Let us record the world piece by piece, at the side of all of those who are abandoned.
It's the best SCP game out there and it isn't SCP.
Also the plot seems so intersting. I never finished it (yet) for reasons related to my obsessive perfection on management games. Probably the management game in which I discovered that tho.
Also the plot seems so intersting. I never finished it (yet) for reasons related to my obsessive perfection on management games. Probably the management game in which I discovered that tho.
its been a while since ive played a game thats so heavily in my thoughts that when i try to do something else (ex: watch a show) im constantly thinking about this instead of focusing on what im doing.
Imagina tener una de las mejores premisas de los videojuegos y fracasar estrepitosamente en la ejecución.
Lobotomy Corporation es un simulador de gestión (como Fallout Shelter y Oxygen Not Included) donde, en vez de controlar una aldea, estás al frente de la fundación SCP. Eso sí, no literalmente, pues este título crea su propio universo con su propio lore y criaturas.
Tu objetivo principal en Lob Corp es comprender las anomalías que te van llegando e interactuar con ellas de la forma correcta para generar energía. Esta energía es, básicamente, la cuota que debes cubrir como jefx de la compañía. Muy similar al funcionamiento de la empresa protagónica de Monsters Inc., solo que aquí se invierten los papeles.
Cada nuevo día usualmente se te asignará un nuevo monstruo para que lo investigues. Los hay desde los más inofensivos, hasta aquellos que pueden arruinar completamente las instalaciones, el equivalente en este juego de un escenario del fin del mundo (de clase-XK).
Para interactuar con estas anomalías, tienes a tu disposición empleados que se dedicarán a seguir tus órdenes. Ellos interactuarán de la forma en que se los indiques. Si dicha forma es correcta, felicidades, conseguirás energía; de lo contrario, bueno, digamos que cada empleado tiene una barra de vida por una razón.
Ahora, además de dicha barra, cada trabajador tiene otras estadísticas que aumentarán dependiendo de la labor que haga. Lob Corp basa la mitad de su núcleo en esta cuestión. Lo que, en resumidas cuentas, es fameo: farmeas para que tus empleados sean mejores y te ayuden de mejor manera a lidiar con las anomalías.
¿En qué se basa la segunda mitad de su núcleo? En la investigación.
Uno de los mayores aciertos de este título reside en su compromiso con trasladar la particularidad y excentricidad de SCPs individuales a un vídeojuego. Lo que se traduce en que cada criatura de Lob Corp (o al menos la mayoría) es distinta a nivel de gameplay. Los monstruos de este universo no serían igual de interesantes si los intentaras entender fuera del lenguaje videojugabilístico. Es por ello que resulta tan atrayente dejarse envolver por el papel de investigadorx.
No obstante, ¿qué sería del mundo SCP sin los imprevistos y los desastres? En general, eso le da jugo a la investigación dentro de ese universo. Por esa razón, Lob Corp no se queda atrás. Es imposible entender este juego sin la manera en que utiliza el shock value. Una sensación que vivirás una y otra vez con cada imprevisto y con cada nueva anomalía que se presente.
Es aquí donde toman más importancia las estadísticas de tus empleados. Los monstruos se pueden escapar y es tu deber combatirlos. No obstante, no esperes un hack n slash o un RPG por turnos. El combate de este juego consiste en saber moverte por interfaces y hacer muchos clics. Interfaces que, hay que decirlo, son lo suficientemente toscas para que cada pelea sea una en contra de la anomalía y en contra del mismo juego. Habla muchísimo de Lob Corp que necesitas desbloquear una habilidad para poder ver la vida de tus empleados.
Al inicio, esto puede parecer interesante. Sobre todo porque el desbloqueo de esa habilidad se puede interpretar como un intento por hacer dinámicas las limitaciones del juego. De hecho, los combates sí que son variados y resulta divertida la forma en que te obligan a mover y atacar de distintas maneras.
... o al menos eso me gustaría decir. Porque en la práctica, Lob Corp fracasa en solventar un gran problema que él mismo ha creado: la repetición.
Una batalla dentro de este juego, se puede entender de dos formas: a través de su shock value y como una prueba de habilidad. Por definición, el shock value tiene efecto las primeras veces que te enfrentas a una anomalía; lo segundo, en cambio, siempre mantendrá cierto grado de dificultad sin importar cuántas veces repitas un enfrentamiento. Desgraciadamente, esta dificultad no es del tipo que fascine, sino de aquella que frustra a la larga. Los controles nunca dejan de ser toscos y si bien puedes acostumbrarte a ellos, jamás dejarán de ser uno de tus grandes enemigos.
