The core loop of Lethal Company is identical to the gig economy. You are an expendable contractor for “The Company,” a faceless entity that cares only about profit. Every three days, a quota resets. If you fail to bring back a certain value of scrap—old tires, plastic fish, stolen apparatuses—you are “terminated.” Not metaphorically. The game deletes your save file.

The Horror of the Timesheet: How 'Lethal Company' Gamifies Gig-Economy Dread

This is the horror of isolation within a team. In a real office, when the person next to you gets fired, you just keep typing. In Lethal Company , you keep looting.