Lethal Company Isn't a Horror Game - It's a Comedy

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Making comedy games is tricky, it seems like for every laugh riot of a game developers manage to come up with, there are a million games out there that try desperately to mimic the successes of the best comedy hits but end up being painfully unfunny instead. Then, along comes Lethal Company, a horror game with no writing, no comedy talent behind it and nothing in it that could be called a joke... and it's the funniest game of the year - but how? What is it about Lethal Company that makes it so funny?
The Architect has sought out the wisdom of the great comedy sages, laughed until their sides hurt and played quite frankly way too many games that aren't funny at all to figure out the answer - the trick to videogaming laughs lie not in what a joke is being told, but who it's being told to, and how.
You Saw:
Lethal Company - Early Access
High On Life - 2022
Portal 2 - 2011
Yakuza Like a dragon - 2005
Spooky's House of Jumpscares - 2014
Barbie Horse Adventures: Mystery Ride - 2003
Untitled Goose Game - 2019
YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG - 2019
Hitman World Of Assasination - 2023
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe - 2022
Monkey Island Returns- 2022
Saints Row - 2022
Breathedge - 2021
Animal Crossing: City Folk - 2008
Portal - 2007
Saints Row 4 - 2013
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - 2022
Jazzpunk - 2014
The Looker - 2022
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - 2004
Undertale - 2015
Reventure - 2019
Baldur's Gate 3 - 2023
Injustice - 2013
What The Golf!? - 2019
Teardown - 2022
Super Paper Mario - 2007
There is no game: Wrong Dimension - 2020
Totally Reliable Delivery Service - 2019
Borderlands 3 - 2019
Forespoken - 2023
Grand Theft Auto 5 - 2013
Pokémon Ultra Sun - 2017
South Park The Stick of Truth - 2014
South Park The Fractured But Whole - 2017
West of Loathing - 2022
Shadows over Loathing - 2017
Mass Effect 2 - 2010
Wolfenstein: The New Order - 2014
Deathloop - 2021
Genital Jousting - 2016
Mount Your Friends - 2013
Monster Prom 2 - 2020
Comedy Night - 2017
Be Funny Now - 2022
Regular Human Basketball - 2018
Jackbox Party Pack 9 - 2022
Jackbox Party Pack 8 - 2021
Jackbox Party Pack 7 - 2020
Gang Beasts - 2014
Party Animals - 2023
Psychonauts 2 - 2021
Hi-Fi Rush - 2023
Silent Hill 2 - 2001
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - 2014
God of War: Ragnarok - 2022
Saints Row 3 - 2011
Superliminal - 2019
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition - 2010
We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie - 2023
Neon White - 2022
Nier Automata - 2017
Dark Souls - 2011
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 2019
Elden Ring - 2022
Disco Elysium - 2019
Happy Wheels - 2010
Goat Simulator - 2014
Redfall - 2023
Little Gator Game - 2022
Prey - 2017
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator - 2019
The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom - 2023
Surgeon Simulator - 2013
Octodad - Dadliest Catch - 2014
Noita - 2019
Worms WMD - 2016
Frog Fractions - 2020
Seinfeld - 1993
Deltarune - Who Knows
Frog Detective - 2017
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - 2011
Roboquest - 2023

[@ArchitectofGames]

Don't worry pals I can confirm that I'm definitely not a horrible tentacle monster that requires regular sacrifices in order to prevent me escaping from my prison and devouring humanity, you can trust me :) now go fetch me some more scrap!: www.patreon.com/ArchitectofGames Wow a place filled with even more monstrosities than Lethal Company's levels!: twitter.com/Thefearalcarrot

[@TLBainter]

unsubscribing because you are not a horrible tentacle monster :(

[@blockeontheleafeon]

@@TLBainter Reminder that Saya exists and I will never forget her or her meat-riddled way of living.

[@gogozipray]

Yo man im zooted out of my gourd and was laughing the entire vdieo. almost made me cry when you told me i was wrong didnt get it at the end because i was laughing. 10/10

[@sillyman2013]

I ain’t getting mo scrap for u

[@SagaEf]

20:23 (they patched it back in manually after community backlash to its removal)

[@dogstomp]

And Lethal Company does it WELL. Not a lot of reviewers have pointed it out specifically that when you die, you immediately land in a voice chat with the other dead players, and you're immediately spectating one of the surviving players. So if you're not the first to die, you'll generally be greeted by laughter for a few seconds, before everyone turns their attention to the next guy. Dying gives you front row seats to the comedy and feels like a party. In phasmophobia, on the other hand, when you die, your body drops to the ground but you spend another 5 seconds watching some weird scene before appearing as a ghost somewhere in the house. It accidentally totally deprives the dead player of the fun of watching their teammates react.

[@shibainu2528]

Especially if several people die at the same time. True story, I was playing with 3 of my friends on that foggy mansion map. One person stayed behind on the ship, while the rest of us went to the building. When we go there, I went into the building alongside one other person, and we both saw a landmine right in front of the door so we stepped off to the side. A few seconds later, the third person came in through the door and walked towards the mine. The moment he stepped on it, the other friend started repeatedly screaming his name to get him to watch out, getting more and more panicked as time went on. Needless to say, we ALL blew up at the same time and were all sent to spectator. Friend 2 and 3 were shook, but 3 in particular saying he was sorry while laughing in terror, while Friend 1 who stayed on the ship was watching the radar wondering what all the letters and numbers were, before figuring out they were all landmines / turrets. Friend 1 was still trying to contact us on the walkie talkie, but our dead bodies weren't going to respond so we decided to just start the autopilot. They were surprised to see the autopilot notification and while they were teleporting our dead bodies back, they got more and more terrified at both the confirmation that we died, alongside trying to figure out what demon creature managed to get a triple kill THAT quickly. I have a recording including most of the mentioned events, but I should probably get permission to upload it publicly first.

