Lethal Company lore: A complete history

The lore of Lethal Company raises so many questions. Who is the Company? What is the creature inside the Company Building? Why are we collecting scrap on abandoned Moons?

This article explains everything we know so far about the story of Lethal Company.

Lethal Company story explained

• A pilot named Sigurd keeps records of his job collecting scrap for the Company.
• Sigurd, and his crew consisting of Desmond, Jess, and Richard, go about their job as Sigurd begins to feel increasingly uneasy.
• Sigurd hears screaming from beyond the Company Building wall, but his crewmates dismiss his claims.
• Sigurd receives a mysterious phone call telling him about a golden planet that was swallowed by a colossal beast.
• Sigurd begins to grow increasingly paranoid.
• During a scrap run, Richard dies which sends Sigurd even further into paranoia.
• Jess and Desmond begin to grow paranoid as well and hear the same screaming sounds beyond the Company Building walls.
• Desmond suspects that there is a creature beyond The Company Building walls that needs to be fed scrap to be contained.
• Sigurd dreams of the creature beyond the Company Building walls describing it as huge and fast.
• Sigurd makes a final(?) recording unsure of if he or his crew can trust their memories.

Lethal Company is in early access, so its lore will probably be developed further. The story so far has hinted at monsters living inside the Company Building, and comes directly from the pilot logs of someone named Sigurd that you’ll find while exploring the Moons and trying to survive in your new job.

The game begins on the Moon called Assurance. You may have noticed all the bizarre constructions and manmade items in the surrounding landscape that suggest you’re not the first to arrive. The Facilities alone imply people previously spent time here and built structures either to hold monsters or conduct research. Perhaps they wanted resources but had to retreat due to the hostile environment? Regardless of the reason, the Company has sent you to do their dirty work for them.

All story logs in Lethal Company

There are currently 13 logs to find in Lethal Company. They all have unique names, and you can view them via the Terminal inside the Home Base. Interact with the Terminal with E and type in each log’s title as it’s seen on the list. You can revisit any log you’ve found by typing Sigurd into the command box.

• First Log — Aug 22
• Smells here! — Aug 24
• Swing of things — Aug 27
• Golden Planet — Aug ??
• Shady — Aug 31
• Sounds behind the wall — Sep 4
• Goodbye — Sep 7
• Screams — Sep 13
• Idea — Sep 19
• Nonsense — Sep 27
• Hiding — Sep 30
• Real Job — Oct 1
• Desmond — Oct 15

Let’s dive into what each log means for the lore of Lethal Company.

First Log — Aug 22

The logs reveal that Sigurd’s crew was hired in 1968, while the events of Lethal Company take place in 2500. If the game follows real life events, then Sigurd and his crew may have been the first to set foot on new Moons for the Company, with the Earth’s Moon landing taking place in 1969. The 500-plus year gap between Sigurd and the player is confirmed not only through the logs but by the manmade architecture on each Moon. Perhaps Sigurd and whoever followed created the Facilities to hold the monsters inside and deployed land mines and turrets to keep them from escaping?

The first pilot logs establish the story between Desmond and Sigurd, who used the Terminal to write journal entries to maintain their sanity while completing their contract. Sigurd describes the same task as the rest of the Company’s staff: To find scrap and sell it at the Company Building. The ship has a capacity of four people, and Sigurd’s crew includes Desmond, Jess, Richard, and himself. He designates himself as the pilot of the ship and frequently monitors his comrades while they complete scrap runs.

Smells here! — Aug 24

Sigurd complains about the smell and says he’s uncomfortable in the hazmat suit, mentioning that it feels very tight. My theory is that the hazmat suits are passed on between crew members and reused after they die without being cleaned. I think that after a crewmate dies on the job, their suit is removed and their corpse is transferred back to the Company via the Teleporter. In this log, Sigurd also wonders why the Company needs scrap at all.

Swing of things — Aug 27

Sigurd places his Walkie-talkie against the Company Building’s wall and turns it on. He hears screams on the other side and tells the rest of his crew, but they don’t believe him. Sigurd shines his flashlight into the hole of the Company Building’s front desk (where you sell scrap) out of curiosity, but the flashlight does not illuminate the building’s interior.

Golden Planet — Aug ??

Sigurd is later called by a mysterious person who tells him about a golden planet that was swallowed by a beast. While initially dismissed as a prank by Sigurd when he tells his crewmates, it’s revealed that the golden planet is known in folklore. The caller tells Sigurd that he is behind the “big wall” (Company Building). Although it isn’t confirmed, the planet appears to be made completely out of gold, and could be very valuable to the Company. This planet will likely appear in a future update, although we cannot be certain.

Shady — Aug 31

Sigurd rejoices that he’s the one safely watching his crew from behind a computer screen. But with his memory slowly fading away, he’s uncertain how many days have passed since the crew signed the Company’s contract on the ship without ever meeting an employee. Sigurd is worried he’ll forget how he got here in the first place.

