The most existential game in the past month may not be the "and masters" that have emerged since the end of last year, nor the ranking gods who have not stolen enough limelight on the TGA, but a "nobody" who suddenly came out.
Lethal Company, a horror game that has already garnered hundreds of thousands of positive reviews on Steam, has surpassed other major titles, and recently reached 175,000 simultaneous players, while the game itself is just a one-man EA version.
This is not an accident. Every once in a while, a phenomenal multiplayer online horror game will sweep through the live broadcast rooms of domestic and foreign streamers, providing materials for streamers and players, providing viewers with electronic mustard, and then silently retreating from horror and laughter, waiting for the next similar game to reproduce the scene.
However, judging from the current situation, "Deadly Company" should not fade out of people's eyes in the short term - the game has been launched since its launch, and the popularity seems to be continuing, and at first glance there is no intention of falling back. On social media at home and abroad, in addition to all kinds of hilarious pictures, Erchuang has occupied social media with a topic that is more sophisticated than the game screen.
Xi lone wolves who have no friends, also want to experience an immersive fear, go online to find a partner, and work together for unknown companies in the virtual world.
Squeaking is the best match for horror games
Feeling the deep fear of substitution in a game in the style of Low Poly may have been an incomprehensible thing in the past — but now players who are scared to death in Deadly Company are starting to make it harder for themselves.
1
The gameplay of Deadly Company is similar to that of a multiplayer survival horror game like Psychophobia, with an unnamed company asking employees to take a spaceship to an alien facility to pick up trash for a certain price, and everyone works together to complete the mission.
This scenario is familiar to veteran players, and as is customary, a horror game where you take your teammates on a journey begins to degenerate into pure comedy with the money and effort that the developers have spent money and effort to create.
This has always been the main reason why multiplayer horror games are favored by streamers
It was supposed to be that way, but Deadly Inc. was a little different.
Completely different from those beautiful games, this game reveals the atmosphere of "poverty" everywhere: low graphics, a rudimentary UI that almost non-existent, a background introduction that only a few words, and a maze-like indoor facilities. and the game itself has a clear gameplay, but there is no tutorial for beginners......
Of course, incorporating the UI into in-game items is itself a great way to increase immersion
Fortunately, the rules of the game are very simple, and after being "fired" a few times, players can easily figure out the established rules, time, and basic direction. And "Deadly Inc." has since completely shown people its "proper detail".
Despite the monotonous setting, Deadly Company's indoor and outdoor maps are a patchwork of several fixed types of terrain or rooms. Players are largely unable to familiarize themselves with the map, and are in a state of exploration at the start of each game.
Along with the random map, of course, there are enemies with very different types and rules. However, there is no absolutely safe zone in the game, and players need to be on high alert in any position, and the seemingly dazzling items exchanged for earned currency can only provide a very limited effect.
Life-Saving Artifact Teleporter
Game Over is not a thing at all in games, what can really have an impact on contemporary horror gamers is a rare mental oppression. In this regard, the approach of "Deadly Company" is worth Xi.
The game has a rather realistic proximity voice system. The player's voice in the game will be highly simulated in reality, near and far, and change with the environment. As a result, there is an echo in the room, and when it is drowned, there is only a grunt and no message can be transmitted, and the sound disappears when "death", and the effect is highly realistic. Players can't communicate seamlessly with each other, so they need to buy walkie-talkies to communicate over long distances.
Most of the time, players are helpless in the face of danger, and can only stay away from the dangers and monsters that can kill at any time in the game. The longer stamina gauge and sprint speed are among the few favors from the developers.
It's not hard to imagine a frightening spectacle: you're exploring a dark facility with your teammates, and suddenly they don't respond to you, leaving him in his place with only a pool of blood. In an instant, loneliness, darkness, and terror surround you, and you don't know who he was "killed" by, and who is staring at you in the dark.
The immersion of the effort, coupled with the uncertainty given by the system, makes it difficult for players to subconsciously capture the rules and sense of security, and it turns out that in the face of highly realistic fear, people are basically in their original form.
