Minor GAMEPLAY spoilers below (not story/plot/setting)

Lobotomy Corporation is a management style game with an infamous reputation for being extremely difficult and unforgiving to the point of not really being "fun" anymore, in a similar vein to Pathologic and other such experiences. At first I felt the same way, but after trying the game again I've come to the conclusion that this view is shortsighted, but its still partially the games fault. In short, Lobotomy Corp is a difficult game that DEMANDS that you learn its systems to survive, but patently encourages learning and exploration rather than being the untowardly punishing experience it is known for. Its still hard, but they expect you to struggle rather than punish you for struggling. Difficulty might be what it's known for, but Lobo Corp won't kick you while you're down. If you can offer the patience to deal with its eccentricities, I highly recommend Lobotomy Corp.

GAMEPLAY: The basic gameplay loop of Lobotomy Corp involves selecting an abnormality most days (essentially an SCP), then reaching an energy quota to pass the day by interacting with said abnormalities through various means. Every aspect of this is dangerous, and its your job to manage your employees safely. This includes how/when/why they work with abnormalities, preventing abnormalities from escaping, equipping and managing gear acquired by working with abnormalities (called EGO), and building up various departments in the company by progressing and completing missions each day. Mostly this comes down to limiting the amount of untimely doom experienced by your employees. As the game progresses you gain more and more control over how this is done, including some buffs/heals/other ways of directly helping out.

However, a lot of what you can and can't do isn't immediately obvious. Rather than unlocking bonuses, your most prominent strengths largely come from understanding. In my opinion learning the game is the truest experience of the game itself, so by discussing these I'll be taking something away from the gameplay itself so consider yourself warned. Spoilers end at the section marked STORY.

For example, it isn't immediately obvious that you can micro groups of employees out of attacks with careful orders, or pull individuals out of danger the same way. Stacking a legion of employees into an elevator and making abnormalities "face check" it is an extremely easy way to combat many threats. You're not forced to end a day when your quota is complete, so you can stay and power level employees if you can take the heat from doing so. Learning to balance the damage types of weapons within a department, how to equip high/low level employees, how to use various abnormalities to your own benefit, etc, I could go on. All of these are available from the second the game starts, but even thinking to try them will probably take some time.

Another option available immediately is not one, not two, but three different resets to roll back time. One resets the day (after you pick an abnormality but before the day starts,) one resets the week (including subsequently picked abnormalities, we'll come back to that,) and one resets all the way to day 1. You're probably thinking why on earth would I ever want that, can I softlock myself or something? While its definitely possible to get so far in the hole or stuck with abnormalities you can't handle, that isn't the only reason. You see the only "true" reset is the day reset. The Week and Day 1 reset both keep most of your hard work intact, including abnormality information and EGO. Gathering abnormality info is the single most dangerous activity in Lobotomy Corp, so if you get something you absolutely can't handle why not just research it then bail? Furthermore, every time you pick an abnormality its essentially done mostly blind UNLESS you have their info already so you'll know exactly what you're getting into if you ever reset and come across it again. Even if you struggle constantly and fail miserably, most of the hard work you've done is kept if you restart. As another example of hidden tactics, nothing is stopping you from gathering all the info on a new abnormality at the start of the day (at the cost of employee mortality) and just writing it down and immediately reseting to do it right. Its not an exploit, its intended.

Here lies Lobotomy Corps greatest strength, but also its greatest weakness in my opinion. By trusting you to figure all this out on your own, it runs the risk of many players simply bouncing off it. This style of design is likely responsible for both its cult following AND its infamous reputation. See, what I didn't mention is the exact details of these resets are never clearly explained to you AFAIK. Additionally, many negative reviews mention the lack of speed up, employee health on the UI, and other features. But the kicker is you DO get these features... a little while into the game. Many people are repulsed an hour in and give up, and I can't really blame them in good conscience. If you were willing to invest the time and effort (and risk) to learn this on your own its no problem, but without being a wiki warrior I'd wager 90% of people would be afraid to dive in like that. What sucks is diving in headlong really is the best way to play, and there are numerous safety nets to enable this, but you won't know they're there until you experience them. Once all the systems click, its really not that hard. There are so many tricks you can use to get ahead, and once you start to "get it" it feels great.

STORY: I'm not going to discuss the story of Lobotomy Corp explicitly. However, I want to emphasize how good the flavor of the setting Project Moon has created is, as well as it being perfectly logically consistent between all three games (Lobotomy Corporation, Library of Ruina, Limbus Company.) In short, its one of the most interesting dystopias I've ever seen. Human life has little value, but unlike many similar settings its inhabitants are well aware of how awful things are and no one is happy about it. It's weirdly not hopeless, and all three games feature consistent themes of trying to find improvement and meaning. Suffice to say its very, very good. The 3 games are DIRECT SEQUALS to each other, so if you like one you'll almost certainly like the others.

CONCLUSION: My biggest take away is that if everyone who played Lobotomy Corp was forced to see it through during a prison sentence or something, I think the perception of the game would be far less negative. However, that's still asking quite a lot. At its core, Lobotomy corp trusts the player a LOT, maybe even too much. Trusts you to keep pushing on your own to figure things out and find solutions unprompted. For some this will be very refreshing, but others won't want to deal with it. Its almost a case study of game design, the kind of thing you can only ever love or hate. That being said, I highly recommend it.

The difficulty curve is vertical, the rabbit hole, irresistible.
The beginning of a devotion, the end of ones taste in games.
All starts with P and ends with an M.

torture if torture was fun

10/10