He questions the ship’s autopilot mechanics and the job’s high pay when they are simply finding scrap and selling it on. I wonder if we’re still playing as Sigurd and his crew? Although we have been told that the date is 2500 and Sigurd’s logs place his crew in 1968, it’s possible the crew have completely lost who they were, and now only know their purpose as finding and selling scrap.

Sounds behind the wall — Sep 4

Desmond tells Sigurd that the Company Building is buying scrap at 120 percent. It’s uncertain, however, if players can experience this percentage for themselves in Lethal Company. Sigurd listens to the voices through the Company Building’s walls, which say they’re selling scrap for 120 percent. The screams this time are worse than before, but the crewmates don’t listen to Sigurd. Is he hallucinating?

One of the employee reports frequently mentioned in Lethal Company is “most paranoid employee.” Could it be that the screams are hallucinations, or is the Company trying to hide it? There is an easter egg under the Company Building accessible via the hatch leading underground. You’ll need to jump over the beams and pipes to get to the lower platform where you’ll find a device that looks like an iron lung. It appears to have two Apparatus slots and “Don’t Tell” written on it, but you cannot interact with it at the time of writing this article.

Goodbye — Sep 7

Richard decides to check one more room during a scrap run, and the crew suffers a loss for the first time in their employment. Richard’s tracker stops moving, and when Sigurd looks for him, he hears a snap, and sees the Flower Man inside the room. But Richard’s body is nowhere to be seen.

Sigurd doesn’t trust his own crewmates and called them “cowards” and blankless idiots. Richard’s death makes Sigurd lose his temper. He claims the job isn’t worth the risk given one of their crewmates just died.

Screams — Sep 13

Jess and Desmond are becoming paranoid and starting to fear the Company like Sigurd. Sigurd’s crew tells him to file a report on the accident they’ve just witnessed. The Company tell Sigurd they’ll let Richard’s family know about the loss, and that a new crewmate will arrive shortly. He wonders if the voice on the phone was even real and compares it to the “same fake voice” he heard during his interview for the job.

Sigurd takes Desmond and Jess to the Company Building and turns on his walkie-talkie to reveal the screams. Desmond and Jess hear them too this time. But are they just as paranoid as he is, so are they hallucinating too? Or are the screams real? You never hear screams when you try this in Lethal Company. Perhaps you’ll hear the screams too if you check your walkie-talkie while you’re the most paranoid employee.

Jess and Desmond want to quit, but continue working with Sigurd, who is determined to finish the job.

Idea — Sep 19

Desmond gets an idea to track the Company via the phone call about Richard. Apparently Desmond used the Terminal a lot. Maybe his logs will appear in a future update for Lethal Company?

Nonsense — Sep 27

A new crewmate joins the fold. Lucas is put on camera duty immediately. This moves Sigurd onto the scrap run team with Desmond and Jess. Desmond tells Sigurd to keep the “nonsense” to himself in hopes that it won’t scare Lucas, but it’s too late.

Desmond finds out that the calls came from across the solar system, implying the Company Building is a separate entity to the higher authorities. He wonders if there is a creature inside the Company Building that needs feeding to “keep it tame.”

Hiding — Sep 30

Sigurd dreams of the creature beyond the Company Building’s walls and describes it as “really big” and “fast.” His memories are completely gone at this point. All he remembers is finding and selling scrap for the Company. He cannot remember when he signed up for the job and how he got to the ship. He previously claimed to have signed the Company contract aboard the ship, but has since changed his mind, believing that he signed it at the Company Building instead.

Real Job — Oct 1

Sigurd talks about how his team continues to stick him with monitor duty. He feels this is because his team feels he’s gone “soft”, but Sigurd insists he’s not nearly as scared as the others. Immediately after saying this, however, Sigurd states that he definitely saw Richard walking around on the moon Vow.

The last part of this log actually offers a bit of information about the rest of the world within Lethal Company. Sigurd reminisces about a time when he worked for his father, and says he hopes his father isn’t staying on Titan. According to Jess, a war seems to be brewing on Titan. Missing his father, Sigurd finally says that the Company Building is shaking like an enormous furnace is inside of it every time they head there to make their quota. Sigurd admits that he stopped working for his father only because he wanted “a real job.”

Desmond — Oct 15

When approaching the end of his contract, he is unsure whether his crew will go home. With the log dates mixed up, the uncertainty of their own memories, and their fear of the Company, the crew continued to find and sell scrap until they completely lost themselves. Sigurd believes the job is meant to “keep the monsters fed,” suggesting the creatures behind the Company Building aren’t their employers, but monsters kept at bay by scrap.

He wishes all future employees a good day and night, and signs off his final log.