Esto por sí solo no supondría un gran problema si se tratasen de batallas puntuales que se repiten, a lo mucho, un par de veces. Si fuera así, sería posible hacerle una concesión al juego, o incluso no darse cuenta nunca. Sin embargo, este componente cobra vital importancia cuando se ve potenciado por batallas que se repiten una y otra vez. Lob Corp te obliga a tener los mismos enfrentamientos con las mismas anomalías, lo cual eventualmente vuelve en un absoluto tedio la mera idea de batalla. Incluso si existiera el caso en que los controles no te sean un problema, nada de eso te alejará de cogerle cierto disgusto a los enfrentamientos.
Y ojalá aquí terminaran los problemas de este juego, sin embargo, esto es solo un síntoma. La trampa de la repetición en la que Lob Corp se encierra a sí mismo, permea a todo el núcleo del título.
Dentro del juego, una partida se desarrolla a lo largo de 50 días. 50 días en los cuales ocurren muchas cosas. De hecho, la propia comunidad se ha encargado de enaltecer grandes eventos que funcionan como puntos de inflexión dentro del juego y que ocurren... bueno, en algún punto de esos 50 días. Ahí está el problema. Estos eventos son dispersos y, entre tanto, el juego necesita algo para rellenar.
Durante sus primeros 15 días, Lob Corp tiene una curva de aprendizaje muy bien llevada. El juego te envía poco a poco anomalías que tienen un grado de complejidad medio. Aprendes las bases del juego gracias a estos 15 días y, al mismo tiempo, vas preparando el farmeo de tus empleados para lo que venga.
Pasado este tiempo, el título en cuestión aumenta su dificultad y comienza a enviarte anomalías que suponen un gran peligro. Desafíos reales que te aterrarán y fascinarán de igual forma. Básicamente, un antes y un después en tu manera de ver Lob Corp.
El problema viene cuando finalmente superas ese desafío y el juego te recompensa con otra anomalía de muchísimo menor complejidad. No una, sino un par hasta el siguiente gran evento. Durante los primeros 15 días de juego, estas anomalías hubieran supuesto un punto de interés en tu aprendizaje, pero ahora están en esa balanza entre "verdaderamente me interesa esta anomalía" y "esto es relleno hasta el siguiente bicharraco de verdad". No ayuda en nada que, para este punto, tus empleados ya están lo suficientemente poderosos para poder lidiar fácilmente con la gran mayoría de monstruos del early game.
Eventualmente, es claro hacia qué lado de la balanza te decantas. Hacia aquel que termina por menospreciar el propio mérito que el juego había logrado.
. . .
Lobotomy Corporation es un título con ideas sumamente geniales. La manera en que juega con sus elementos demuestra su intención por ir en contra del conformismo. Desgraciadamente, nada de esto garantiza el triunfo de su premisa.
Lo peor de todo es que ni siquiera he terminado el juego. Me quedé en el día 40 y sé muy bien que a partir de ahí vienen algunos de los eventos más importantes de todo el título. Sin embargo, por más que busque en mi interior, no logro encontrar ganas de seguir jugando. Y, es que, incluso si llego al final, nada de eso va a desaparecer todo el tedio que he vivido. De las 85 horas que he jugado, cerca de la mitad me son completamente indiferentes.
Ahora es cuando recuerdo que, si bien eres jefx dentro de la empresa protagónica del juego, no dejas de ser unx empleadx más. La historia¹ de Lob Corp usualmente habla de cómo los empleados de la empresa serían mejores si simplemente asumieran que esto es un trabajo tan monótono y rutinario como cualquiera. Resulta irónico que, inintencionadamente, ambas ideas terminan cruzándose dentro del juego.
¹ Sí, el juego tiene historia. No obstante, me rendí con seguirle el hilo luego de darme cuenta de que mis sesiones de juego iban a estar separadas por semanas. Me es imposible guardar en mi mente 5 minutos de historia que vi hace medio mes y a los cuales les precedieron 3 horas de gameplay puro.
Lobotomy Corporation es un simulador de gestión (como Fallout Shelter y Oxygen Not Included) donde, en vez de controlar una aldea, estás al frente de la fundación SCP. Eso sí, no literalmente, pues este título crea su propio universo con su propio lore y criaturas.
Tu objetivo principal en Lob Corp es comprender las anomalías que te van llegando e interactuar con ellas de la forma correcta para generar energía. Esta energía es, básicamente, la cuota que debes cubrir como jefx de la compañía. Muy similar al funcionamiento de la empresa protagónica de Monsters Inc., solo que aquí se invierten los papeles.
Cada nuevo día usualmente se te asignará un nuevo monstruo para que lo investigues. Los hay desde los más inofensivos, hasta aquellos que pueden arruinar completamente las instalaciones, el equivalente en este juego de un escenario del fin del mundo (de clase-XK).
