Lethal Company's v50 update may 'seem antagonistic to speedrunners,' but Zeekerss stresses that it's a necessary change

A character looking at a screen in a spaceship — (Image credit: Zeekerss)

Lethal Company's latest update, v50, was released over the weekend, so you can jump back into your crummy little spaceship and check out all the new changes for yourself. We already knew that this update included new moons, monsters, and even a change to your running speed, but now that v50 is out, the developer, who goes by Zeekers, clarified some more changes.

The main update is a big blow to speedrunners, as falling out of bounds will no longer teleport you to the main facility entrance. "I know this kind of change might seem antagonistic to speed-runners, etc," Zeekerss explains in an update post. "But these made it possible to bypass Lethal Company's design and mechanics without requiring any more skill or strategy; I guess it would also make speed runs of Lethal Company less accessible to people who don't want to (or can't) spam a button very fast on the regular."

Zeekerss even considered changing the jetpack as you could use it to fly from the ship to the entrance, safely avoiding all the monsters between: "I had targeted the jetpack's crazy efficiency for this same reason (safely bypassing part of the game), but I've realized it has an irreplaceable purpose as the most wacky gimmick item so I will respect that."

I've never used the teleporting strategy myself as I've always chosen to get to the entrance via a panicked walk through the woods, dodging the Forest Keeper and screaming at Eyeless Dogs. But I can see how this would help speed up each moon's run. The facilities are undoubtedly tricky, especially with the new addition of killer butlers and nutcrackers with shotguns, but I've actually found that the outside can be just as dangerous.

One time, after a particularly lethal run for scrap on Offense, I was the last employee standing and tasked with lugging all of the loot we'd found back to the ship before it left at midnight. Weighed down by a cash register, one toy ship, and a couple of egg beaters, I could barely move, and to make matters worse, a lone Baboon Hawk decided to terrorise me, jabbing at my back and slowly depleting me of my health. I had read somewhere that screaming at it may actually scare these creatures off, so throwing my dignity aside, I spent the entire journey back yelling at the Baboon Hawk through proximity chat as it tore into my back, only for it to deal the killing blow moments later.

But the dangerous ecosystems on each planet are part of the fun and challenge of Lethal Company. Players should weigh up the pros and cons of running off into the wilderness by themselves, navigating their way through packs of Eyeless Dogs and Earth Leviathans. Scrap may not sell more if it's covered in blood, but the experiences are great for character-building, and I get the feeling that's exactly what the Company would want.

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.