TooManyEmotes

Despite the wide array of advantages such as higher budgets and better marketing campaigns that most AAA titles benefit from, a case can be made for many indie games that start as and remain passion projects created solely for players’ enjoyment.

One particularly successful example is Lethal Company, a title released by a solo developer that garnered enough attention and sparked so many fun moments in video compilations across the net to warrant its 2023 Steam Award and sizable collection of mods the likes of TooManyEmotes.

When it comes to replayability, studios usually employ randomly-generated level design mechanics that ensure a new, fresh experience each time a chapter is started or mod support, which lets the community create modular tailor-made add-ons that better cater to the exact needs of the player base.

Luckily, Lethal Company managed to incorporate both pivotal elements that enhance the play-through. Each time players land the ship on the selected moon, the interior structure of the industrial sector changes to avoid potentially repetitive expeditions.

Unlike some other industry trends set by genres such as extraction shooters, this title puts more emphasis on the journey instead of the end goal. By default, players are given two first-person emotes to execute as a more expressive interaction method — dancing and finger-pointing.

Through TooManyEmotes, users can use the credits gained through reaching the quota imposed by the Company to purchase extra animations through the terminal-powered store, before executing them via the radial menu encompassing 200 items to help you find an appropriate reaction for any scenario.

As fun and expressive as the taunts are on their own, TooManyEmotes can also come in handy in other ways. Since the idle animations are not very energetic and jumping consumes stamina, players can execute any of the fluid emotes through the fog or darkness to alert fellow teammates of their presence.