Para interactuar con estas anomalías, tienes a tu disposición empleados que se dedicarán a seguir tus órdenes. Ellos interactuarán de la forma en que se los indiques. Si dicha forma es correcta, felicidades, conseguirás energía; de lo contrario, bueno, digamos que cada empleado tiene una barra de vida por una razón.
Ahora, además de dicha barra, cada trabajador tiene otras estadísticas que aumentarán dependiendo de la labor que haga. Lob Corp basa la mitad de su núcleo en esta cuestión. Lo que, en resumidas cuentas, es fameo: farmeas para que tus empleados sean mejores y te ayuden de mejor manera a lidiar con las anomalías.
¿En qué se basa la segunda mitad de su núcleo? En la investigación.
Uno de los mayores aciertos de este título reside en su compromiso con trasladar la particularidad y excentricidad de SCPs individuales a un vídeojuego. Lo que se traduce en que cada criatura de Lob Corp (o al menos la mayoría) es distinta a nivel de gameplay. Los monstruos de este universo no serían igual de interesantes si los intentaras entender fuera del lenguaje videojugabilístico. Es por ello que resulta tan atrayente dejarse envolver por el papel de investigadorx.
No obstante, ¿qué sería del mundo SCP sin los imprevistos y los desastres? En general, eso le da jugo a la investigación dentro de ese universo. Por esa razón, Lob Corp no se queda atrás. Es imposible entender este juego sin la manera en que utiliza el shock value. Una sensación que vivirás una y otra vez con cada imprevisto y con cada nueva anomalía que se presente.
Es aquí donde toman más importancia las estadísticas de tus empleados. Los monstruos se pueden escapar y es tu deber combatirlos. No obstante, no esperes un hack n slash o un RPG por turnos. El combate de este juego consiste en saber moverte por interfaces y hacer muchos clics. Interfaces que, hay que decirlo, son lo suficientemente toscas para que cada pelea sea una en contra de la anomalía y en contra del mismo juego. Habla muchísimo de Lob Corp que necesitas desbloquear una habilidad para poder ver la vida de tus empleados.
Al inicio, esto puede parecer interesante. Sobre todo porque el desbloqueo de esa habilidad se puede interpretar como un intento por hacer dinámicas las limitaciones del juego. De hecho, los combates sí que son variados y resulta divertida la forma en que te obligan a mover y atacar de distintas maneras.
... o al menos eso me gustaría decir. Porque en la práctica, Lob Corp fracasa en solventar un gran problema que él mismo ha creado: la repetición.
Una batalla dentro de este juego, se puede entender de dos formas: a través de su shock value y como una prueba de habilidad. Por definición, el shock value tiene efecto las primeras veces que te enfrentas a una anomalía; lo segundo, en cambio, siempre mantendrá cierto grado de dificultad sin importar cuántas veces repitas un enfrentamiento. Desgraciadamente, esta dificultad no es del tipo que fascine, sino de aquella que frustra a la larga. Los controles nunca dejan de ser toscos y si bien puedes acostumbrarte a ellos, jamás dejarán de ser uno de tus grandes enemigos.
Esto por sí solo no supondría un gran problema si se tratasen de batallas puntuales que se repiten, a lo mucho, un par de veces. Si fuera así, sería posible hacerle una concesión al juego, o incluso no darse cuenta nunca. Sin embargo, este componente cobra vital importancia cuando se ve potenciado por batallas que se repiten una y otra vez. Lob Corp te obliga a tener los mismos enfrentamientos con las mismas anomalías, lo cual eventualmente vuelve en un absoluto tedio la mera idea de batalla. Incluso si existiera el caso en que los controles no te sean un problema, nada de eso te alejará de cogerle cierto disgusto a los enfrentamientos.
Y ojalá aquí terminaran los problemas de este juego, sin embargo, esto es solo un síntoma. La trampa de la repetición en la que Lob Corp se encierra a sí mismo, permea a todo el núcleo del título.
Dentro del juego, una partida se desarrolla a lo largo de 50 días. 50 días en los cuales ocurren muchas cosas. De hecho, la propia comunidad se ha encargado de enaltecer grandes eventos que funcionan como puntos de inflexión dentro del juego y que ocurren... bueno, en algún punto de esos 50 días. Ahí está el problema. Estos eventos son dispersos y, entre tanto, el juego necesita algo para rellenar.
Durante sus primeros 15 días, Lob Corp tiene una curva de aprendizaje muy bien llevada. El juego te envía poco a poco anomalías que tienen un grado de complejidad medio. Aprendes las bases del juego gracias a estos 15 días y, al mismo tiempo, vas preparando el farmeo de tus empleados para lo que venga.
