The game session ended.
Their ship's screen faded to black. A simple message hovered:
[Thank you for playing Lethal Company.]
Zane pulled off his headset with a deep breath. The soft hum of his room filled his ears again, but his heart was still racing like he was inside that haunted facility.
The others were still there, now visible on stream in their facecams. Silent. Processing.
"Jesus…" Brogan finally muttered. "I feel like I've aged five years."
Zane chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "I don't even know what to say. That was... terrifying. Brilliant. Horrifying. Addictive."
Luna was hugging her knees in her chair. Her eyes were wide, but there was a strange excitement behind them. "I still feel like something's breathing down my neck."
Vexxie sat stiffly, blinking rapidly. "My body's still tingling."
"Wait—" Zane turned to her, concerned. "From the pain index?"
She nodded slowly. "Yeah… I forgot to turn it down from earlier. It was still at 5 when I stepped on that mine." She gave a weak smile. "It blew up my whole body. And now it's like... it's numb but still stinging. Like static electricity in my bones."
[Twitch Chat]
"WTF this game is insane 💀"
"That pain index sounds next-level."
"Yo I'd forget to lower mine too tbh."
"Actual full-body trauma??"
Brogan winced. "That dev wasn't playing around with realism. Props for adding that warning at the start. Without it… we'd probably all be crying right now."
Luna nodded. "Yeah, that little pop-up at the menu? 'Lower your pain index.' Thank god I listened."
"I didn't," Brogan muttered. "Coil Head got me, and I swear I felt my neck twist in two."
They all paused, visibly shaken.
Then Zane leaned in. "Still though… this was the best VR game I've ever played. Easily."
"No," Luna corrected him. "This was the best game I've ever played. Period. No contest."
[Twitch Chat]
"Facts. Not just VR. This is GOATed."
"This is like… revolutionary."
"Devs really said: here's pain, terror, AND immersion."
"I need the name of the dev. I'm gonna kiss them."
Vexxie laughed, though it was tired and a little broken. "It was so smart. Everything had rules. The Bracken... it waited. For six minutes it followed Luna, and none of us saw it."
Zane rubbed his face. "It was watching. Silent. One foot behind her."
Luna shuddered. "That still creeps me out. I didn't even feel it there. But I knew something was wrong."
Brogan exhaled. "The fact that it didn't kill her right away? That was worse than if it did."
The group sat in reflective silence for a moment. The stream, still running, showed their exhausted faces and the constant stream of Twitch messages scrolling beside them.
[Twitch Chat]
"Best horror I've seen in YEARS."
"How is this game free??"
"Just downloaded. I need to suffer too."
"Imagine this with 10 pain index 😭"
"I hope the dev sees this," Vexxie finally said. "This game is a masterpiece."
Zane nodded. "Seriously. If you're watching—thank you. This game made us scream, laugh, panic, and explode. Literally. You built something incredible."
"I've never felt more alive and more dead in the same night," Brogan added.
Luna smiled softly. "Even with the pain... I'd play again."
The camera lingered a little longer.
Zane leaned back in his chair, letting the moment settle. "Alright, I think we're calling it here tonight, yeah?"
Everyone nodded.
But they knew they'd be back.
Because Lethal Company didn't feel like a game.
It felt like a world waiting to take them back in.