For more than a month, everyone has experienced a lot of surprises/frightens in the game.
The randomness of the game can be expressed anywhere: in the face of seemingly avoidable traps like machine guns, new and old employees are equal.
Do you understand the random gold content?
The prototype is taken from SCP-173's spring-loaded head, and gazing at it is the only way to survive for a short time. And if you come across more than one, it can only suggest that you have a correct understanding of your current chances of survival.
There's also a music box called "Joker", which winds up and the music goes from melodious to chaotic, and then suddenly turns into a skull that rapidly approaches and instantly takes the player away - one of the best stress monsters in the game.
Even more than the music box is the little girl in red that can only be seen by those who are locked. The whole picture is a spike, appear at any time, take your life from time to time, and put some pressure on your teammates by the way.
Wen Ziren has to say "learned" when he comes
But if you want to say the most sincere feelings, it is what people call "three flowers at the top" - it refers to three different types of monsters full of pressure staring at you at the same time. It was, of course, the onlooker's favorite episode.
All emotions are in the language of the camera from @ZZZZ, a user of station B
After a period of experience, many veteran migrant worker teams have successfully obtained the "salary" allocated by the company by picking up garbage many times, and with sufficient funds and more comprehensive exploration facilities, they have been able to kill some monsters such as spiders, face-hugging insects, hoarding insects, etc., although the first victims may be teammates.
Leave the interior building and enter the final stages of returning to the ship to prepare for takeoff. Eyeless hounds with a keen sense of hearing will roam the outdoors near the ship, waiting for an eyeless employee to lure them into the ship for a "self-help".
A qualified worker needs to keep in mind that there is no such thing as a safe place in the game
But as with most co-op multiplayer games, millions of Deadly Inc. players at home and abroad know a truth about escape, no matter how complex the situation is: you just need to run faster than your teammates. If you can't run, it is definitely a good way to "break the door with grace" with one hand.
From station B user @秋白�ayaofficial
Countless veteran employees who have been through a hundred battles have played a set of silky small combos that rolled the keyboard with a panicked face →and shouted "I won't play anymore" → shouted "I'm not playing anymore" in half a second. It turns out that as long as the pressure is in place, both men and women can easily break through the E6 treble.
Joke eggplant, understand eggplant, become eggplant
It is not difficult to feel that everyone in the game has encountered similar situations, but they can achieve their own program effects. There is a balance between viewing and experiencing.
It's just that more than two months have passed, and the popularity of the game has reached a climax, but people are no longer satisfied with the fear that the game itself can provide.
2
Deadly Inc. is produced by indie horror game developer Zeekerss. This author is both a horror map maker for Roblox and the author of many mini-games on the Itch.io, and has released a number of well-known games on Steam in the past few years, although niche but with a unique style.
Deadly Inc. is the culmination of Zeekerss' years of experience, and even though the art is shabby, the developer's deep skill is evident in the complete game experience. This also allows this work to be passed on by word of mouth, completing the transformation from niche to popular all over the world.
Today, Zeekerss continues to update the game according to its own philosophy. The last big update happened on December 10th, and the author just added some new content to the game: the mask and the nutcracker.
The Nutcracker is a puppet with a shotgun in hand, walking through an indoor maze in search of an intruder. Although it is still oppressive, the player can defeat it to obtain a powerful weapon in their hands.
Provided that you survive from its hands
The Mask, on the other hand, is an item that can infect players and transform into zombies to infect other players, but it is quite valuable when brought on a ship. It's not hard to see that every design of the developers is quite subtle.
Over the course of a few days, many players have been deceived by their mask-infected zombie teammates - everything still fits well with another tone of the game: high risk, high reward.
Or a wave that has just come out of the tiger's mouth and entered the wolf's den
According to the rules of the game, players continue to complete the higher goals given by the company, and then go to the more difficult and rewarding planets to explore. There is no upper limit to the target amount, once the game's original limit of collection capacity under four-player online is exceeded, it is easy for players to fail to get enough items within the allotted time, and the previous efforts will be burned, and then they will be "fired" and start from scratch.