Pasado este tiempo, el título en cuestión aumenta su dificultad y comienza a enviarte anomalías que suponen un gran peligro. Desafíos reales que te aterrarán y fascinarán de igual forma. Básicamente, un antes y un después en tu manera de ver Lob Corp.
El problema viene cuando finalmente superas ese desafío y el juego te recompensa con otra anomalía de muchísimo menor complejidad. No una, sino un par hasta el siguiente gran evento. Durante los primeros 15 días de juego, estas anomalías hubieran supuesto un punto de interés en tu aprendizaje, pero ahora están en esa balanza entre "verdaderamente me interesa esta anomalía" y "esto es relleno hasta el siguiente bicharraco de verdad". No ayuda en nada que, para este punto, tus empleados ya están lo suficientemente poderosos para poder lidiar fácilmente con la gran mayoría de monstruos del early game.
Eventualmente, es claro hacia qué lado de la balanza te decantas. Hacia aquel que termina por menospreciar el propio mérito que el juego había logrado.
. . .
Lobotomy Corporation es un título con ideas sumamente geniales. La manera en que juega con sus elementos demuestra su intención por ir en contra del conformismo. Desgraciadamente, nada de esto garantiza el triunfo de su premisa.
Lo peor de todo es que ni siquiera he terminado el juego. Me quedé en el día 40 y sé muy bien que a partir de ahí vienen algunos de los eventos más importantes de todo el título. Sin embargo, por más que busque en mi interior, no logro encontrar ganas de seguir jugando. Y, es que, incluso si llego al final, nada de eso va a desaparecer todo el tedio que he vivido. De las 85 horas que he jugado, cerca de la mitad me son completamente indiferentes.
Ahora es cuando recuerdo que, si bien eres jefx dentro de la empresa protagónica del juego, no dejas de ser unx empleadx más. La historia¹ de Lob Corp usualmente habla de cómo los empleados de la empresa serían mejores si simplemente asumieran que esto es un trabajo tan monótono y rutinario como cualquiera. Resulta irónico que, inintencionadamente, ambas ideas terminan cruzándose dentro del juego.
¹ Sí, el juego tiene historia. No obstante, me rendí con seguirle el hilo luego de darme cuenta de que mis sesiones de juego iban a estar separadas por semanas. Me es imposible guardar en mi mente 5 minutos de historia que vi hace medio mes y a los cuales les precedieron 3 horas de gameplay puro.
Right. Sit the fuck down Lobotomy Corporation, we need to have a talk. I'm a big fan of SCP-like settings such as this (I even managed to get one accepted to the official SCP canon back in the day) and, while these settings can quickly devolve into edgy and cringey, Lobotomy Corporation does not. Honestly the writing, setting and premise in this game are awesome; the actual entities you need to manage are fantastically well-realised, bizarre, terrifying and most of all varied. I was constantly surprised by the weirdness of the effects and conditions attached to the monsters in this game, and it was absolutely engrossing getting to know them individually, how to work with them and how to deal with them if things go wrong. Basically, I love this game. But it's also utterly unplayable.
The thing is, the elements that make up the moment-to-moment gameplay in Lobotomy are mostly solid on paper. One of the main challenges to the player is to work out what the hell each anomaly even is; working with each one gives a currency that can be used to unlock information in the anomaly's profile. In practice this results in having to use trial and error a lot of the time, and some of the anomalies are borderline impossible to guess what you need to do to get any significant amount of that currency in the first place. But honestly, I'm fine with this... it really helps the SCP vibes of the game, and you can reset a day at any time so even the biggest fuck ups can be undone (...mostly). Nor do I have any issue with how quickly things can spiral out of control as soon as something does go wrong; this is very much a one-issue-leads-to-another house-of-cards kind of game, but all that does is incentivise you to be extra vigilant that the first domino never has a chance to fall. I don't even mind how inherently unfair this game is at times; I think a bit of unfairness actually helps with the vibe here, and goes well with the theme and setting of the game. After all, this is a game about unknowable entities that some chucklefucks are trying to harvest for electricity, why would any of them see fit to play by the rules?
But despite all this, and the genuinely great time I had playing this game and the many hours at work or in bed where I'd be thinking about this instead, I only got about halfway through this game before I could take no more. I suspect this will be the kind of thing I will pick up again every once in a while, play a day, rediscover what I hate about it and then kick it down the road for another week or two. So I'm not fully calling this 'abandoned' per se, but my opinions of it have definitely crystallised by this point. And my issues with this game fall into three broad categories: terrible UI, lack of player agency and an overwhelming lack of respect for the player or their time.
