Lethal Company is an indie horror game that has become the internet’s latest obsession. Over the past few weeks, hundreds of clips have been released on platforms such as Youtube that, in my opinion, perfectly capture the flow and feel of gameplay. They follow the same pattern that gameplay does, where on your mission with your friends to collect a daily quota of scrap from abandoned planets, your joking with your friends is interrupted by one of you dying to an eldritch horror. Not only is it rare for a Co-Op video game to be truly terrifying, but it is even rarer for any type of media to blend horror and comedy as successfully as Lethal Company has, especially when the game was created by one person, that being the developer known only as Zeekerss. That begs the question, how does the game successfully pull this off? To answer this question in full, it is necessary to look at how horror and comedy are combined in fiction, as well as how Zeekerss combines horror and comedy.

It is understandably rare to find works of fiction that combine horror and comedy. After all, they are two sides of the same coin. Both genres attempt to make you feel the exact opposite emotions with the same amount of intensity. One inspires levity while the other inspires terror. Despite this , there are a few movies that successfully combine the two. Two examples are Shaun of the Dead, directed by Edgar Wright, and Beetlejuice, directed by Tim Burton. While these are two highly entertaining films, both lean into the comedic aspect of horror/comedy. Shaun of the Dead in particular is a parody of classic zombie movies. This is markedly different from the type of horror and comedy found in Lethal Company. Lethal Company does have its comedic moments, but it is impossible to overstate the genuine fear one feels while playing this game, and even giving credence to the difference in art forms, it’s much harder to feel fear for the characters in these movies. So, knowing how Hollywood combines horror and comedy, how does Zeekerss?

Let’s dissect how Zeekerss combines horror and comedy, starting with the horror aspect of his games. It Steals is an arcade-style horror survival game that is a bit like 3D Pacman, if the ghosts silently stalked you, waiting in the shadows for you to let down your guard. It has five game modes, each of which are terrifying in its own unique way. It also showcases Zeekerss’s unique visual style, with a somewhat pixelated analog style graphics. The checkered, labyrinthine environment the game takes place in is great at making the player second guess themselves constantly, and the sound design makes every monster feel massively imposing. But what makes it even more terrifying is that the game will trick you. In Classic mode, when you are near your goal of collecting 25 blue orbs, changes will occur, such as the environment constantly throwing red lights on walls to mimic the eyes of the monster, Legs. In a message that should say 2 to signify 2 more orbs to go, it will show 200. And when you have one last orb to collect, Legs’s eyes will change from red to blue, and it’ll start emitting the same sound the orbs make. In Shutter mode, the already great sound design is improved further as you hear Legs scuttering close behind you during this game mode’s chase sequences. But by far the most terrifying game mode is Hide and Seek, which flips the game on its head. In this game mode, you are it, and you have to collect the blue orbs without finding the monster. Every corner you turn is a chance for you to find the thing that you dread the most. If you find it, you only have five seconds to hide before it tries to find you. If it does, he’ll chase you, and only after the chase is concluded will he give up. It is terrifying to try to hide as the monster’s eyes illuminate the room, and you hear his footsteps coming closer and closer. All in all, It Steals is an absolutely terrifying horror game.

Zeekerss combines visual horror and sound design to great effect to create the horror in their games, and will even have the game trick you in order to draw out a scare. But how do they take these excellent horror elements and combine it with comedy? In Zeekerss’s The Upturned, they do exactly that. In this third person physics based game, the premise is that while trying to get to your room in a massive hotel for the undead, the elevator constantly breaks down, and each time it does you have to grab a fuse from the level you are on, resulting in a horrifying chase sequence. On each level, you have to combine the game’s most important elements, like running from monsters, platforming, and utilizing your ability to throw literally anything and everything. Almost every obstacle and every monster has some mechanic involving your ability to throw things. Based on this premise, it’s hard to understand how this game manages to be scary. The way this game continues to be a horror is due to its frantic energy. Every horror encounter in the game is panic-inducing and desperate as you frantically try to claw your way through a terrifying situation, throwing whatever you can in order to get a way out. The behavior of every enemy is extremely intimidating. The most common enemies in the game are fast and hard to hit, leading to situations where you have to run past them in order to grab an item and try again. One encounter in the game is the humongous “Fat Pajama Man” who bursts through the ceiling, and can only be stunned once before all you can do is run and hope that his terrifying form doesn’t catch up with you. Another thing that elevates both the horror and the comedy of the game is the soundtrack, which has a mix of funky tunes and thrillingly fast and tense music.  The personality and comedy of the game shines through with its gameplay, writing, and art.

In Lethal Company, Zeekerss perfectly combines the horror elements expressed in It Steals though visual horror and sound design, and combines it with the goofy yet scary atmosphere of his other game, The Upturned. Lethal Company has no comedic moments itself, but gives players the perfect environment for these moments to come naturally. For example, the game’s proximity chat. You can only hear mics if they are near you, and most of the time the mics will pick up everything you say. Which means that occasionally you will hear your friend’s distant screams as they encounter a monster. This, combined with the frantic energy inherited from The Upturned, makes both the horror and comedy of this game all the more powerful. I personally have followed this developer for a long time, and I am excited to see what they make in the future.