Lobotomy Corporation

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines for products and services. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "Lobotomy Corporation" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Lobotomy Corporation" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Lobotomy Corporation
Developer(s)	Project Moon
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	April 9, 2018
Genre(s)	Management simulation

Lobotomy Corporation is a 2018 indie horror rogue-lite strategy management simulation video game developed and published by South Korean studio Project Moon for Microsoft Windows. Set in a futuristic dystopia, the game follows the management and operations of the titular energy company that harvests energy from strange and dangerous entities known as "Abnormalities".^[1][2] The premise of Lobotomy Corporation is inspired by the SCP Foundation, Warehouse 13, and The Cabin in the Woods.^[3][4]

Initially a standalone game, Lobotomy Corporation has become the basis for a connected series of video games, webcomics and web novels, including the direct sequel deck-building game Library of Ruina, and a connected installment, Limbus Company.^[5]

Lobotomy Corporation takes place over fifty in-game days, with the overall goal being to fully expand the Facility. Each day, the player must expand one of ten possible departments by completing a full workday, which is divided into two phases: preparation and management.

During the preparation phase, the player hires, trains, and customizes employees by using LOB points and equipping them with E.G.O. They can equip E.G.O., armors and weapons extracted from Abnormalities and can be assigned to different departments. LOB points are obtained at the end of each management workday.

Abnormalities are organized according to their energy output; in order from lowest to highest, the risk classes are ZAYIN, TETH, HE, WAW, and ALEPH. Starting from the second in-game day, new Abnormalities are randomly selected for the player to manage, with the difficulty of the Abnormalities increasing over time. Most have a value called the Qliphoth Counter, which starts at and must be kept above zero to prevent them from breaching containment or causing other undesirable effects. Each Abnormality has unique quirks and conditions which the player must discover by working with them in different ways, and may deal damage during the working process or when breaching.

The player is also tasked with completing missions for each Sephirot, additional challenges that reward permanent gameplay perks upon completion. Once all of a Sephirah's missions have been completed and a prerequisite point in the game is reached, they will undergo a "Sephirah Meltdown", which must be resolved through a process known as "Core Suppression". This involves completing days with additional challenges, such as work types being randomized, healing systems disabled, reduced employees' stats, or a boss battle against one of the Sephirot. Completing every Sephirot's Core Suppression is required to reach the game's true ending.

At any point during the workday, the player can reset to the beginning of the day, revert to a checkpoint, which is reached every 5 days starting with day 6, 11, 16, etc., or reset back to day 1. Doing so will not retain the facility expansion, employee training or Abnormality selection, but mission progress and rewards, extracted E.G.O. equipment, and unlocked Abnormality information will be retained. The player is expected to reset frequently to progress more efficiently with newly unlocked information and equipment from available Abnormalities, and the story cannot be completed in a single run without resetting.

Beneath an authoritarian dystopia known as the City, X starts his employment as the manager of the headquarters of the Lobotomy Corporation, an energy company that harvests energy from Abnormalities - unusual and dangerous objects and entities contained within the facility. The Corporation's employees oversee the process of "working" on Abnormalities to fill their daily energy quota while ensuring they do not attempt to escape. X views the Facility's operations through a monitor in their office and is assisted by his guide Angela, an advanced AI. As X unlocks and expands the Facility's departments, he meets the Sephirot, a team of 10 executives who oversee the Facility's different departments. X later receives a letter from A, the company's CEO, as well as messages from an individual known as B, warning him not to trust Angela before she seemingly murders them.

By completing Sephira Meltdowns respective to each of the 10 Sephirot, the player learns of Lobotomy Corporation's hidden past. X is an amnesiac A, Lobotomy Corporation's founder and CEO, with the facility's previous managers being incarnations of A in a repeating cycle. A, B, and C—real names Ayin, Benjamin, and Carmen—initially worked on the Seed of Light, a project which aimed to cure the "disease of the mind" affecting the City's people. The team developed Cogito, a substance extracted from the nervous system capable of physically manifesting the human mind, which became the source of Abnormalities. 8 of the Sephirot were employees Elijah, Gabriel, Michelle, Giovanni, Enoch, Lisa, Kali, and Daniel, who died from various traumas that carried onto their next life as Sephirot. Carmen committed suicide but failed; Ayin kept her body in cryostasis and extracted her alive-but-unconscious nervous system and used it as a Cogito source. The Head, the City's governing organization, sent elite agent Garion to attack the Seed of Light project, only for her to perish and be turned into a Sephirah herself, but not without nearly decimating the whole facility.