Let's start with the UI. It is an absolute nightmare to find some of the information you need access to in order to play this game. There are at least 3 ways you can view the stats of a given employee, for example, but they all show different subsets of their current condition information, and there just isn't a single unified employee profile anywhere to be found. Some information is just nowhere to be found at all as far as I can tell (e.g. the range of an employee's currently equipped weapon), and in some cases the actual visual design of the UI gets in the way (like when the textboxes that appear when an employee works with an anomaly straight up cover up the HP bar so you can't see it at all). There is a good chance that some of these UI difficulties get resolved later on, because the game makes you unlock some of the most basic things you can imagine (why the fuck did I have to play through 4 days before I could even see employee HP!?). Considering the game is about unknown entities that you have very little information about, making the information on your own employees and facility just as awkward and opaque feels like a major mis-step.
Even worse than the UI though is some of the things that you really should be able to do as a manager, but just can't for some reason. This issue is probably best explained with examples, which I will keep as spoiler-free as possible. One of the anomalies I had to manage had a habit of breaking out pretty often, and when it did this it would place a trap in a random spot on the map that would instantly kill anything that went over it until you had your employees go clean it up. And more than once, I had this trap spawn directly on top of the door to one of the containment chambers, while an employee was working in that chamber. What this meant is that employee would finish their work, leave the chamber and immediately die, and there was absolutely dick all I could do about it (the trap takes far longer to disarm than any work cycle). Why can I not instruct the employee to just remain in the chamber for a bit? By all means give them some sanity damage or something for staying longer than necessary, but why isn't this an option? Another time I had the same anomaly spawn a trap in a random corridor near one of the wing hubs... only for all of the clerks (expendable non-controllable employees you get for free each day) in the wing to suddenly decide they needed to walk that way. This wasn't a power that the anomaly had or anything like that, just part of the clerks' random walks around the facility. So I watched an absolute torrent of clerks just march directly to their death, even while my own agents were desperately shooting at the trap to try and disarm it. No big deal right, they're just clerks, they aren't important... apart from the fact I had another much worse anomaly that would breach if 10 people died, which happened almost immediately and fucked up the entire facility. Why couldn't I place that corridor on lockdown? Or confine the clerks to the hub room? Or... just fucking do anything about the situation rather than just hopelessly watch my own employees bring forth the fucking apocalypse while I could do nothing to dissuade them. Again, the anomalies are supposed to be the hazards here, not my own employees, so being unable to do simple and obvious things to prevent an unfolding calamity always just made me feel helpless in a bad way.
But whatever. I've played games with bad UI before and enjoyed them, and like I said a bit of unfairness feels almost right for a game in this setting. And this would all be well and good if not for the fact each day took something like 30-40 minutes to complete. It is absolutely soul-crushing to play 20 minutes of a day perfectly, then roll badly for one of the ordeals (combat encounters you get at set points in the day) and have everything immediately go to shit right before your eyes. I feel like I could forgive almost all the problems with this game if each day lasted more like 5 minutes. But as it stands, the vast majority of days consist of going through the motions for 20 minutes, followed by a frustrated sigh and a hit of the reset button. I pushed through it for this for the sake of the world and the writing... but as the game goes on the days get longer, the routine start of each day becomes more mundane, the number of points of failure in the system goes up and your ability to meaningfully interact with them just cannot keep pace.
That three star rating should be testament to the fact that, despite the fucking torture this game put me through, I do like it, love it even. But I don't enjoy it... at all. I really, really wish this game was implemented better, because with a few minor tweaks I think this could easily be my favourite management game of all time. But as it is now, I'm not even sure I can recommend Lobotomy Corporation, and that honestly makes me pretty sad. There is so much promise and potential here, and so many aspects of its production are absolutely top-tier, but it all ends up being one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in all of gaming.
The thing is, the elements that make up the moment-to-moment gameplay in Lobotomy are mostly solid on paper. One of the main challenges to the player is to work out what the hell each anomaly even is; working with each one gives a currency that can be used to unlock information in the anomaly's profile. In practice this results in having to use trial and error a lot of the time, and some of the anomalies are borderline impossible to guess what you need to do to get any significant amount of that currency in the first place. But honestly, I'm fine with this... it really helps the SCP vibes of the game, and you can reset a day at any time so even the biggest fuck ups can be undone (...mostly). Nor do I have any issue with how quickly things can spiral out of control as soon as something does go wrong; this is very much a one-issue-leads-to-another house-of-cards kind of game, but all that does is incentivise you to be extra vigilant that the first domino never has a chance to fall. I don't even mind how inherently unfair this game is at times; I think a bit of unfairness actually helps with the vibe here, and goes well with the theme and setting of the game. After all, this is a game about unknowable entities that some chucklefucks are trying to harvest for electricity, why would any of them see fit to play by the rules?