[@Guzzlerinos]

it only does it well for children and youtuber scare baiters. the game flops among any actual adult.

[@shibainu2528]

@@Guzzlerinos If that's your opinion, then that's your opinion. Many people think this game mixes terror with humor in a great way. For example, this one video simply titled "RUBIKS CUBE" on this site. (Throw a Lethal Company keyword in there to narrow down the search) It starts with someone going into the building, making this gutteral "I am feeling dreadful" sound, before disappearing into the building. The other two people are silently laughing as they follow suit, and when they get in, they see the first person screaming incomprehensibly in terror while being chased by a monster in the main room. So, of course, the other two people leave, start laughing, and a few seconds later the first guy comes running out carrying and screaming "RUBIX CUUUUBE" So in other words... let people enjoy what they want to, that is an actual adult thing to do.

[@headphoneheadache7667]

Tbh, Phasmophobia isn't really meant for comedy, there is a good video on how it's actually just a puzzle game with a horror setting.

[@shibainu2528]

@@headphoneheadache7667 I think I have seen that one, where the "puzzle" part of the game really comes into play when you are missing certain pieces of vital evidence, since there are unique identifiers between ghosts such as hunting early, throwing multiple objects at once, or slowing down when near the player. So, you get two pieces of evidence to narrow the choices down, then attempt to figure out which ghost it is using their unique abilities. (Can also be used when you are a coward or when the choice is obvious on normal difficulty)

[@wisecrack3461]

Horror is about building stress, comedy is about release, they go together perfectly :D

[@drnanard9605]

So what you mean is that masturbation is horror comedy?

[@sqwong3947]

@@drnanard9605 in the loosest sense of the term. Yes.

[@pieterfaes6263]

@@drnanard9605 I believe the idea of walking into a family member doing so illustrates your point. That, or the 'Fear and Hunger-Termina'-example.

[@Coffeepanda294]

Gotta buy that game now, looks amazing.

[@onerxowns2202]

@@drnanard9605 "Comedy Of Situation"

[@littlesnowflakepunk855]

One of my favorite direct jokes in the game is the fact that the "manual" of instructions given to you by your employer has a couple places where it lists color codes, except they printed it on a black and white printer, so they all just show up as grey.

[@nopenoperson8964]

There’s also the Employee Help Line which you can call on your company-issued cell phone. Which is nowhere to be found.

[@josephbolton5893]

@@nopenoperson8964 There is totally a company issued cell phone. The company just never replaces it when they have to get new employees so its just been lost in the facilities somewhere. Last I heard a jester ate it.

[@nicktheguy_]

@@josephbolton5893 bro no not the jester!!!!

[@planefan082]

​@@josephbolton5893You can rarely find an old cell phone as scrap--probably lost by an old crew

[@underscore_5450]

Not only that, but the colors they list are completely incorrect as well.

[@dogishappy0]

This game is amazing. I've never had such authentic screams of terror immediately followed by uncontrollable laughter as I get to watch my friends slowly get picked off.

[@ArchitectofGames]

You know a game is good when your friends spontaneously turn into professional voice actors when playing

[@DeltaEntropy]

Hahaa… Yeah… Acting…

[@illuminoeye_gaming]

​@@ArchitectofGamesthats where you dont understand. we dont turn into voice actors, because *we aren't acting* 🛐

[@josephkeen7224]

A part of why Lethal Company is so good with comedy is because Zeekers (the games dev) is really good at causing chaos for both horror and comedy. A good example is the game The Upturned, where a character asks you if you want to listen to his music while being chased by a slug like the water monster from Amnesia. If you say yes the monster immediately knows where you are.

[@dr.cheeze5382]

(because the music starts blasting from your character's phone and is so lound it makes the whole room shake.)

[@shibainu2528]

Or how one of the most stressful characters in the game is literally named the "Fat Pajama Man", appearing at the most unexpected times and slapping you until you are at 20 HP. The chaos during certain moments of the game causes a strange moment where you are so tense it hurts, but you are also laughing to yourself at the same time. (Also, the person on the phone asks if you want to hear some tunes, and if you say yes, he'll put it on the intercom so you can hear all the bass... Bass which is so loud, it causes the objects in the room to bounce around like crazy.) I think what makes that part so great, is that the bass doesn't start immediately so you think it's alright, then when the bass starts, it has a rhythm to it alongside the actual song which you can hear in the background. So you can time the bass to your advantage like "1, 2, 1 2 3..." (Just look at Pastra's video on The Upturned and skip to 10:00)

[@ursfan]

​​​@@dr.cheeze5382 Sorry this is semantics and doesn't matter, but the music is coming from the intercom system! In the level before the water slug (may be a few floors before? I don't rember), the player gets hit with a generic horror sting when turning a corner and finding a mannequin there, at which point dialogue appears at the top of screen from your guide apologizing and saying that he was testing the PA system, thus making the generic horror stinger completely diegetic, the mannequin being there when it played was just coincidence in universe. It has a set up and I find that fucking hilarious!!

[@briancasual6760]

Games like High on Life seem terrified you're going to miss a joke they're making which makes it hard for them to include the player out of fear you'll mess it up.

[@ArchitectofGames]

Yeah the game feels weirdly... insecure? I guess you'd call it - which really kills the detatched, improvisational vibe it seems to be going for.

[@bugjams]

Either that, or they're too "quippy." Call it the "Marvel humor effect." Ya know, when the game acts self-aware in a really annoying and pretentious way? Like when it goes, "Woooow, a boss fight... soooo original... I bet it'll have 3 phases too... woooow... it had 3 phases... who could've seen thaaaaat one coming!" 4th wall breaks in games are good. But only when they're subtle, so that the player realizes it's a 4th wall break on their own, not by the gaming forcing it down their throat.

