TTRPG: The Company, Working (and dying) For the Man

John Baltisberger Reviews The Company by Mega Corp, but is the hard sci fi game worth punching a timeclock for?

“Inspired by ALIEN, Half-Life, and the works of Michael Crichton, The Company casts players as Employees of a multi-national corporation responding to industrial accidents and experiments gone wrong.”

One of my greatest joys is games and fiction books that look like corporate paperwork. I even published a fake college course catalog with Matthew Henshaw! When I saw this game, I knew it would tickle that fancy, and I was right. I enjoy corporate espionage and adore movies like ALIEN where capitalism has taken over the role of government and law. It always reminds me of Shadowrun.

The game consists of three books:

• The Manager’s Handbook, which details all the lore and mechanics for running the game as well as a small adventure
• The Employee’s Handbook explains the classes and how to play the game.
• Conflict Resolution Guidelines, which includes more lore, more options for “employees” and “managers,” and 6 separate “scenarios” for groups to play through.

Physical Product: 8

These books arrived in a small cardboard envelope, and as you can see from the picture, they are pretty small, thin, threadbare books. While this can annoy me sometimes, I have to admit the fact that these look and feel like an employee handbook you would get during training is a huge plus for this game.

Art: 5

The art is simple line art with interesting monster design. While the art isn’t all that breathtaking or notable, the design and layout are super clean and feel like it’s all done purposefully.

Writing/Editing: 9

The writing is sterile and clean, with no noticeable typos or grammatical errors that leapt out from the page. Stylistically and thematically, the books are written as though they are corporate manuals, which I really enjoyed.

World/Fiction: 7

• Design: The Manager’s Handbook has what little lore is written into the game for these books. And that is limited to a 1-page timeline for the company. That said, though, games like this that draw on a wide array of tropes from various media must keep things pretty vague in order to allow for greater player/GM agency.
• Originality: There isn’t a lot of new in The Company. We’ve seen these themes play out across 1000 movies, games, and stories. That said, The Company isn’t trying to be new; it’s giving you a way to engage in those sorts of stories.
• Fleshed out: There is no fleshing out of this game world outside of missions. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing from a gameplay perspective. It allows the players to really build not only the company and world but the setting from the ground up. And whether this is an ALIEN-esque Bio-nightmare or an SCP creep-fest, The Company has you covered.
• Engaging: The setting makes it extremely easy to build a world that suits your tastes, but it doesn’t do any of the heavy lifting for you. You’ll need to build the world, the setting, the reality, and its history mostly on your own, unless you grab the supplement.
• Mechanics: These remind me of MotherShip, and that isn’t a bad thing. The mechanics do NOT get in the way but don’t really enhance the gameplay or setting in any way.

However, when you add the third book, the supplemental Conflict Resolution Guidelines, things kick up in a big way. New rules, new classes, new options, a bunch of adventures … CRG really ups the ante and builds out the world in a huge way,

Overall: 8.1/10

Bottom Line: One key element of the game is that the players are grunts. They don’t get all the information and in fact will often have to choose between getting information, succeeding in their mission, or surviving. It allows for some very cool meaningful choices. The first two books are mostly mechanics and allow you to tell your own story; however, when you add the supplemental Conflict Resolution Guidelines, it ups everything in a huge way, building out the world and setting impressively. It’s a must have. A very highly recommended time!

Download The Company here: https://mega-corp.itch.io/

John Baltisberger loves TTRPGs and Kaiju. He is an author of speculative and genre fiction that often focuses on Jewish Elements. Through his writing, he has explored themes of mysticism, faith, sin, and personal responsibility. He lives in Austin, TX with his wife and his daughter.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.