But despite all this, and the genuinely great time I had playing this game and the many hours at work or in bed where I'd be thinking about this instead, I only got about halfway through this game before I could take no more. I suspect this will be the kind of thing I will pick up again every once in a while, play a day, rediscover what I hate about it and then kick it down the road for another week or two. So I'm not fully calling this 'abandoned' per se, but my opinions of it have definitely crystallised by this point. And my issues with this game fall into three broad categories: terrible UI, lack of player agency and an overwhelming lack of respect for the player or their time.
Let's start with the UI. It is an absolute nightmare to find some of the information you need access to in order to play this game. There are at least 3 ways you can view the stats of a given employee, for example, but they all show different subsets of their current condition information, and there just isn't a single unified employee profile anywhere to be found. Some information is just nowhere to be found at all as far as I can tell (e.g. the range of an employee's currently equipped weapon), and in some cases the actual visual design of the UI gets in the way (like when the textboxes that appear when an employee works with an anomaly straight up cover up the HP bar so you can't see it at all). There is a good chance that some of these UI difficulties get resolved later on, because the game makes you unlock some of the most basic things you can imagine (why the fuck did I have to play through 4 days before I could even see employee HP!?). Considering the game is about unknown entities that you have very little information about, making the information on your own employees and facility just as awkward and opaque feels like a major mis-step.
Even worse than the UI though is some of the things that you really should be able to do as a manager, but just can't for some reason. This issue is probably best explained with examples, which I will keep as spoiler-free as possible. One of the anomalies I had to manage had a habit of breaking out pretty often, and when it did this it would place a trap in a random spot on the map that would instantly kill anything that went over it until you had your employees go clean it up. And more than once, I had this trap spawn directly on top of the door to one of the containment chambers, while an employee was working in that chamber. What this meant is that employee would finish their work, leave the chamber and immediately die, and there was absolutely dick all I could do about it (the trap takes far longer to disarm than any work cycle). Why can I not instruct the employee to just remain in the chamber for a bit? By all means give them some sanity damage or something for staying longer than necessary, but why isn't this an option? Another time I had the same anomaly spawn a trap in a random corridor near one of the wing hubs... only for all of the clerks (expendable non-controllable employees you get for free each day) in the wing to suddenly decide they needed to walk that way. This wasn't a power that the anomaly had or anything like that, just part of the clerks' random walks around the facility. So I watched an absolute torrent of clerks just march directly to their death, even while my own agents were desperately shooting at the trap to try and disarm it. No big deal right, they're just clerks, they aren't important... apart from the fact I had another much worse anomaly that would breach if 10 people died, which happened almost immediately and fucked up the entire facility. Why couldn't I place that corridor on lockdown? Or confine the clerks to the hub room? Or... just fucking do anything about the situation rather than just hopelessly watch my own employees bring forth the fucking apocalypse while I could do nothing to dissuade them. Again, the anomalies are supposed to be the hazards here, not my own employees, so being unable to do simple and obvious things to prevent an unfolding calamity always just made me feel helpless in a bad way.
But whatever. I've played games with bad UI before and enjoyed them, and like I said a bit of unfairness feels almost right for a game in this setting. And this would all be well and good if not for the fact each day took something like 30-40 minutes to complete. It is absolutely soul-crushing to play 20 minutes of a day perfectly, then roll badly for one of the ordeals (combat encounters you get at set points in the day) and have everything immediately go to shit right before your eyes. I feel like I could forgive almost all the problems with this game if each day lasted more like 5 minutes. But as it stands, the vast majority of days consist of going through the motions for 20 minutes, followed by a frustrated sigh and a hit of the reset button. I pushed through it for this for the sake of the world and the writing... but as the game goes on the days get longer, the routine start of each day becomes more mundane, the number of points of failure in the system goes up and your ability to meaningfully interact with them just cannot keep pace.
That three star rating should be testament to the fact that, despite the fucking torture this game put me through, I do like it, love it even. But I don't enjoy it... at all. I really, really wish this game was implemented better, because with a few minor tweaks I think this could easily be my favourite management game of all time. But as it is now, I'm not even sure I can recommend Lobotomy Corporation, and that honestly makes me pretty sad. There is so much promise and potential here, and so many aspects of its production are absolutely top-tier, but it all ends up being one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in all of gaming.
This game got me invested into this series greatly! Outside of day 49 I had an amazing time with every moment i played this game and has helped make this series one of my favorite of all time! Amazing story and gameplay and especially characters! Ruina is def better but i still highly recommend playing this before hand despite being greatly different gameplay wise from it's sequal
Crush my cock with a rock i must!
One of the greatest games ever.