[@NihongoWakannai]

​@@bugjams also being boring and unoriginal does not become funny when you point out that it's boring and unoriginal. If anything it frustrates the player because you're actively admitting to them that the game is bad, so why didn't you just make it good instead?

[@leithaziz2716]

@@NihongoWakannai Self-aware humor more often misses than hits unfortunately, to the point that committing to your joke, even if it may not get a chuckle, would be more respectable.

[@thedapperdolphin1590]

⁠@@bugjamsLampshading often doesn’t work. It usually makes the experience worse because it shows the developers/writers know that the thing is bad, but they didn’t bother to fix it. I’m also just generally tired of the lack of sincerity in so much writing, especially fantasy, super heroes, and sci fi. It’s hard to find a story like that nowadays that doesn’t feel the need to quip about how weird the world is.

[@azayrian1052]

You know what is funny. The bug from the giants in Skyrim was actually removed but the backlash from the community was so strong that they put it back in.

[@echoawoo7195]

That's because Skyrim Space Program was a very successful program that launched many an adventurer into Nirn's mid atmosphere

[@0_bus]

Deep rocks humor is amazing. Mission control only makes quips about your actions. Kicking every barrel into the launch bay? Wasting time dancing? Saying the word mushroom over and over again? Mission control hates them.

[@tybirous3417]

I said it the other day, but this game is pretty much EXACTLY DRG, except you can't fight back much good like. It's absolutely brilliant

[@leithaziz2716]

We're Rich! We're Rich!

[@DoubleMDoubleFun]

Mushroom

[@technopyrka5836]

Someone has lost our cargo AGAIN... damn, I love this gag with shuttle pilot

[@MeLlamoBauti]

Yeah last season/update was so funny that it literally killed it players lol

[@danilooliveira6580]

comedic horror is a genre that exists for a long time and is not explored enough. the best jump scares are the ones that leave you laughing after.

[@pete5516]

Can you give some examples? Other than the painfully unfunny horror comedy parodies like cabin in the woods

[@SMorales851]

I always remember that point in Dead Space where you're going into the plants section and the game is building up tension for something, and then jumpscares you with a water spray turning on to water the plants.

[@chilly456]

​@@pete5516Another game by the same person who made Lethal Company, it's called The Upturned

[@igorthelight]

We need enemies that would get stuck trying to jumpscare you! ;-)

[@jasam01]

@@pete5516 Death Trips, Spookyest game I ever played with that elevator scene. But there's a good gag in there.

[@avena7506]

First time my friend played Lethal Company we watched him get crushed by a perfectly placed delivery pod, it was the best joke I've ever seen in any video game and despite that the gave had no involvement in actively making that happen outside of simply giving the delivery pod a hitbox for the CHANCE it might happen organically. That's comedy right there.

[@Ninjat126]

In systems-driven games like that, every little detail the developers think to add is like an entertainment landmine waiting for a player to trigger it.

[@Arexion5293]

One of the funniest moments I had in Noita was me pouring some liquid into one of the water pools in the sanctuary and then going off to test some weapons. I ended up setting myself on fire and quickly jumped into the pool of two liquids. Once I landed there I realised I had completely glossed over what the first layer of liquid was and proceeded to get transformed into a duck. I was now a waterfowl floating on top of the water layer while suffocating below the transformation liquid because a duck apparently cannot swim up when between two layers of liquids! I had truly become a bird brain.

[@theminerboy5694]

The problem is that the game also does stuff that feels like a joke directed against you. From enemies triggering near-immortal bosses to getting one-shotted by something completely out of your control.

[@Arexion5293]

@@theminerboy5694 That is part of the humor, I wouldn't call it as an issue in this type of a game. The game is well aware of its own imbalances and unfairness, hence it also allows for the player to become so broken they can break everything. It's a game that wants to trash talk you with the intention of you engaging with it and trash talking back. The random bs is a punchline, you having garbage luck is part of the humor and appeal. It's very Finnish in that nature, it engages in self-deprecating humor at its own and the player's expense. Life is unfair bs so try to find some humor in it. If that doesn't appeal to you, the game won't work for you. But for those who enjoy that sort of thing, the game is excellent. It's a niche type of appeal.

[@impliqued1910]

I think the most important thing to me is that lethal company and The Upturned, draw the line between Scary games and Spooky games. Lethal Company is a proper Spooky game, its not the scariest traumatizing game. It's a well played theater of circumstances, spooky bugs and spooky Jack In THE box, but its not trying too hard to scare you, and its not trying too hard to be funny. You should play the upturned, its good, it made me laugh and cry, It's much more voiced and wrote than Lethal company, but it still feels funny.

[@ArchitectofGames]

After playing lethal company I instantly downloaded it!!

[@impliqued1910]

I'm really happy to hear that! I would love to hear your opinion on that game aswell, your videos are a delight to listen to!

[@torinriley7569]

@@ArchitectofGames Its also worth playing It Seeks, which feels a lot like a prototype for a lot of the ideas, procedural generation, and design in lethal company. It doesn't overstay its welcome either.

[@JDReC100]

@@torinriley7569 ...do you mean "It Steals"?

[@TheWhatyr]

"Flip the script and become comedians themselves" *Gestures broadly at Let's Game It Out*

[@devonwilliams9576]

Hey there, its Josh, welcome back to Lets Game It Out

[@rhysduncan8676]

It's only touched on briefly in the video, but proximity chat goes such a long way to creating humour (for me anyway) - I have no idea what it is about it that makes it so funny

[@zacharynovak2180]

I think it’s the fact that you get more information about what’s going on through the audio itself. If someone is getting strangled by that bug it’s a lot funnier if their voice also sounds muffled. Or the fading screams of a coworker frantically running away. Voip also makes everything feel a lot more connected and grounded. It’s no longer a discord chat/game lobby unaffected by the game but another part of the game’s soundscape itself. The skinwalker mod is amazing too, it clips people’s voices and plays them back to other people. Hilariously scary.

