Lethal Company took Steam by storm when it spooked everyone two years ago, and in its wake, tons of co-op horror games seeking the same kind of virality have come and gone. But one game has actually stuck the landing and even caught the attention of Lethal Company’s creator.
I’m talking about R.E.P.O. (The Retrieve, Extract, and Profit Operation), which only entered early access on February 26 and has already managed to accrue over 28,000 Steam user reviews, gaining a glowing ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ rating since 96% of them are positive.
It’s the type of virality that only hits indie multiplayer games a couple times a year, but it’s not hard to see why so many people jumped on the R.E.P.O. bandwagon. It’s a six-player multiplayer game where you need to retrieve fully physics-simulated items without alerting nightmare-fuel monsters that lurk in the dark, meaning if you so much as scrape a valuable ceramic on the side of a table, a wide-jawed demon creature will probably burst into the room and chomp down one of your tin-man friends. Here’s a trailer:
Joining the chorus of positive reviews is Zeekers, the mostly-solo developer behind smash hit Lethal Company. “REPO is fun,” they wrote on social media. “At first I thought I didn’t like it since I felt so slow (and voice chat range is too small!) But everyone in the group working together to move a grand piano through a cramped old mansion without scraping it – that is like the most funny objective for a horror game.”
Knowing the genre inside and out, Zeekers still jotted down some thoughts on what the team at semiwork could improve. “Voice chat range needs increased, and the muffling is too much,” the post continued. “The levels with vast open space don’t suit the game’s design very well (similarly to Phasmophobia); it shines most in the cramped mansion layout.”
For more, check out some other upcoming indie games of 2025 that are worth keeping an eye on.