Why multiplayer? (Patreon)

Hello! If you haven't seen the teaser for Lethal Company, take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt08pWqO6Og 

The cat is out of the bag so I can talk about it now: Lethal Company is a multiplayer game. Why?

Well, starting most notably with Phasmophobia, the "survival horror PvE" genre began to show its potential. I've played two other games since Phasmophobia, which are "Labryinthine" and "Forewarned." I'm aware of a couple others, but to my knowledge those three are the most well executed in the genre so far. And yet I think they are so utterly falling short of what they could be, cautiously dancing around what makes this genre unique and exciting. (A large part of this is because these games want to allow single-player as an option, which requires making some sad compromises; their designers are actually incredibly smart and know what they're doing.)

So what is so great about multiplayer horror? Well, let's start with a core principle which horror game designers always seem to forget about somehow: contrast. In order to make someone feel afraid of the dark, you have to get them used to the light. In order to 'deafen' them with the silence, you have to get them used to constant noise. In order to give them a fear of chaos, you need to give them a sense of control. This concept is why in single-player games, you're never alone.

The closest you get to feeling isolated in single-player games is when a NPC character dies or leaves you behind (if the writing is exceptionally good.) Additionally, in a single-player game, you're not really surprised when things happen to you; you're the main character, after all. Anything that happens to you, and you alone? That's expected. 

You see where I'm going with this.

So you could say the high concept of Lethal Company is this: a teamwork game which is secretly about separation and singling out and breaking apart. You may be together with a team, but each of you will be alone in their unique experience of the horrors that await you.