Lobotomy Corporation: Face the Jank, Build the Review

[@amielpines6603]

Oh Lobotomy Corp. or what most of us have experienced as "Memory Repository and Restart the Day Simulator" or for me specifically being "Please don't kill my children" the game. It's a game with Jank and I mistaked it for a browser game the first time I've seen it which the game was brought to my attention thanks to the AlchemistNPC mod in Terraria and got Curious as to it's origins and me playing it before was when the Translations were in the rough. Like I couldn't even get past Malkuth's 4th mission because I don't know what a "Qlipoth Meltdown" is. 2 or 3 years later I heard of a game called Library of Ruina which peaked my interest. I don't remember how I found out about the game but when I did and see a character named Angela with short blue hair, I thought to myself "She looks really similar to an Angela I know back then". And when I saw Malkuth, It's when it dawned on me that LoR is the sequel to LCorp or related to it and so I went back to LCorp, Finally matured enough to know what the fk I was supposed to do, Unlock Netzach as my 4th department, Get CENSCORED as my first ever Aleph which we now know is one of the worst ever Alephs to start with because of its constant white damage, No armor, an EGO Weapon that will not do me any good, and just sucks to surpress with a bunch of teth geared nuggets. Progressed with the story, Unlock Tiphereth, realize the mess I've gotten myself into, Beat Malkuth and Netzach with ease, Cry at Yesod and Hod because I'm using a dated monitor so the end result is just my eyes getting hurt more than my nugget's stats on Hod Suppression, Forget what Violet Noon does and reset, Acknowledge how much Chesed Debuff hurts me in my day to day task, Cheese Red Mist with a box and leave my PC afk for hours until she falls, Do Binah first because I dont want to lose my pause ability, regret it because I'm fighting Binah, Realized I did the order wrong and I'd have to reset to Day 1 to get Hokma Suppression so I just sent everyone to a Holy Crusade against Binah regardless of who lives and dies, reset to Day 1 with all the yummy benefits, Memory Repository because Woodsman is more tilting to research than an Aleph. Give up knowing I'd never get past the Day by Day trials especially Day 49 so just made it an end goal to beat White Midnight instead and Read the story online. Start LoR, get addicted to Mili after the opening, proceed to be part of the veterans who waited for Update Fridays and dealt with new enemies and bugs on hour 1 and live through the worrying times of the infant days of the Passive Attribution, and now here I am, one of the many fools who'll be hopping in Dante's train to Limbus Company. Overall, I'd give Lobotomy Corp an arbitrary score of one sin over a hundred of good deeds. Would recommend.

[@sanscomic4226]

Do day 49 or no balls

[@cats77364]

lmao i also got an aleph in the safety team, but mine was silent orchestra

[@jinnyfizz3645]

Lobcorp is a janky, difficult game that hates your very existence for playing it. It's one of my favorite games ever and I yearn to play another like it.

[@LastMinuteEssays]

So true

[@TheHappyMadman]

lol don't worry, I got filtered so hard by lategame challenges 100 hours in that I chose to restart and play another 100 hours to stand a better chance (and still pulled off a victory by nothing short of a miracle)

[@ignis2638]

One of the most interesting parts of the game I must say it how if you conform to the role where you send specific employees to do specific things or such gets you to the point where certain meltdowns become standard to you and even lying information becomes easy to deal with same as suppressing Binah or Gebura became a easy once I began to use my resources well. No joke with a little luck I was able to suppress Binah with only a well timed rabbits, you are rewarded for using resources and taking risks and experimenting and sacrificing but you also can lost just as much in the end

[@LastMinuteEssays]

Yeah, I supressed Binah using the Rabbits myself

[@PlayheadNorth]

Maybe the issue isn’t that the game is antagonistic to me, but that I’m antagonistic to the game as someone who just shamelessly wants to give eldritch horrors their head pats.

[@LastMinuteEssays]

That's just Attachment work

[@PlayheadNorth]

@@LastMinuteEssays Hmmm then maybe my problem is that I need to level up my justice stat…

[@tepig2828]

As someone who first experienced this game in beta with the old gameplay system and a translation that had most of the text written in half-English, it amazes me to see how far Project Moon have come and improved. Also it made me way too happy to see some of the unused beta abnormalities appear in Ruina (although I am still hoping for the Hammer of Light to make a return in this series in the future).