[@Jenna_Talia]

I think the doppler effect, and screams being forcefully cut short, adds a lot to it. My friend jumps into a pit in Lethal Company and I only find it funny cause I hear him go "oh-" before getting cut off due to his death.

[@pexilated1638]

@@Jenna_Taliaone of the funniest moments we had was when I stepped into quicksand and didn’t know what was happening so I only managed to get out the smallest “A-“ before I was cut off

[@FireFox64000000]

Horror by yourself is scary. Horror with friends is comedy.

[@foxxbaker]

This game feels like watching a comedy horror, and Murphy law in action, plus I remember one of the funniest things I seen in this game was a ladder slowly falling over, and hitting someone like a episode of loony tunes

[@ZeHeavyArmor]

What amazes me about the game is that even when dead its still as funny as being alive and playing. Other games you just sit there and twiddle your thumbs disconnectedljy watching other players. In lethal company, you know exactly how you died, your buddy is not so certain and may have different takeaways on the situation. You also get the frontrow unobscured cinematic seat to watch your buddy's journey to make it out or not. AND you get to tell all that to your buddies when you respawn on the ship making all laughs around and many more in the next trip for the quota.

[@KelsieJG__they-them]

I'm glad you brought up The Looker. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard playing a video game than at that ending bit (if you know, you know) and I was grinning throughout.

[@AnotherDuck]

Especially once you realise what it's all a setup for.

[@AnotherDuck]

@@13.ghaniziyadsagiansyah66 I still recommend waiting until your computer is not broken anymore. And it doesn't sound as funny if you explain the joke, but essentially... It's one big dick joke. The last puzzle you literally draw a dick, though you're probably focusing too much on the details and how to navigate the path to realise what you're doing.

[@coolgreenbug7551]

@@13.ghaniziyadsagiansyah66I’d go watch a let’s play then. My favorite is MatPat’s on GTlive because he goes into it fully serious hunting for any and all secrets, which leads to him putting in a lot of work for a bunch of dumb jokes

[@blyred]

SPOILER ... the final maze the game gives you slowly traces out a giant dick as you solve it. It's climactic and feels important until you notice what you've been tricked into.

[@Hoothouse]

THE OBELISK

[@Wobbmin]

Funny thing is, it's not even the dev's first outing with comedy horror. Zeekers also made The Upturned, which is very explicitly a comedic horror game with its goofy writing juxtaposed against the panic-inducing monsters

[@Seydaschu]

Pizza Tower I feel is extremely hilarious without having to "tell jokes" (though those are there sometimes). I'm surprised more games don't use slapstick combat animations. Stuff like God Hand, or maybe the Yakuza games.

[@ARStudios2000]

Godhand is such a unique comedic gem

[@AnotherDuck]

Currently playing Kerbal Space Program. There's a lot of passive humour there in the form of descriptions, all with a lack of concern for safety (in the same vein as Fallout, Robocop, Starship Troopers, and a bunch of others), but it works much better because that's also the type of gameplay you're expected and encouraged to do. Also, check out troll levels on Mario Maker. The good ones of those perfect timing in the hands of the player.

[@onlysmiles4949]

I played through the Bravely RPG's earlier this year, and in End Layer, there's a boss you fight that gives you a class themed around cats, with one of the bonus perks of it being that you can communicate with them, and for the most part, it's just an extra little bonus. However, in one of the first towns in the game, there's a llama standing around. Being curious I went up and talked to it to see what would happen and if it extended to other animals, and the llama simply asked me if I knew what a cat looked like. That one joke was genuinely one of the funniest moments in the game, mostly because they managed to fully prepare for people to make that exact dumbass assumption

[@themushroominside6540]

"All comedy is derived from fear" ~Garnet, Master of comedy

[@LividE101]

Something I realized while you brought up the Hitman games in particular is how often jokes involving mechanical interactions involve an "I see where this is going" setup, and the best ones do this with as much subtlety as they can get away with. This is, to be fair, pretty obvious: a game needs to tell the joke so the player follows it to its conclusion. But often the funniest bit is not the moment the joke "happens", but the moment the player figures out the joke. I'm remembering two bits in Hitman's Marrakesh that I really liked, those being that you can kill the general(?) by kicking a toilet onto his head or by loosening a gas tank next to where he goes to smoke and blow him up. I specifically remember the funniest party not being the moment the kill occurred; it was walking next to a toilet teetering above a big hole in the floor and seeing a "push" prompt, or sneaking behind the guy, watching him take a smoke, then looking in the room to see an explosive gas tank next to the doorway. Both kills were satisfying, but I only laughed when I realized what the game was silently telling me to do. However, Both of these moments have in-game achievements. If I saw them before I did the mission, I don't think either joke would have worked as well as it did. I think this is also what makes The Looker work so well, considering the game is literally about solving joke puzzles, because the thing you laugh at is recognizing the solution. The game is literally a challenge of "getting" all the various jokes to progress. I... don't know what any of this means, necessarily, but I feel like there's something there. It's 4 in the morning, I'll figure out why I wrote this tomorrow.

[@yaksher]

I would contest that the Binding of Isaac's bad items are not meant as humor at the expense of the player or whatever; they exist to make the game more dynamic and interesting. Items are not always a benefit, any it's not always worth the risk to take random items. Additionally, aside from Plan C, I'm not aware of any items that straight up kill you (and even Plan C lets you e.g., insta-kill a final boss and then finish the run before you die, or get an extra life and use it for something other than the final boss), and almost every item is workable and in some circumstances good (with the exception of the items which basically just don't do anything, good or bad). Similarly, in Dark Souls or Elden Ring, I don't think the traps are comedic. I think the role they play is to make the world hostile and to make you think on your feet. Like, mimics are bullshit the first time you encounter them not because it's funny-though perhaps to some people it is-but because Dark Souls is a game that wants you to feel like nothing is free. It didn't take me long to learn that if there's an item just chilling somewhere, there's probably an enemy around the corner. The game's ambushes become familiar and it becomes satisfying when you get to turn the game's "gotchas" right back on it and smack the enemies as they're slowly climbing over the wall because you knew they'd be there instead of having them jump down on you while you're distracted by your new loot.

