13 hours Ago By Sjaak Stechman
You may have already seen it pop up on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube: the new indie hit R.E.P.
O. A chaotic multiplayer game where small, robot-like creatures scavenge valuable items in a house filled with demonic entities, all while trying to escape. The combination of teamwork, monstrous obstacles, and a brilliant physics engine creates endless hilarious moments.
Social media loves it, and for good reason: R.E.P.
O. seems tailor-made for viral clips. But if you dismiss it as just another internet hype, you’ll be missing out on one of the most entertaining and cleverly designed co-op games of the moment.
For those unfamiliar with the game, R.E.P.
O. is essentially similar to Lethal Company—though that might not mean much to everyone either. The concept is simple: you and your friends work for a mysterious company that drops employees into dangerous locations.
Your mission? Collect valuable objects and bring them to designated extraction points. If you gather enough, you earn your paycheck and a ride away from the cursed site. If you fail.
.. well, let’s just say retirement won’t be a concern.
That sounds straightforward, but of course, there’s a catch. The buildings aren’t empty. Monsters, traps, and other hazards lurk around every corner.
And then there are your teammates—sometimes your salvation, sometimes your downfall. Whether they accidentally shut the door behind you as a monster charges in or “accidentally” shove you into a fireplace just to see if it works (spoiler: it does), teamwork is as much a challenge as the game itself. On paper, R.
E.P.O.
may not seem groundbreaking, but as the saying goes: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The game sets itself apart in a clever way, and it all comes down to the physics engine. What truly makes R.
E.P.O.
unique is how everything in the game is affected by physics. Nearly every object, door, monster, and even your fellow players can be picked up, thrown, moved, and manipulated in countless ways. Sometimes, this works to your advantage: throw a record player at a small monster? Problem solved.
But sometimes, it works against you: carrying a heavy vase to the exit with your friend, only for them to let go by accident? Now it's in a thousand pieces on the floor, and you’re hit with a painful -$7,000 as a reminder of what you could have earned. One moment, you’re like amateur movers struggling to transport a massive piano, and the next, you’re desperately trying to push a monster into a pit. This kind of physical chaos makes R.
E.P.O.
not just thrilling, but incredibly funny. And we haven’t even talked about the characters themselves. The tiny, robot-like figures with big eyes and clattering jaws are already hilarious to look at.
But they can also curl up into a crab-like shape, leading to some fantastic moments. I remember crawling under a bench with a friend to avoid a monster. Our third teammate wasn’t so lucky and got swallowed across the room.
As we sat in dead silence under the furniture, our big eyes slowly turned toward each other in a perfect “oh shit” moment. We couldn’t stop laughing—and of course, the monster heard us. Game over.
The game works well in different group sizes. With a big team, it’s complete anarchy. Half your crew will die due to silly mistakes, bad decisions, or sheer bad luck.
Everyone screams over each other, doors slam open and shut, and valuables break faster than you can make money. With just two players, it’s a completely different experience. You play much more carefully and strategically—until someone makes a mistake and everything falls apart in a panic.
Solo play is technically possible, but you miss one of the game’s best elements: the raw, unfiltered panic shared with friends. Crawling under a bed alone to hide from a three-meter-tall nun with claws as long as table legs is nerve-wracking enough. But with a friend, as you stare at each other in silent terror, hoping she doesn’t fit under the bed, while her pale face slowly turns in your direction? That’s horror and comedy in perfect balance.
It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes an entirely new game genre emerges right before our eyes. Last year, solo developer Zeekerss released Lethal Company, and suddenly we had a new kind of co-op game: a mix of horror, teamwork, and pure slapstick. Not your typical survival horror, not just chaotic multiplayer, but something unique where cooperation is just as crucial as avoiding monsters (and where your friends can be just as dangerous as the actual enemies).
Now we have R.E.P.
O., and it’s no cheap knockoff. While some games try (and fail) to capitalize on Lethal Company’s success, R.
E.P.O.
pushes the genre further. The physics engine makes everything interactive and more chaotic than ever. You can literally throw a statue to block a monster, use a teammate as an improvised hammer (don’t ask how that works), or see one clumsy movement ruin an entire mission.
This feels like the start of something big. First, we had roguelikes, then soulslikes, and now? Lethal Company-likes? Who knows how far this will go. Maybe a major studio will eventually take on the genre and give us a AAA version with a massive budget.
Until then? Just enjoy pioneers like R.E.P.
O. and Lethal Company, showing how this genre is growing and why it’s so exciting to be here from the very beginning. The game is now available in Early Access on Steam for €9.
75. A console version is in the works, but for now, developer Semiwork is taking the time to fine-tune everything as its popularity skyrockets..