[@coullx1708]

Tbh I like the old translation more. The new one lacks literal beauty even tho it fixed some problems.

[@ericquiabazza2608]

Exactly, its 300% more clear, but also 40% less charming. At least everyone isnt talking like Bhina anymore lol

[@mikaeleulrichzagetapoc2022]

I feel like by the end game the ethos on the employees become more consistent, specifically with the buffs you get from malkuth, hod, and binah means that employees are indeed replaceable

[@graycard668]

Hey, At lest its green energy.

[@blurmarsh2265]

You can't just tease us with that limited time 5 stars Bong Bong and not let us have them smh

[@mLLia-32147]

15:04 You sneaky bastard...

[@Jozeevis]

Great video! Bought this game on a whim about a year ago and quite enjoyed its setting and mysterious storytelling, but got discouraged a few hours in after finding myself in a pretty much unsaveable position gameplay-wise. But after this review I feel motivated to give it another chance. Hopefully with your advice I'll be able to progress further because it definitely sounds like this game has a lot more to offer, so thanks for that!

[@wingdingfontbro]

As for someone who has 500+ hours on the game i can say that this game was a fun and wild ride. I am on my third run to day 50. First had the safest abnos possible, the second had WN and Apoc with some other ALEPHs and the third current run has the same as the last run but having some abnos i didn't get like AiB. I would recommend this game 100%.

[@Anonlyso]

Good Ol' Lob Corp. I remember seeing vids for this for a long while but just never had the taste for management sims to appreciate playing it long term. Tho I think that's cuz I'm just barely too zoomer to do the whole "lose 5 hours of progress because of a bad choice or the games difficulty will ramp up so high you'll soft lock if you don't actually build right" like some of the whole CRPG genre. Still a "brutally hostile work environment" might refill my Darkest Dungeon itch despite that only really asking you don't value the long-term mental well being of your employees for some extra cash instead of...well, demanding your interns literally throw their bodies to just hope the rest of you make it through the day. There's always that hard middle ground of "difficulty to re-enforce a games themes" or otherwise being A) so easy that it makes the message meaningless (see Adam Millard's vid on "Sacrifice" shout out to Fallout 3) or B) that it's so brutal that casuals like me or really half the people who bounce off Dark Souls/Pathologic/Any Kaizo Mario game just don't even give it a chance cuz they can just get a cheap thrill that won't fight back elsewhere (for probably more money but still). Still I do appreciate that Project Moon devs get to be another one in the so brutally difficult indie game club but in a whole different genre type than either the Rogue-lites/Platformers/"Muh RPGmaker game about depression that gets a too-big-to-be-a-cult following" and just the lore itself is so compelling that I should bring it out of my Steam backlog just to give it another go...when I got time

[@Thomas-jn2kg]

I was ME Batman! I was the one who likes the gameplay!

[@mohamadparadox2453]

i cannot unsee it after you called them nfts

[@LastMinuteEssays]

Sorry.

[@eldsluft6745]

Some abnormalities (most famous one: CENSORED) have LOWER success rate for higher corresponding virtue levels. Success rates are only affected by temperance otherwise.

[@LastMinuteEssays]

As I said, rule of thumb. And thumbs are outnumbered 4:1 by other fingers

[@clementverkimpe940]

and now, we wait for the end of the year for limbus company!

[@clementverkimpe940]

vroom vroom

[@LastMinuteEssays]

L A M E N T

[@justyouraveragemartian783]

LAMENT

[@civilsky4261]

good review, i agree with pretty much everything. especially in regards to the difficult and story. i couldnt finish, i tapped out at hokma's supression due to multiple failures at the last step and the tedium of not being able to pause or slow the game down during this killed my motivation to go on, especially given what i'd heard about the final 5 days however, once i committed to moving on and i looked up the remaining cutscenes of lobocorp on youtube i was floored by how good and weighty those last cutscenes are. its truly a shame i didnt see it in full context-- but i know my limitations.

