Beginner’s Guide — The Basics#

Game Overview#

Lethal Company is a co-op horror salvage game by Zeekerss, released on Steam in October 2023 as early access. Players are contract workers for the Company, riding an autopilot ship to abandoned moons to strip scrap, and every few days must file a rising profit quota (Quota Cycle); miss it and you get executed, thrown out into space.

Before grabbing that junk, remember two bottom lines:

• You have one life: this game runs on a one-hit-point system, and most monsters kill in one or two hits. There are no medkits in the game, the store sells no healing items of any kind, and health never recovers.
• Time is life: the ship lands at 8 AM and must leave the moon before midnight; once night falls, outdoor danger rises sharply.

The Complete First-Run Loop#

A standard run cycles like this — follow this order on your very first round:

1. Land at 8 AM: the ship auto-lands on the target moon. After touchdown, don’t rush far ahead.
2. Confirm the entrance at the terminal: type scan at the terminal to confirm the main entrance’s direction and distance, and see what else is nearby.
3. Scavenge in pairs: enter the facility two at a time — one holding the light and leading, one hauling — memorizing prominent landmarks along the way.
4. Haul back to the ship in batches: pile scrap near the ship’s door first, then ferry it in batches; don’t stuff all four inventory slots at once.
5. Head back before midnight: save the last stretch of daylight for the return trip. Better to leave one item behind than spend a night on the moon.
6. Sell at the Company: fly back to the Company building (71-Gordion) and sell the scrap for credits.
7. File the quota: pay off this cycle’s quota at the Company terminal, and spend the rest on gear and ship upgrades.
8. Set the next route: pick the next moon at the terminal, starting a new quota cycle.

Time and the Danger Curve#

• The ship lands at 8AM, giving you roughly one full daytime of working time.
• You must leave the moon before midnight — staying overnight is near-certain death; outdoor monster activity spikes at night.
• Differences between moons mainly show up as weather (rainy, stormy, foggy, flooded, eclipsed) and terrain. Weather never raises profits, only danger: the worse the forecast, the more you compress your stay.
• When to stop matters more than how much you grab — the extraction decision is the first skill a rookie must learn.

How the Quota System Works#

• The Company settles a profit quota (Quota Cycle) every few days; before the cycle ends you must sell enough scrap into credits and hand it over.
• The first quota is 130 credits — a genuinely achievable target for newcomers.
• After that, every quota jumps significantly by a fixed formula — it is a deterministic staircase curve, not a random percentage, so each cycle you must out-scavenge the last.
• If the quota isn’t met when the cycle ends, every employee gets executed and jettisoned into space, and that run is over.

Selling and Money Tips#

• Scrap buyback prices fluctuate randomly; holding scrap for two days and selling in one batch usually beats selling piecemeal every day.
• Haul high-value scrap like the Gold bar first — one bar is worth most of a shipload of junk.
• At the Company building you can ring the bell to hurry the sale, but ringing carries risk — ringing too eagerly angers the tentacled thing at the counter.
• Only the Company building (71-Gordion) buys scrap; no other moon has a buyer.

Early Route Planning#

Switching routes costs money, and Titan and Artifice are late-game routes — don’t touch them early. The route fees you save will just about cover one basic loadout per person.

Death Handling and Body Recovery#

• After a teammate dies, the body stays at the death spot together with the carried gear, and teammates can haul it back.
• The body must be back on the ship before 0:00 the next day, or every piece of equipment that employee carried is lost with them.
• Scan a monster with your crosshair on it to gradually log it into the bestiary — knowing every monster’s habits is the prerequisite for dying less.
• A full-team wipe ends the day immediately, and all scrap not hauled back to the ship is forfeit.
• Dead employees rejoin on the next quota cycle; that cycle’s loss cannot be undone.

Store Price Master Table#

All tools and ship upgrades are sold only in the Company store at fixed prices, with occasional random discounts (up to about 80% off). This game has no unlockable equipment: shovels, stun grenades, and every other tool carry a price tag — there is no quest-reward golden shovel or infinite flare. Want it? Pay for it.

Purchase Priority#

1. End of round one: get everyone a walkie-talkie (10-12) and a flashlight (15) — the baseline for communication and lighting.
2. Rounds two to three: add lockpickers (20) and pro flashlights (25-28), then a shovel (30) for the squad.
3. Mid-game: stun grenades (30-40) for self-defense; extension ladders (60) and radar boosters (50-60) raise scavenge efficiency.
4. Late-game big buys: the teleporter (375) is a team-wide life insurance policy; consider the zap gun (400) and jetpack (700/900) once you’re practiced.
5. General rule: ship upgrades outrank personal gear — a teleporter never saves just one person.

PC Keyboard and Mouse#

Sprinting drains stamina continuously — check your remaining stamina before fleeing; running dry mid-chase is deadlier than the seconds before it.

Team Roles#

Standard Four-Person Split#

Three- and Two-Person Modes#

With three, merge the rear guard and hauler duties; with two, one searches and one hauls, keeping the walkie-talkie line open throughout. The fewer the people, the more conservative you play — never push two routes at once.

First Five Rounds#

Round One: Learn the Environment#

The goal is not money but mastering the controls. Everyone moves together, exploring only near the main entrance and learning one or two monsters’ behavior patterns. Bringing back even one scrap item is a success — the first quota is only 130 credits anyway.

Rounds Two to Three: Build the Gear Base#

Use the steady income from the free moons to buy lighting, walkie-talkies, and lockpickers for all. Don’t touch the paid moons at this stage; first think through everyone’s four-slot loadout, and get a feel for what trouble different weather brings.

Rounds Four to Five: Start Pushing Quota#

Once gear is ready, raise the difficulty gradually. Quotas climb significantly cycle over cycle, and the gear and ship upgrades banked early are exactly the capital that completes high quotas later — every credit saved should be spent where it counts.

Common Rookie Mistakes#

1. Treating the helmet as a weapon — there is no helmet item in this game, nor equipment slots; the only self-defense is store goods like the shovel and stun grenade.
2. Greed and overweight — four slots stuffed with heavy items slows you down, and missing the midnight ship means dropping the loot to save your life.
3. Running near Eyeless Dogs — Eyeless Dogs are blind and locate purely by sound; running and shouting are self-delivery.
4. Staring at the Bracken — staring at the Bracken for too long enrages it; once it targets you, open distance fast.
5. Staying outdoors deep into the night — outdoor danger surges after midnight; your wrap-up time should get earlier every round.
6. Everyone scavenging in one clump — inefficient, and a group threat can wipe you all at once.

FAQ#

Q: Can I play solo?

Yes. The ship supports solo departure, but you carry the quota pressure and every monster threat alone. Learn monster behavior with a squad first, then try solo challenges.

Q: How do I heal injuries?

There is no healing. This game has no medkits, the store sells no healing items of any kind, and health never recovers — the only strategy is avoiding getting hit.

Q: Where are saves stored?

Saves are kept in the LocalLow/Zeekerss/Lethal Company folder under your local user directory — back up that folder to keep your progress.