. The Company store has many useful tools for the job, including lights, shovels, walkie talkies, stun grenades, or boomboxes.

Things get dangerous at night. Communicate with your crewmates to carry all valuables to the ship before things get too dangerous, and try not to leave anyone behind.

Platform(s)
PC
Genre(s)
Horror