Summary
Plenty of gags hit the internet during 2024’s recent April Fools’ Day, but not all of them were one-off jokes. Landfall Games, the indie developer behind theTotally Accurate Battleseries,Stick Fight: The Game,Clustertruck, and more, has upheld its tradition of launching humorous multiplayer games on April 1 withContent Warning, and it’s already turning heads. As a horror-comedy title made in the vein ofLethal Company,Content Warninghas already amassed over six million downloads and 200,000 concurrent Steam players during its 24-hour free-to-keep period. It even looks primed to get more with its $7.99 USD price tag in place.
Content Warningfollows inPhasmophobiaandLethal Company’s multiplayer extraction horror footsteps, and demonstrates a remarkable understanding of what made those games work. Using physics-driven gameplay and relatively simple visuals like Landfall’s other projects,Content Warningsees wannabe content creators diving into treacherous facilities to film viral videos for SpookTube. Not only doesContent Warningaffectionately parody viral indie horror and content creators, it integrates the social media clips associated with their popularity directly into its gameplay, as well as some ofthose games' other best aspects like proximity chat. Thanks to that,Content Warningrecaptures the strengths of games likeLethal Companywhile giving them a humorous spin.
Content Warning’s Approach To Horror and Comedy Explained
Proudly sporting its tagline of “Get famous or die trying,”Content Warningsends players to do just that. Up to four people prepare their ASCII faces and items, as well as film an intro if they want, then descend into the “old world.” After securing up to a minute-and-a-half of footage, everyone alive returns to their base, gathers around their couch for an inaugural viewing, and uploads their video to SpookTube with the option to download it locally. Progress involves reaching cumulative viewquotas across several days, much likeLethal Company, and the process repeats until players quit or fail — but getting good clips is the priority.
Screams and Laughter Are Both Necessary For Content Warning To Work
It strikes a surprisingly relaxed tone despite the horrors lurking below, largely owing to how players interact with them. Monsters and other anomalies must be recorded for views, so aspiring SpookTubers need to jump into the fray with their camera, flashlights, and other equipment forContent Warning’s scariest footage possible. Player speech, movement, injury, death, and even emotes increase views as well, motivating players to stage the sort of clips thatLethal Companytends to produce. But when the faux-YouTuber hijinks are interrupted by the camera operator being dragged off, the ensuing tension ensures thatContent Warning’s comedic relief feels like a reward for enduring its horror.
What Content Warning Reveals About Lethal Company
The gameplay loop used byLethal CompanyandContent Warningis nearly identical, just with the tone defaulting to different extremes.Lethal Companyfocuses on stressful horror through its harsh setting, and reinforces the importance of professional efficiency via one-hit kills and end-of-day evaluations. In contrast,Content Warningwants players to make light of its darker elements, withmonsters generally being less dangerous thanLethal Company’s, and healing items providing hope in bad situations. Camera footage can also be accessed out-of-game, so good clips shouldn’t be permanently lost.
Mixing Comedy and Horror Are Lethal Company and Content Warning’s Strength
However, it’s in their internal contrasts that both games shine. Opportunities abound for group reactions inLethal Company, dead players can riff on their peers, and good employees can carry runs. Meanwhile, the need to perform while skirting danger can get nerve-wracking asContent Warningcontinues, feeding back into more genuine reactions.Content Warning’s relaxing after-parties are also dependent on someone extracting the camera, even with the possibility of finding lost ones later. And when one ofLethal Company’s passive and charming specimensorContent Warning’s eldritch and deadly beasts show up, the resulting emotional highs prove that there’s an art to balancing tone that few games get as right.