[@LastMinuteEssays]

With Hokma, you can pause but it kills/panicks someone. So I commited to doing what I can before Midnight and made the sacrifice at Midnight to finish the day off But I getcha. And hey, that's still really far

[@geromlarayos6696]

The entire project moon fanbase (5 people) being summoned by someone flashing 0.000000001 seconds of PM media

[@LastMinuteEssays]

There are dozens of us. DOZENS!

[@duyanhbui5386]

new player keep fucking skip lobcorp why

[@geromlarayos6696]

@@duyanhbui5386 skill issue that's why

[@Zarnotsky]

Jill holds a caballistic tree diagram. Ahaha.

[@GothaWolf]

Great review! Sounds like a worth a try game.

[@KomandorKwadrat]

ALEPH CLASS MEMORY LEAK

[@stef2337]

Start right now and get fairies, guess will not be so ba-(censored)

[@jeova0sanctus0unus]

The Lobotomy cooperation is if NERF bought out the SCP foundation during an energy crisis, and isnt that an ever scary thought.

[@shinishikasa7115]

I actually watch this game for a long time and it seem like too hard for me because I saw a lot of people struggle in it, but when I actually play it,It's not to much of deal(mainly because I use wiki as assist tool)but the difficulty ramp up pretty quickly when you get department that you need to pick 2 abnormalities per day(which you probably get Aleph at this point)I get MOSB and oh god even I personally know its threat and how to deal with it beforehand ,I still need to reset a couple time to get his ego equipment before committing memory repository (This mechanic reset is godsend to me because as you mention keep the ego but the level of employee rest to that day which idc cause I can just grind them back.) Yeah the game would be hell if you know and not be careless about choosing thing into facility it won't cause much problem. Normally I suck at playing management game like Simcity or tropico 5 but I found this game playable and fun for me as I found the principle of the game like"you have to let someone/something go to move forward" "Sacrifice must be made to progress" which fit the theme and the gameplay aspect it makes you feel like you are the manager in the corporation in the dystopian world. Overall it's a very good game despite the performance and some clunky camera and employee movement. Edit: improving my phrasing

[@TeeQueueSA]

Five years?? I've got to speed up my evangelization process. That's entirely too many years. :(

[@msjssa4597]

🤝Me when Pathologic encounters Lobotomy Corporation. Welcome to my two favourite games where you must fulfill impossible miracles and the whole world turns against you. As I said before, the meta narrative for both games are extremely charming. The player's decipted as sort of vessels to protagonists and actors inside the games made tremendous but subtle intimations about it, which is very astonising when Angela points out everything in the end (Imagine Ayin being as Simon Kain and Angela as Mark Immortal:) The miracle must be real but what's the cost? ). The perspective narrative is brilliant because we no matter as player or protagonistsare merely dolls(it doesn't matter what you've chosen during dialogue) of Makers(Executors). To the contrast Library of Ruina focuses too much on social and interpersonal relationship (Furthermore Political discussion perhaps) which makes player feel as a beholder (voyeur of invitations), I can't complain more but I prefer sensation of stage play in Lobotomy Corporation. The high stress and difficult gameplay is my favourite too. I've spent more than 200 hours on LC and 100hours on P1 and P2 I really find myself joyful when watching your video. I hope I could watch your Review on Pathologic1 (Maybe you should play The void made of IPL)soon.

[@LastMinuteEssays]

The Void is definetely on the list for this year's games to play. And despite playing P1 to completion, I legitimately don't know what I could bring to the discussion on it.

[@GrimMeowning]

Good luck with Day 49 and hapiness with Day 50.

[@LastMinuteEssays]

Already beaten, but thank you

[@GrimMeowning]

@@LastMinuteEssays nice. I remember clearing it on launch and had no idea what awaits me on day 50, so was restarting to save more Agents. Naive I was! Tho, was able to defeat her before the nerf, and it was amazing. And day 50 brought so many smiles. I love Project Moon for such unexpected stuff.

[@eggonauttheholungday]

I have LobCorp but I'm too lazy to play it since I'm too worried to sacrifice employees and I don't have the time really Ruina has eaten all my time though and now it's the only thing I play, help

[@LastMinuteEssays]

There is no help. Welcome to hell.