[@TheAmberFang]

I'd compare bad items in Binding of Isaac to bad cards in card games. In some ways, maybe they are genuinely meant to be jokes, but they are also meant as a sort of challenge to certain types of players: "Johnny" players in MtG design terms. And yeah, as rough as it is to lose a run (that can run upwards of an hour) to learn how catastrophically bad an item can be, that's still just one run out of the many tens (or potentially hundreds) that the game is designed for a person to play.

[@THTB_lol]

@@TheAmberFang also, some conventionally "bad" items, such as tiny planet, become really useful when combined with other items, like soy milk and lost contact, where you become a shield of death

[@kevingriffith6011]

I feel like comedy games are best described as a double act, a comedy duo composed of the player and the game. The problem most games that try to be funny run into is that they've cast the player and the game in the wrong roles. To borrow a trope name, the game is best suited to playing the "straight man" who sets up situations for the player "the wise guy" to riff on. The best comedy in games is when you, the player, do something silly and the game matter-of-fact-ly shows you the consequences in the context of the game world, or uses in-game systems to encourage the players to do funny things.

[@UglyDucklingButEpic]

I forgot this video was about lethal compnay mid-way through, great video 👍

[@cullenlatham2366]

Untitled goose game doesnt pretend to be horror, yet it is hilarious because the entire thing is just a sandbox to create your own jokes in. The game has no big stakes and can be casually cleared in a day, but it has just enough game play that prods the player into potential joke setups that the player stays invested in all the little jokes they tell themselves in the process. It is also one of the most unique senses of accomplishment i have gotten from 100% a game, as it perfectly leans into what the game is. It is one final prop for your prop comedy, perfectly encapsulates the effort it took to obtain, and proudly displays the player's master over the game's "puzzles". Heck, just in the first area, i cant help but laugh at the task referred to as "rake in the lake". It simultaneously tells you everything and nothing at the same time, while creating the perfect mantra to mumble as you single mindedly chase the goal. The mantra just gets ever funnier when the plan is foiled.

[@kynlem]

i think the dev of lethal company is really great at the kind of humour you describe. the upturned, another game of theirs, is one of the funniest games i’ve played

[@dr.cheeze5382]

Hey, you wanna hear my mixtape?

[@zmanrockz6358]

One of my favorite funny moments of a game that I experienced recently actually came from Frostpunk of all places. I was playing a DLC scenario where you have to build one of the Generators that are the centerpiece of the other senarios, and since I’m assuming at city builders I was using cheats to give myself resources. At one point I gave myself 5000 coal (which, if you’ve never played, is a ridiculous amount) and I suddenly got a dialogue pop-up of one of my workers being concerned over my new “obsession” with stockpiling coal. That itself was pretty funny, but then I read the response options and the extra information I got from hovering over them all ended with “so you should probably start working on the Generator now.” I have no idea if it was really aimed towards people using console commands or not, but it caught me so off-guard I was just dying in my chair for several minutes.

[@parkinsonvibes3812]

any horror coop game, good or bad, will inevitably become comedy - there is no escaping this fate

[@karenlusted298]

Explains why, despite not liking horror anything in general, I've had the most fun and funniest moments when playing Phasmophobia with my friends.

[@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

This game is what I really wish Viscera Cleanup Detail was. Doing mundane janitorial-style tasks with buddies while trying not to die. Seriously, I'd love to see a combination of that game's cleaning mechanics with this game's monsters.

[@heavymetalmixer91]

The best laughs always come from unexpected situations, that's why things like mods on games tend to be so funny: Because the game isn't supposed to be that way.

[@lukasprazak7362]

This video reminded me of Barotrauma. That can also become an extremely funny chaos. Like that one time my friend tried to fight mudraptors with a flamethrower and ended up killing half of the crew instead. Or this one ballast flora accident: I'm not very experienced and I played with a friend who was playing basically for the first time (I was captain and my friend was a security officer). We went into ruins for an artifact and when we returned, whole sub was overgrown (we left only bots in the sub). Now, I heard about ballast flora and knew we had to destroy the root or whatever in the ballast. So I tried shooting and plasma cutting it, but it didn't really do anything. So we standed above the ballast, some of the bots with us, and my friend asked: "What will we do?" "Try throwing a grenade into the ballast," I said, "I heard somewhere that's a good way to deal with this." "I don't really know how to throw grenades." "I don't either, I only played captain and mechanic. Just throw it, we will see how it works out." So he did. After few seconds, he asked: "Did I throw it inside?" "I don't know." I answered. Then, I noticed the grenade lying below my feet. I tried to run and shouted something like: "Oh god, it's here!" and then it exploded, killing everyone except one of the bots, who was on the other side of the sub.

[@enderrzvx1461]

I can't belive Adam failed to get the Broom Closer Ending . It's such a good ending and despite coming from a joke situation very touching overall ! Can't fault you doe the requirments for it are ridiculous !

[@aturchomicz821]

15:21Lil Gator Game referenced!😍😍

[@Tjways]

I say the dev really knows how to make horror comedy, he achieved true Horror in IT STEALS and then his 2nd game Upturned is comedy horror... so I think Dev knows what he is doing :D

[@kyrasoze516]

14:58 "this is an excellent segue" *Gameplay footage of a dude on a Segway* I see you.