One of the greatest games ever.
i want to like this game so badly. the scp-management stuff with the anomalies is really fun! but the incursions or whatever they're called suck the joy out of everything. combat in this game should feel exciting and panic-inducing because You Fucked Up and let the Scary Smiler loose. but instead its just rote and tedious more than anything. Sad! well theres other games
This game is kinda like Sisyphus if he was awesome
I need to give this another chance
This was a triumph
I'm making a note here: huge success
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction
Lobotomy Corporation
We face the fear to build the future
For the good of all of us
Except the ones who are dead
But there's no sense crying over every breach event
You just keep on trying till your sanity is spent
And the day gets done, though the abnos are never gone
For the clerks who are still contained
I'm making a note here: huge success
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction
Lobotomy Corporation
We face the fear to build the future
For the good of all of us
Except the ones who are dead
But there's no sense crying over every breach event
You just keep on trying till your sanity is spent
And the day gets done, though the abnos are never gone
For the clerks who are still contained
I remember buying this years ago, getting stuck and refunding it, then proceeding to not be able to stop thinking about it for four years before buying it again and getting stuck and dropping it. Some games just be like that
ABSOLUTE LUDO
Although daunting at first, once you get deep enough into the game and begin to understand how all systems and mechanics work and interact with each other, the real magic begins. Keeping track of every abnormality in the facility and how it affects each situation is the core of the game, and I'm simply amazed at how the developers were able to cohesively make everything work together. It's not without its bugs and performance issues, you can tell that this game was made on a budget and how everything is held together by duct tape and the programmers' hopes and dreams, but nonetheless it's incredible.
Speaking of cohesiveness, lobotomy corporation is one of the best examples I've seen in a game of both the gameplay and the story helping elevate each other. The core supressions were some of the best parts for me, everything from the music to the mechanics work together to tell the characters' stories and immerse you into the setting. Project Moon really nailed the feeling of working in a grim facility full of dangerous monsters, and even the brutal and harsh nature of the gameplay reinforces the themes of the story.
I really recommend giving this game a chance, it's time consuming and you may drop it due to the difficulty (which is fine, I did so myself and picked it up again a few months later), but in the end the experience of pushing through is one of the most rewarding things I've ever gotten out of a game.
Although daunting at first, once you get deep enough into the game and begin to understand how all systems and mechanics work and interact with each other, the real magic begins. Keeping track of every abnormality in the facility and how it affects each situation is the core of the game, and I'm simply amazed at how the developers were able to cohesively make everything work together. It's not without its bugs and performance issues, you can tell that this game was made on a budget and how everything is held together by duct tape and the programmers' hopes and dreams, but nonetheless it's incredible.
Speaking of cohesiveness, lobotomy corporation is one of the best examples I've seen in a game of both the gameplay and the story helping elevate each other. The core supressions were some of the best parts for me, everything from the music to the mechanics work together to tell the characters' stories and immerse you into the setting. Project Moon really nailed the feeling of working in a grim facility full of dangerous monsters, and even the brutal and harsh nature of the gameplay reinforces the themes of the story.
I really recommend giving this game a chance, it's time consuming and you may drop it due to the difficulty (which is fine, I did so myself and picked it up again a few months later), but in the end the experience of pushing through is one of the most rewarding things I've ever gotten out of a game.
I haven't been able to properly finish it thanks to college, but God damn this game is fascinating and incredible. It joins the ranks of Pathologic as one of the games that best support the argument "games don't need to be fun to be good," and if you're familiar with that game then you know that's high praise.
Some genuinely fantastic counter-intuitive game design present here: the systems and subsystems contained offer a deliberately overcomplicated, obtuse and even clunky experience that contribute to a looming sense of anxiety and dread that come with every workday. I could talk a lot more about how that evolves over the course of the game, but then I'd have to mark this for spoilers and I'd rather not.
LobCorp is one of those games you can't really talk about out of fear of taking away some of the magic, even now I worry that I'm doing it a bit of a disservice by reviewing it. If that Pathologic comparison piques your interest and you like management sims, give this one a look.
Some genuinely fantastic counter-intuitive game design present here: the systems and subsystems contained offer a deliberately overcomplicated, obtuse and even clunky experience that contribute to a looming sense of anxiety and dread that come with every workday. I could talk a lot more about how that evolves over the course of the game, but then I'd have to mark this for spoilers and I'd rather not.
LobCorp is one of those games you can't really talk about out of fear of taking away some of the magic, even now I worry that I'm doing it a bit of a disservice by reviewing it. If that Pathologic comparison piques your interest and you like management sims, give this one a look.
It's peak.
