Is Lobotomy Corporation Any Good?

Every now and then, you’ll look at a game’s store page and see that it’s got pretty good reviews, and you’ll wonder if it’s actually any good. Well, I decided to play Lobotomy Corporation | Monster Management Simulation and see if it lived up to the 92% Very Positive user reviews on Steam.

What is Lobotomy Corporation?

Described by its devs as a “roguelite monster-management simulator”, Lobotomy Corporation places you into the position of manager of the titular company. The Corporation is tasked with harvesting energy to sate the needs of the world; the thing is, this energy is produced by nightmarish monsters known as Abnormalities. There are several work methods you can perform with each Abnormality, and the monsters themselves vary in power. Naturally, it’s not safe — working with such creatures is bound to have an effect on the physical and mental health of your employees…

What are the players saying?

Many of the (less memey) reviews on Steam note the game is incredibly difficult, especially since you will have to go in with pretty much zero knowledge if you don’t want to spoil yourself. And the reviews really recommend going in without a clue, as you’ll have a much better time that way. Most of the negative reviews are outdated, criticising the translation and bugs; these have been fixed over many patches, with the English translation in particular having gotten a full rework in 2020.

Is it actually any good?

So far, absolutely… if you have the mindset for it. You can correctly infer from that first bit that I have yet to beat the game; remembering that one of the classifications is “roguelite”, Lobotomy Corporation itself expects you to start over again from Day 1, keeping your information and upgrades but losing all of your employees and experience. And this “full reset” is something you’ll probably want — or need — to do more than once, several times even.

It’s not just the full reset that is available either; you will be restarting days or entire weeks before you reach the point of full-blown “this facility is doomed”. And truth be told, this is a fantastic new take on the roguelite viewpoint. You will get attached to some employees, you will have to sacrifice some of them, and you will become somewhat numbed to the fact that those little troopers WILL NOT always make it to the end of the day in one piece.
The lore comes out a bit slow and muddled, especially nearer the beginning, but it is interesting to find out more about WHAT is happening, and WHY. And the question will loom over you for a long time...

Am I the good guy, or the bad guy?