[@benchermenschi347]

Honestly i feel that the only difference between horror and humor is the punchline/scare

[@andreworders7305]

17:34 I completely forgot this was the video topic

[@JonaxII]

Funniest game i played recently was Superliminal. Didn't tell many jokes, but repeatedly subverted my expectations in ways that made me laugh

[@Brittle-Bones]

Reventure clip shown. Thou hast summoned me.

[@vizthex]

another thing about Hitman (the new games, at least) is that there's some hilarious hidden ways to exit the mission (such as flying away in the flamingo outfit) that i only found out about because i randomly got one recommended to me on my YT homepage.

[@Ashtarte3D]

Hell yeah Roboquest in the post video footage. Anyone that ever wondered "what if DOOM 2016 was a roguelike" should 100% buy Roboquest.

[@Lanuzos]

Yesterday I screwed up a scrap run as the sole survivor. I could either start the ship or sneak out to get the loot near the eyeless hounds. It was right outside of the ship and getting something wasn’t a big deal as long as I don’t screw up. Unfortunately I spam picked items to the point of holding a robot in my hands. Needless to say, the dog right next to me didn’t overhear that…

[@akirachisaka9997]

At 10:25, talking about Borderlands, I don't know why but 1's Face McShooty always felt like a really nice joke. I think it's because the quest description, the dialogue, the character, and the quest objectives all works together? And also it's pretty short so it don't overstay it's welcome. If you get bored of him you can just shoot him in the face and the joke is done.

[@stevenneiman1554]

They're weird games, but I think Book of Hours and Cultist Simulator actually do a quite good job of using what is arguably conventional non-game delivery to tell jokes which are often funny, but I think a lot of what makes it work is how a lot of those jokes require engagement with the lore, which is presented in an obtuse enough way that the humor feels like something you've earned your access to.

[@fieldrequired283]

I love how much you can learn about a person or object just by seeing which pips it has, and how many.

[@stevenneiman1554]

@@fieldrequired283 Did you notice the subtle semi-joke of how Sulochana and Ibn both conspicuously don't have the Mortal tag?

[@Lanuzos]

17:40 I was so immersed in the general topic of game humor that it just struck me that the video is about Lethal Company in the first place.

[@Gebunator]

Comedy and horror goes hand in hand well. Whole idea of "There is no despair without hope and vice versa", not to mention the different ends. Have to also remember good scare of both terror and horror (Expecting and experiencing) Sure, you can most intense horror experience lasting long time ever, but you need breathing room and time to vent down after suspense building and THE moment, same thing with comedy. It's pacing so simplified by modern horror movies. You get your suspense ful moment with appopriate music and the more than expected jumpscare. If the movie writers are feeling extra bold, there'l lbe false jumpscare, a moment of relief AND then actual jumpscare. Granted, if they are even bolder, they don't even go for actual jumpscare! Same thing with comedy, it can't be repeated punchlines after each other. Take an example a decent stand up comedian. You expect jokes after jokes? In a sense yes, but there'll be long winded up, suspense building setups that get intentionally dragged on. Then small moments of relief, letting the audience laugh it out and whatnot. Heck, even bad jokes that never land are part of it as means of a breathing room and lowering a bar. With all said, Comedy and horror compliment each other. You got your panic moment, followed by relief and then the payoff a comedy. Lethal Company tends to do that so organically with its roster of monsters and how players end up interacting with the moons and said roster of monsters.

[@Lanuzos]

I‘ve recently acted on a real world example of breaking the boundaries humor in games. You see, I was leading scout cubs and we were playing a game called werewolves, it being about uncovering hidden werewolves before they kill everyone. A key feature are the trials where you can vote out a suspect each round in hope of turning the tide. A girl jokingly accused me, the narrator, of being a werewolf. Usually this is a useless and illegitimate move, but I let it pass and all the kids voted me out instead of each other. I announced the death and absence of the narrator and picked another child to narrate.

[@Ouvii]

I've been living under a rock and 21:59 WHAT? THEY FIRED YAHTZEE? He was the only reason anyone ever knew about The Escapist haha wow. Oh, I just looked it up and he left because someone else was fired when they seemingly shouldn't have been. Good on him.

[@LARAUJO_0]

3:53 Ok that one got me good lmao

[@The-EJ-Factor]

Have you ever played “What the golf?” It’s a game that is sure to to make you giggle.

[@TheMeldanor]

I had to stop the video at 16:55 because I was laughing so hard. Thank you for the video and especially this scene!

[@fish5541]

I legit forgot this was about lc cause the slightly seperate video essay in the middle about comedy in general felt so well done

[@tominatorxx]

Having a friend that goes on a killingspree with a stop sign just to make the quota will never get old in Lethal Company. And it's true that giving players the toolbox to experiment with systems and mechanics often results in the best comedic moments. I remember figuring out that I could just simply push the boss of the edge of the arena in Baldur's Gate 3. Seeing that boss fall into an endless pit is hilarious. Afterwards realizing that it meant that I had also pushed the loot off the clif, only made it funnier.

[@rumplstiltztinkerstein]

One game I played on my childhood that was hilarious is the Worms series. Looking at it from an outside perspective it doesn't look that interesting. You have a destructible 2D map where two or more teams are randomly placed on the map to be the last one standing. It doesn't look that funny on the first glance. But when you play the game, you realize a few things: - Friendly fire is enabled and just as lethal as damage from your enemies; - All weapons require skill to properly aim AND you have to control how much power you have when using it. If you shoot with a bazooka, you have to control how far it is going to move. Also it is affected by the current wind. - There are destructibles in the map like mines and explosives. Explosives just blow when hit. Mines will fly following the game physics according to where it was hit and how strong was the impact. Meaning you can fling a mine at your own troops by accident. - There is a fire effect from the explosives that will make units start to jump around to random locations. Meaning that they can end up jumping into the water below. The fire may also trigger other explosives. - The weapons are extremely unreliable to aim and use. When you play the game, even on online matches. You realize that at least half of the deaths your own units suffer are resulted from your own mistakes. Basically the player that wins is the one that can have the least accidents of all. Making it a hilarious game to play. edit: Oh he mentioned Worms. Awesome!

