Manage monsters and inevitably get eaten in Lobotomy Corporation

Inspired by the likes of SCP Containment Breach and Cabin in the Woods, Lobotomy Corporation is a management sim about extracting energy from horrible monsters and keeping the employees doing the extracting from getting maimed, eaten or otherwise eviscerated. It entered Steam Early Access in late 2016, and earlier this week it officially launched on Steam for $25.

Your goal is basically to extract as much monster energy as possible while keeping casualties to a minimum. Different monsters require different processing methods, so you have to build and staff a variety of facilities to keep things running optimally. But the bigger your facility becomes, the more opportunities monsters have to escape, "and when they do, they will destroy everything," developer Project Moon warns.

Project Moon insists Lobotomy Corporation is "not a tycoon," but rather a high-stakes game about avoiding disasters. Because when a monster does break free, you're lucky to get off with just a few liquidized employees. In severe cases, monsters can brainwash employees and lead them against the suppressor agents you send in to control situations. And even when monsters stay caged, they can still drive their caretakers to madness, which can lead to equally disastrous psych incidents.

Luckily you don't have to go it alone. At least in the game's story mode, two AI companions, Angela and Sephira, will keep you company. Trouble is, they'll also check in for regular progress reports which play out as branching dialogue trees. So, you know, try to play it off. No, no, don't be silly. Nobody died, we just painted all the walls red. Really brightens up the lobby!

Austin freelanced for PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and has been a full-time writer at PC Gamer's sister publication GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a staff writer is just a cover-up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news, the occasional feature, and as much Genshin Impact as he can get away with.