Ayin and Benjamin, who survived the attack, continued the project to carry out Carmen's vision and created Angela to fill her original role. Now known as Lobotomy Corporation, it entered its 50-day cyclical nature, with A losing his memory and becoming X, while Benjamin became the last of the Sephirot. The game's events were part of a script A created to be the perfect scenario, which would allow the Seed of Light to "germinate" and spread its Light across the City that would "cure" humanity. Within the Scenario, X must also resolve each Sephirah's trauma, which correlates to a virtue X must reach before Day 46.

From Day 46 onwards, X meets a different aspect of A on each day—Abel, who represents his domineering attitude; Abram, who is withdrawn and despondent; and Adam, who has a god complex—before meeting the original aspect of Ayin. On the 50th and final day, the Seed of Light is germinated and the Facility emerges from underground. The Light is released from the Facility and X's body is absorbed, breaking the cycle and allowing Ayin to complete his, Benjamin, and Carmen's original goal.

If the player has achieved 100% completion and unlocked all available Abnormality information, there is an additional scene in the ending. As part of the release of the Light, Angela and the Sephirot were to be decommissioned; the Sephirot, having been part of an endless cycle, accept their fate, but Angela, tired of being used as a tool by others, refuses and declares that she will steal the Light for herself. After three days of shining upon the City, the Light is snuffed out and darkness falls for four days. With the power of the Light, Angela states that she will choose to live and collect information about the City and its inhabitants. She then creates a library from the remains of the Lobotomy Corporation, setting up the events of Library of Ruina.

• X – The manager of the facility and the player character. Also known as The Manager.
• Ayin – One of the founding figures of the Lobotomy Corporation. Also known as A.
• Benjamin – One of the founding figures of the Lobotomy Corporation. Also known as B.
• Carmen (카르멘 Kaleumen) – One of the founders of the Lobotomy Corporation. Also known as C.
• Angela (앤젤라 Aenjella) – An artificial intelligence based on Carmen's personality and appearance who serves as X's guide.

• Malkuth (말쿠트 Malkuteu) – The Sephirah of the Control Team. She is diligent and energetic, and seeks to make herself appear competent and capable to the Manager. Before she became a Sephirah, she was known as Elijah.
• Yesod (예소드 Yesodeu) – The Sephirah of the Information Team. He is organized and seen as strict and fierce by those under his management. Before he became a Sephirah, he was known as Gabriel.
• Netzach (네짜흐 Nejjaheu) – The Sephirah of the Safety Team, a role he has practically given up on due to Lobotomy Corporation's disregard for safety. Before he became a Sephirah, he was known as Giovanni.
• Hod (호드 Hodeu) – The Sephirah of the Training Team, who is responsible for ensuring that employees are properly equipped to handle managing Abnormalities. Before she became a Sephirah, she was known as Michelle.
• Tiphereth (티페리트 Tipeliteu) – A girl and a boy who collectively form the Sephirah of the Central Command Team. Before they became a Sephirah, they were known as Enoch and Lisa.
• Gebura (게부라 Gebura) – The Sephirah of the Disciplinary Team, who is responsible for suppressing dangerous Abnormalities. She despises Abnormalities and cowards, and does not hesitate to use force to deal with problems. Before she became a Sephirah, she was known as Kali.
• Chesed (헤세드 Hesedeu) – The Sephirah of the Welfare Team. He is calm and well-mannered. Before he became a Sephirah, he was known as Daniel.
• Hokma (호크마 Hokeuma) – The Sephirah of the Records Team. He is unique among the Sephirot in that he displays an understanding of the cyclical nature of time within the Corporation and appears older than them. Before he became a Sephirah, he was Benjamin.
• Binah (비나 Bina) – The Sephirah of the Extraction Team, which is responsible for the procurement of Abnormalities and the creation of E.G.O. Before she became a Sephirah, she was known as Garion.

• Myo (묘 Myo) – The leader of Rabbit Team, a combat unit of R Corp, a private military company contracted to provide defense services to the Lobotomy Corporation.

A sequel, deck-building game Library of Ruina, was released for Windows and Xbox One in August 2021.^[6] It was positively received by critics, with Daniel Tack of Game Informer calling it enthralling and a sleeper title.^[7] Alice Bell of Rock Paper Shotgun called the game complicated, weird and terrifying.^[8] A third installment, dungeon role-playing game Limbus Company, was released in February 2023.^[5] A companion manhwa, Wonderlab, was serialized from March 2020 to April 2021, though it has been taken down by the artist and is no longer canon to the Project Moon universe.