[@PokeAndDestroy]

pleasantly surprised that you talked about jazzpunk, one of my favorite games

[@TeuFortCitizen]

The entire bit where you talk about comedy is so long I totally forgot you were talking about lethal company

[@Esen99153]

The stop sign in VTMB, is something i think about to this day

[@weirdalexander8193]

19:36 hey, I’ve seen this room layout in Luigi’s mansion 2! It was manor 5 mission 1 if I recall. It even has the dog with the key, although polterpup was probably a tad harder to catch. On one hand, spooks have noclip. On the other, 90’s adventure games have a bit of a reputation…

[@cinnao9611]

You have activated a core memory in my brain with that whoopie cushion joke. I haven't thought about Jazzpunk in years.

[@solgerWhyIsThereAnAtItLooksBad]

It’s pretty fuckin scary when I’m sitting in a corner of a ship, staring down a hound while I have no way of checking on the crew

[@tybirous3417]

If you get the spare dosh, grab a radar booster at some point. Put it at the front of the ship or a little out of the ways, you can ping that to distract the doggo. Unless they're hard locked on you, of course. If he knows you're there, the radar booster won't do heck all until the agro fades. Which takes longer than your door to run out. Sincerely, a fellow shipman.

[@spaceman7019]

knowing what spore lizards are and seeing my crew piss themselves when it's alarmed is always going to be funny to me.

[@NoomStuff]

I completely forgot this video was about lethal company midway through

[@Whitewingdevil]

Thanks for the link to that GDC talk, looks really interesting!

[@mineboom7377]

At one point I actually forgot this was a video about lethal company, lol

[@GeorgeNoiseless]

Zeekerss designed the perfect Slapstick Toolkit.

[@Kyun9432]

16:54 I used whoopie cushion in Lethal Company. That lead to our death once...

[@emretekmen1602]

wait, i did NOT know about that jonathan blow satire. That looks hilarious!

[@primalknight]

11:33 imo exhausting an npcs dialogue after doing a repetitive task is actually relaxing and fun and doesnt leave me feeling bored

[@primalknight]

12:52 nvm the limit as the final punchline is so much better

[@Sordorack]

i honestly dont know why, but for me it's been a constant source of pure comedy hearing you say "DasKänguru" when reading your patrons ^^ You really pronounce it quite well so i dont know why i find it so funny but at least it always keeps me watching the entire video - first in anticipation then in giggling ;3

[@gabrielschirmann7213]

10:30 in the words oh yathzee : "if you know it's bad, why are you doing it?"

[@_divvie]

About the Borderlands 3 glitch side quest. I DID find it humorous; not for it being the tiresome boring escorting section with the really annoying filter..... but Ironically enough because the quest literally broke my first time trying it. The pathfinding glitched FOR REAL, like she got irreversably stuck on terrain and wouldnt come off for 10 whole minutes of me seeing if "this is part of the joke or not" and me literally waiting there for ten minutes and watching what happens as it dawns on me "Yeh, this aint part of the quest......." was in my personal opinion one of the funniest moments I had with the entire game - aside from Multiplayer ofc, mainly because, well, we did do our own jokes and drove over each other, made my Iron Bear a super car by having my friend drive into it and scoot it at incredible speeds across the world and the like of that. (I did have to quit to main menu and reload to fix the quest.) Lethal Company on the other hand, I fully agree. Furthermore it does deserve some awards, especially knowing it's a single person doing it (with like the help of a couple people for assets and music iirc)

[@resrer]

In Fallout 76, there’s a quest where you have to go to the DMV and get serviced by robots who still think it needs to be operational. You have to take a ticket and wait for your number to be called and they refuse to serve you until it’s your turn. But the punchline happened while you were waiting. When the robots called a number, like C39, a feral ghoul enemy will spawn with the name “C39” and this goes on a few more times. Pretty hilarious the first time. Not so much when you’re doing that same quest multiple times for others.

[@jijonbreaker]

I love the fact that all of the cricisms of High On Life can be made redundant by the simple fact that as soon as in-game voiceover is put into the video, who else is it but Justin Roiland. The king of bad comedy.

[@Rhyno012345]

Thanks for shouting out second wind. It’s amazing what the team has been able to do in such a short amount of time given the circumstances.

[@jeanladoire4141]

Today i landed with my crew on eclipsed titan. The doors open, one of the guys tries to go out in silence, and accidently steps on a whoopie cushion. A dog rushes in and dismembers the guy. We all back up in the back of the ship, but every time the dog leaves, it steps on the whoopie cushion and gets back inside to investigate, and so he eats someone every time. At some point i couldn't help myself and i laughed for half a second, and i was the last one to die. Eclipsed titan boys.

[@greyrifterrellik5837]

Sadly, this entire concept falls apart when you're an easily startled wimp like me who can't handle even the slightest amount of jumpscare.

[@sybro9786]

I was quite surprised by the Noita mention

[@CoJanks]

LC does this beautiful thing where it incentivises forgiving failure. The odds are truly stackaed against you so you WILL fail (dying, losing all loot and tools, etc). You accept this as a kind of default 'it is what it is' which is a neutral state of thinking about an event. Whats great is that these failures are usually comically timed, ironic, terrifying, ill-intened/pranked, or unique. This fact then fills that neutral moment with humor, levity, and laughing at the absurd. There may be a connection to nihilistic humor here but I am too lazy to think it out fully. Speaking of absurd, I believe that is also in play with so much of this. It is an absurd act to look at these monsters, these locations, this loot and find a reason for this company to exist and be doing this in the first place so its equally absurd that we are trying so hard to complete these tasks. Think about how silly the mobile game Spaceteam is, with its tasks.