Obviously, the content beyond is beyond the scope of Zeekerss' current content capabilities.
But the player's coping strategy is also improving. As the difficulty increases, the first solution strategy developed by the community is multiplayer mods. In such a situation, using the number of people to improve the fault tolerance rate, many people break through higher goals.
But making the game simple is not the goal of these "Deadly Company" workers. Since the original author update has not kept up, it is up to players to make up for more experiences themselves - for example, they feel that the current situation is not "abused" enough.
Since the release of the game, the community has created many mods, the most popular of which have helped developers improve some designs, such as adding additional tool slots, or enhancing image quality. The official is not idle, and the spider transformation function has been specially designed to take care of reptilian players, which has also been well received by overseas players.
It just looks a little hilarious
Naturally, the mod also includes some monster designs that fit the tone of the game. For example, the onomatopoeia mod that has been very popular recently. When the mod is installed in the game, the system will randomly intercept the voice of a player, and then the audio will be played by a monster. Players are either led into the monster's trap without realizing it, or they are distracted by the underworld atmosphere of the monster in front of them.
It has been downloaded more than 2 million times
Another popular mod that "tosses yourself" is known as the Fake Door Monster by players. As a monster disguised as an exit, the player tries to open the door and leave, which will activate the monster in the door and eat you directly.
Just imagine, when you finally managed to escape from all kinds of monsters, and you saw that you reached the emergency exit, thinking that you could escape and ascend to heaven, only to enter the mouth of the tiger again...... Isn't it a great effect.
There is also a mask-inspired Mask Zombie mod, which causes zombies to randomly spawn in the map that can infect humans, which is more difficult to watch out for than the easier mask transformation to deal with - this is where the "benefit" of having more teammates is perfectly reflected.
Don't forget the randomness: a certain probability of letting the player open a monster blind box seems a bit "not martial". The design is inspired by the original item box in the game, which players will randomly swipe out for a certain value when they open it. Now when you install an item expansion mod from the player's hand, there is a chance to open a "surprise".
Especially when driving a monster on your own ship
If a group annihilation occurs because of this, and the success falls short, the parties concerned will have to think about it in their dreams.
Tired of the existing environment, some people simply launched their own mods for new maps of the game - such as more dangerous SCP facilities and more destructive maze designs.
The authors of the player community have come to grasp the core ethos of Zeekerss – monsters need to be insidious, and maps need to be as desperate and hilarious randomness as the original.
In addition to mods of a tool nature, such mods that match the tone of the game and have good balance have been welcomed to varying degrees, and players are happy to be happy with it.
Although the addition of mods will make you face more fears, once the game over turns into a relaxed perspective of spectators, the "worker" will have the opportunity to watch a richer and happier picture, which is not exciting.
People obviously know this: the higher the risk (the more fear I feel), the higher the reward (and probably the more jokes I can see).
epilogue
The amazing design and unexpectedly good online experience of Deadly Company have made players and industry insiders rate it well.
However, it should not be ignored that it is easy to feel bored when you first get started, and if you really don't have friends, then its game experience is as simple as the style of art it presents, and it even makes people want to give bad reviews. And Zeekerss's update speed alone is even more worrying, and now such a huge amount of online data seems to be able to provide him with ideas for a perfect experience, but the "workers" are beginning to worry about whether Zeekerss can handle it alone.
Thankfully, Deadly Inc. is designed to present an extremely high-ceilinged experience, and modders have begun to grasp the core spirit of Zeekerss and are making the game more complete. Thanks to this, the popularity of this game has continued and is still favored by streamers and players from all walks of life.
At the moment, Deadly Company is still in the EA stage, and the game has not yet been added to Chinese - but it does not affect the experience. Maybe the game will no longer be so popular when it enters the official stage in the future, or maybe it will be remembered by players for a long time. For now, at least, the community is proving that a good piece deserves more people to contribute to.