The group hadn't ended the stream yet. After all the chaos, pain, and sheer adrenaline from playing Lethal Company, they sat there still buzzing with leftover tension, the horror fresh on their minds, and their chat still exploding with questions, clips, and praise.
Zane leaned forward, rubbing his hands together. "Alright... Before we end tonight, I wanna check something. Who made this game?"
"Oh, good idea," Vexxie said, stretching out and wincing. "I've gotta see who coded my internal organs exploding."
Luna giggled nervously, clearly still shaken but entertained. "Yeah. Whoever did this is either a genius or a maniac."
Brogan clicked open his Steam overlay. The others followed. Their screens showed the same minimalistic, creepy cover of Lethal Company on its game page, with the recent reviews at the bottom already racking up into the thousands.
"It's blowing up already," Zane muttered. "Look at this. Mostly Overwhelmingly Positive. That fast."
Luna squinted at the corner of the page. "Wait, there. Under Publisher... it says VeggieKen."
"VeggieKen?" Brogan read aloud. "That's... not a company name, is it?"
"No," Vexxie said immediately. "That's totally just a guy. Sounds like a gamertag or online alias."
[Twitch Chat]
"WHO IS VEGGIEKEN??"
"That's not a studio name lmao"
"This man needs to be protected at all costs."
"Give this dude a whole dev team immediately."
Zane clicked into the developer page. There wasn't much. Just a simple logo—an 8-bit carrot with a pair of pixelated sunglasses—and a short bio:
"I make weird games. Enjoy."
That was it.
"What the hell..." Zane said with a grin. "No studio credits. No dev logs. Just... one guy."
"And this game is insane," Luna added. "The AI, the environmental design, the mechanics... How could a solo dev pull this off?"
Vexxie scrolled through the user reviews. "People are saying the same thing. Look."
She read a few aloud:
"Best horror co-op ever. Can't believe one guy made this."
"The immersion, the AI behavior, the pacing... This is too good to be indie."
"Whoever VeggieKen is, I hope he's okay. Because he knows FEAR."
"This has to be a group using a single name," Brogan said, trying to sound rational. "No way just one dude made this. That's months of work. Maybe years."
"But it doesn't feel like a team," Luna said, thoughtfully. "There's something personal about it. Like... you can feel the choices. The tension. The design. It doesn't feel corporate or calculated. It feels handcrafted."
[Twitch Chat]
"You know it's good when the game has personality."
"I'm obsessed with how clean the mechanics are."
"He's literally carrying the horror genre on his back."
"Respect to VeggieKen. Man built an empire overnight."
Vexxie leaned in toward her camera, eyes wide with curiosity. "Okay, so if it is just one guy... where did he come from? How is there no hype? No trailer drops? No dev logs or early access buzz?"
"I didn't see any marketing," Zane agreed. "No ads. No influencer drops. It just appeared. I picked it because it was free, new, and the name sounded cool."
"And now we're here," Brogan said. "Mentally destroyed. Pain index bruised. Full of fear and praise."
The group laughed.
[Twitch Chat]
"Found this game through your stream. Downloading now."
"I hope the dev is watching this stream. He deserves all the love."
"When's the merch drop, VeggieKen??"
"He probably made this alone in his basement while sipping ramen."
Zane opened the dev profile again, staring at the little carrot icon. "VeggieKen... whoever you are, you've got something special here."
"I bet tomorrow every gaming channel is gonna be talking about this," Vexxie said.
"Dude probably doesn't even know yet," Brogan added. "He's gonna wake up and see a million downloads."
"He's gonna panic," Luna said, smirking. ""Wait, what do you mean 12 million people played my horror simulator?""
Everyone laughed again, and for a few moments, the mood lifted. The fear faded slightly, replaced by genuine admiration.
[Twitch Chat]
"This game was made with love. And a little hatred for humanity."
"Game of the millennium. No cap."
"If this was one guy, he needs to teach a masterclass."
"He made monsters remember us. That's not normal AI."
Zane finally leaned back and let out a long sigh. "Alright, team... I think that's it for tonight. We survived one of the scariest, coolest games I've ever played. Shout out to VeggieKen—wherever you are."
"Seriously," Luna echoed. "Thank you, VeggieKen. This was unforgettable."
Vexxie added, "And painful. Don't forget painful."
Brogan grinned. "The good kind, though."
The screen slowly faded to black as they ended the stream. But none of them left their chairs right away.
Because Lethal Company had done something no game had in years.
It had made them feel alive.