[@HeirofAtholl]

Paradox strategy games take themselves very seriously and this is important for the target audience (which includes me). However, they use low-sakes in jokes very well. In EU4 (set in the 15th to 18th century) there is a random event for a comet sighting which gives a small debuff as it is seen as a bad omen. One of the event options you can click on says "I wish I lived in more enlightened times". In Vic2 (set in the 19th-20th century) there is also a random event for a comet sighting, but this time you get a very small buff to your science and all 3 text options which you can click on to dismiss the event say "thank god we live in such enlightened times". It's a really small thing but it genuinely makes me chuckle every time without breaking my immersion in an otherwise "serious" game

[@KiwiTheIguana]

A quote came to mind when you were talking about the BL3 quest. "Satire requires clarity of purpose, lest it be mistaken for and contribute to that which it intends to criticize." - A screenshot edit someone made in his Discord while MandaloreGaming drunkenly played through the first few Garten of Banban games

[@Noahdaz]

The Skyrim giant instadeath space launch is a BUG??? YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THIS WASN'T INTENTIONAL

[@armelior4610]

I dislike the push to more and more realistic graphics in AAA but I gotta admit the bugs and glitches are way funnier than with more stylized visuals. Bugthesda games or Cyberpunk at launch gave us hundreds of funny videos.

[@sleepingtablep3]

i completely forgot this video was about lethal company good video

[@njalsand133]

Comedy is very painful at times and very situational

[@LowProfile0247]

Nice video! Really covered when video game humor tends to work or doesn’t.

[@maurokoller3910]

6:14 I have never laughed harder in a game than in this scene from Portal 2 and that was only, because I was engaging with it. I never really thought about comedy in games but I think you are spot on.

[@blockeontheleafeon]

Lethal Company is the sequel to Limbus Company we didn't know we needed. There's a reason ProjectMoon's Games have a lot of memes.

[@theinsaneone_]

The comedy aspect was not something my friends and I were expecting going into the game. We make fun jokes and have laughs durning games, but this is one where we all have died of laughter together. Within our first day of playing, maybe on the 5 or 6 job we ever did we were exploring around and heard some noise. We looked around after barely escaping to see the hyper aggressive guy who seems to be dragging himself on the ground (someone we have affectionately named “Friend Shaped”) lunging towards us. We all screamed in pure terror as we didn’t know who was going to be bit, and my two friends ran towards the newly found fire escape while I tried to run around everything to get back to the main entrance. Suddenly it’s dead quiet, and I call out for them while looking around. I was sort of scared to see their bodies being munched on when I found the shadow guy staring at me. After a moment I gathered my wits and ran to the fire escape and back to the ship as my friends had just started the ship. I barely had time to hop on board around the back and say “Wait! Don’t leave without me!” They both opened the door and were like “YOUR ALIVE????” “We thought you died!!” Before Al of us started laughing at what just happened. It’s a scary game sure, but we always seem to be laughing more than screaming

[@kayinoue2497]

Every time I play Lethal with my friends we're practically dry-heaving with laughter at dumb stuff that happens in our corporate misadventures. It's absolutely a feature of the game and definitely establishes LC as a real gem. Even the tension can be funny, like watching our last surviving crewmate try to outwit two coilheads while we're all dead, panicking and rollicking with laughter in death-chat together. The game's format makes it almost impossible to not laugh or have a great time.

[@isyhamsamvr1362]

Bro I forgor this was a lethal company video part way through and the whiplash of remembering it was is still too much for me to think about

[@MrWoodsman]

Excited for the Roboquest video you may or may not be making

[@Spamhard]

I'm so glad that the Lethal Company dev is getting the recognition they deserve, and that the gam is rightly causing laughter constantly. I'm a big fan of one of their other games, Upturned, for the exact same reason. It rightfully labels itself as both a survival horror AND a comedy, and has such a great balance between genuine run-for-your-life moments, and laugh out loud chaotic physics and silly upbeat tracks. I think the expectation of death makes Lethal Company all the more funny, because it turns something that used to be a 'failure state' in much of gaming into a comedy of errors where you can laugh at yourself and your friends.

[@globurim]

6:44 I think there is ONE instance of involvement in that south park videogame tho. When you keep skipping the first cut scene of the game. Cartman will just proceed to roll you to the credits. It's a very specific joke but there's definitely one involvement at least.

[@LuisEdGm]

You should have a look at Troll levels in Mario Maker 2, the troll meta evolves over time to surprise the player with the most over the top yet elegant mechanic interactions. They made it so you still laugh all the way though the level even when you are the joke.

[@TrisAF]

I'm sad you didn't bring up Fallout New Vegas! One of the funniest things is during the first side quest with Boone. He wants to kill somebody for something (I can't remember), and you can choose who he should kill. Of course the player can investigate and figure out who exactly he should be getting vengeance on, but of course you can also pin it on any person in the motel. For some reason me and my buddies thought pinning it on the sweet old lady who had nothing to do with it was the funniest and evilest thing. That game truly let you feel evil. Boone would thank you after he blew up that old lady's head. Now not only did you lie to a companion that can be with you but you killed an innocent old lady with no repercussions. (At least none that I can remember). I also like exploring the unintended consequences of your actions. Another really funny bit is when you convince the human mechanic in the ghoul sanctuary where they're building a rocket ship to go to the moon that he is in fact not a ghoul and just thinks he is. If you successfully convince him you can then convince him to sabotage the ship. Once you leave this area you can then see the rocket take off and subsequently crash. Granted I think it crashes no matter what, but I could be wrong. It was still hilarious to see that my actions resulted in something so terrible and I got completely away with it. It didn't feel inconsequential though, Three dog would get on the radio and talk about the poor ghouls and their rocket ship crashing.