I did it... yayyyyyyyy
after completing this game i can finally understand why its so devisive: its grindy,frustrating, unbalanced, and minor mistakes can doom your entire run, making you replay the hole game again just to have a second chance
After saying that, this game is fucking amazing i dont care. even if very flawed the gameplay loop is still really fascinating, even the easiest abno can create an inrreversible domino efect of caos if left alone, there is so many horryfing and creative surprises that each combinations of abnos can bring, and the feeling of pure terror when the third warning starts to play is just unmached.
every single abno is extremely unique and its definitely one of the hightlights of this game, in fact the creativity in this game be it on the story, gameplay, artstyle, etc is amazing, and how each of this elements carefuly complement each other even unintentionally sometimes
speaking of the story, it´s easily one of the best ive seen in gaming, slowly revealing its secrets while playing it is unforgetable, but wont say it further since its best experienced blind
my favorite game currently, i´m extremely hyped for library of ruina now
After saying that, this game is fucking amazing i dont care. even if very flawed the gameplay loop is still really fascinating, even the easiest abno can create an inrreversible domino efect of caos if left alone, there is so many horryfing and creative surprises that each combinations of abnos can bring, and the feeling of pure terror when the third warning starts to play is just unmached.
every single abno is extremely unique and its definitely one of the hightlights of this game, in fact the creativity in this game be it on the story, gameplay, artstyle, etc is amazing, and how each of this elements carefuly complement each other even unintentionally sometimes
speaking of the story, it´s easily one of the best ive seen in gaming, slowly revealing its secrets while playing it is unforgetable, but wont say it further since its best experienced blind
my favorite game currently, i´m extremely hyped for library of ruina now
Peak, I don't make the rules.
Sisyphus, the videogame
Nothing have prepared me for the difficulty sipkes in this game. But it's peak
Lobotomy Corporation is the first game in the franchise by Project Moon and it does certainly show in many aspects. Despite this, Lobotomy Corporation offers an interesting story that only gives you a glimpse of the outer world.
The gameplay itself can very quickly ramp up in difficulty as you have to give your focus to numerous things at once. If you just want to enjoy the gameplay and story, I recommend using mods that help ease the difficulty.
The game also can suffer from performance issues and potential memory leaks further into the game, I also recommend installing mods to assist with that.
The gameplay itself can very quickly ramp up in difficulty as you have to give your focus to numerous things at once. If you just want to enjoy the gameplay and story, I recommend using mods that help ease the difficulty.
The game also can suffer from performance issues and potential memory leaks further into the game, I also recommend installing mods to assist with that.
Well, it was a tough road. Ok I'm lying calling this tough would be an insult, this may quite possibly be the most merciless, relentless, soul-crushing and dare I say lobotomizing experience I have ever undergone in gaming and I despise it with every fiber of my being. No game has ever brought out such unfathomable rage in me as this game has, this game is genuinely out to kill you and drag you down to your lowest possible state.
But even then, despite it all, despite everything I've said above and will say in the future, I still love this game. The writing, characters, thematic messages and implications, all of it, everything and fuck it even the gameplay. If you the reader can persevere from everything this game throws at you as part of its masterfully crafted ludonarrative, one day you'll see the light. Quite possibly the greatest ludonarrative ever conceived
This game won't just tell you that life is worth is living, it'll go beyond and ask you to kill yourself just to test how hard you WANT to live. Unironic 10/10 masterpiece, I would wish this game upon my worst enemy.
But even then, despite it all, despite everything I've said above and will say in the future, I still love this game. The writing, characters, thematic messages and implications, all of it, everything and fuck it even the gameplay. If you the reader can persevere from everything this game throws at you as part of its masterfully crafted ludonarrative, one day you'll see the light. Quite possibly the greatest ludonarrative ever conceived
This game won't just tell you that life is worth is living, it'll go beyond and ask you to kill yourself just to test how hard you WANT to live. Unironic 10/10 masterpiece, I would wish this game upon my worst enemy.
Lobotomy Corporation forces you to maintain an attention span while keeping things under control, you'd have to prepare yourself for the many mistakes you dug yourself into that impact what comes next, small mistakes could heavily affect the future results.
You have almost no need for a guide! It's a hard game, I might say. But if you're prepared to read long paragraphs of text in the game whilst thinking quickly to amplify your strategy then you're ready for it.
The art style is also simple and nice, while also having the corporate serious and blunt feeling to it, which compliments how the gameplay mechanic works without the need to strain your eyes for an overwhelming period of your gameplay.
You have almost no need for a guide! It's a hard game, I might say. But if you're prepared to read long paragraphs of text in the game whilst thinking quickly to amplify your strategy then you're ready for it.
The art style is also simple and nice, while also having the corporate serious and blunt feeling to it, which compliments how the gameplay mechanic works without the need to strain your eyes for an overwhelming period of your gameplay.