[@eggonauttheholungday]

Ruina being the loredump game makes this worse and I will enjoy a l l of it

[@Our_Remedy]

I took a year long break from this game after I was 1 frame off of saving an employee that was going insane. They ended themself, and it immediately caused 4 abnos to escape containment.

[@LastMinuteEssays]

That's a quintessential Lobcorp moment lmao

[@Our_Remedy]

@@LastMinuteEssays Genuinely took me years, scraping days off of lob corp. But hoooly shit getting to Ruina was so worth it.

[@ericquiabazza2608]

Lob corp system are what i like MOST. EVERITHING IS IN LORE. Heck, even the clonkly UI with a lot of menus and sub menus is very "you ARE the manager, not a god", which deter a lot of people are player are acostume to move character Wherever and whenever they want, with all the information easily expose. Lob corp isnt that, is a challenge. Also a Korean game! A think i learn by try, even if you choose only pasive or not scapable abnos, even those HE dont have very good gear, so ordeals like robots would Kick your butt. So, dangerous abnos give better gear! You can check the "PREVIOUS IDEAS" this game had in the Novelty version. You already have the game, you only need to activate it and you can play. There where several diferences like: The day is an ACTUAL clock, usually 20 minuts. So no Quiploph meltdown. You could Finish the day with Abnos out, but then Gebura and chesed team would have to recontain them (this is just lore) so you get less point for every abno out. Elevator arent instant! And the way it looks is less polish. There is also abnos that didnt make it to the final game: -prince of silence -THE HAMMER -Silent girl And before i forget! Abnos MOOD and BOX OUTPUT are separated! So sometimes abnos will require BAD MOOD to give you enough boxes! Or to have a good mood requires employes to DIE! For example: spider mom will have better mood and boxes if it has an employed in its web! (Trivia: suposedly it still does it as when have trapped someone it MAX boxes increase). This is what some of the final game refers when talkin about Mood or sacrifices, its a remnant of old concept. Also, ordeals are diferent! And you as the manager would have to directly act to some of this! Amber would spaw. Small bug you have to click to squish. Purple summon hands that attack specific employs, so you have to move them. Red creates the biggest of clawns, which will blow up in th face of your agents unless you click on it to stop it.

[@ericquiabazza2608]

Sorry "Legacy", not novelty. I try to correct mistakes but my cell phone dosnt let me. Sorry for the grammar

[@LastMinuteEssays]

Mood and output being separate are really interesting, because them being tied together is what makes some abnos like Alruine or Silent Orchestra REALLY not worth keeping around once their equipment is farmed

[@cats77364]

you guys got normal abnos esrly on? i got fucking silent orchestra on day 18

[@cats77364]

early*

[@LastMinuteEssays]

My sincere condolences

[@kamilslup7743]

The game hardly lasts on a technical level, it is the fallout new vegas of management games: very fun but dies if you breathe at it wrong. i finally completed day 22 only for the game to crash and ignore my victory, pissing me off to the point of a full restart

[@LastMinuteEssays]

Yeah, the code is pure spaghetti. You may want to check ModDB for stuff, I remember there were some mods addressing the technical issues

[@elite4702]

lobotomy corporation is WORSE than doom. it makes me cry

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

:)

[@coullx1708]

I love lobotomy corporation, but I think they’ve done goofed on library of ruina. The second game is not as good as I expected.

[@LastMinuteEssays]

Hard disagree on that, Ruina is what got me into PMverse to begin with It's a shame you didn't like it as much

[@TheHappyMadman]

I thought the same thing at first due to the change in genre. I was expecting it to be worse than Lobotomy because LobCo's gameplay medium requires a lot of engagement, and that really puts you into all the chaos. A turn-based card game abstracts further from that, requiring you to fill in more of the blanks in how scenes would really play out. However, I still played the game on Gamepass, and it was the story that kept me playing. While I'm not a fan of Ruina's gameplay as I dislike card games in general, it still performs very well under card game standards as it's mechanically rich and provides for numerous viable metas, and unforgiving difficulty that is not too RNG-heavy. Its gameplay is well-designed, even if I wish it was literally any other genre. I still think I love Lobotomy more, but I will concede Ruina is the better game from a design standpoint.