Lobotomy Corporation: Useful Information for Beginners

This guide is not a total walkthrough, and will not be going over every specific detail of the game. This guide is aimed to be as spoiler-free as possible, while still making sure to cover most things.

That said, I plan to go over a lot of general use information that can easily be lost on a new player. This guide is going to assume you have at least played the tutorial and know those core basics.

Every time you beat a department mission (Those objectives you see in your upper right corner), you unlock a bonus for the game. Early on these can range from “Bonus movespeed” or even HUD Elements, and later on these extend to “Reduced cost on item extraction” for new weapons to “Increased maximum stats”. As such it’s always worthwhile (though, not always practical depending on your current facility) to do these missions to unlock new stuff.

One thing not readily explained, however, is after you beat every mission in a given department (Ex. All Control Team missions), you get the game’s equivalent of a boss fight. These aren’t traditional boss fights, however, but special days that change the rules of how the game actually plays. It will lay out the conditions for you (though not necessarily obviously), and these gimmicks can drastically increase the difficulty. Beating them unlocks bonus upgrades not mentioned in any contracts. These can range from employees starting with higher stats to equipment becoming unbreakable even if an employee dies. As such they are very much worth your time to do.

E.G.O. weapons and armor will have damage modifiers based on their rank versus the attacking and defending rank, and as such it may not be immediately obvious on how much this can matter.

For example, an HE wearing employee will take 80% damage from TETH anomalies, but 120% damage from ALEPH anomalies.

As such, even if the stats aren’t necessarily the best it’s always worth equiping stronger level equipment (So long as it doesn’t have negative bonuses against you)

Also, the resistances on armor are multipliers; Something with a stat of 0.5 takes half damage, while something with 2.0 takes double damage.

On that note; Most armors in the game take double damage from PALE damage. Pale damage, being MaxHP damage, can often be devastating to most employees, so bare this in mind if you ever have one of the few anomalies in your facility that can do it.

This game offers lots of time travel options, and the game’s definitely designed for you to take advantage of them.

First, “Reset This Day”. Most people are likely familiar with this, if you’re like me and do so as soon as 1 single employee dies. However, further advantages to take with this is simply meta-knowledge. For example if you have a new anomaly that might be giving you issues, you can unlock some information with it. Even if you reset this day you can personally memorize this information, even if it doesn’t remain unlocked inside its entry log. This can range from “Effective work types” to “Manager Tips” for controlling the anomaly.

“Reset This Day” has one major drawback, and it’s that anything unlocked does not remain unlocked (More on that in a moment). You are truly resetting the day back to the very beginning, forfeiting any spoils but also gaining back any losses.

Next are “Return to Memory Repository” and “First Day”:
“Return to Memory Repository” resets the in-game week (Back to day 1, 6, 11, etc.; whatever one was the most recent), while First Day resets back to, well, first day.

In either case there’s a few very important things with these;
1. You reset to any employees that were there on that day, including stats, location, etc.
2. Any abnormalities added are reset to what they were on this day.
3. All equipment gained and lost saves.
4. Any information unlocked remains unlocked.
5. All department unlocks and “boss fights” remain completed.

3-5 are especially important; This allows you to get some difficult to claim equipment (For example, from a hard to control ALEPH anomaly), as well as keep permanent research bonuses on certain anomalies, without having that specific anomaly in your facility anymore. However, this also comes at the inherent risk of any equipment lost is now permanently lost until you re-acquire it. This also lets you set up playthroughs to beat specific missions, but maintain that progress for future playthroughs.

Do keep in mind you have to beat a given day to maintain anything unlocked in that day. However, if you have anomalies that can be difficult to deal with, these are effective ways to correct it.

Without going too in-depth the game’s story explains how this all works so don’t feel like you have found something to cheese the game.

This game was very much made to beat across multiple playthroughs, and as such you should take advantage of that.

Anomalies can have a variety of traits that make them easier or harder to manage.

In general you can classify anomalies as 3 general classes;
1. Anomalies you can ignore no matter what
2. Anomalies that can be ignored unless a meltdown affects them
3. Anomalies that require active attention

For the first one, there’s a large amount of anomalies that even if you ignore them entirely, even during a meltdown, nothing will happen. This can be for a variety of reasons, ranging from they don’t attempt to break-out, to their powers only activate if somebody enters the room anyway. As such, if you have any emergencies that need tending to, these should merely become a spot to ignore so you can send people other places that require more attention.

For the second one, often these are anomalies that can break out, but the requirement to break out only will happen if an employee works with them in the first place. This can range either due to stats, or due to work results, among other things. As such, you can usually ignore use these as a place to lower priorities at any given time. However, do not ignore these; there are often things that attempt to break anomalies out, and these are usually their targets.

Finally, the final one are the ones that will give you the biggest headaches and often the biggest source of snowballing trouble in your facility.
These are anomalies that can break out due to some external factor, where even if you do nothing with them something can trigger their escape. These can range from time, to clerk deaths, to having certain other anomalies in your facility. These are ones you want to always keep an eye on and be ready to deal with in the event that something happens. If you know one might be breaking out soon, it can be worth having an attack squad ready wherever it might strike.

There are also anomalies to react to literally any mechanic in the game. I want to emphasize that I do mean literally any. For example, there are anomalies that react based on;
-Employee Level/Stats
-Whether or not employee is injured
-If an employee has worked with it or multiple anomalies
-Other anomalies that exist in the facility
-Time
-Clerk deaths
-Whether or not it’s on-screen
-Equipment employees have

As such, if there’s an anomaly you’re struggling to work with, look for any weird factors that could be playing a hand in it. Also make sure you look into Managerial Tips as soon as you can if possible.

Starting on the second tier of the facility, you get access to “Bullets”. Bullets give you special tools to directly assist your employees.

A brief rundown;
-The amount of bullets you have is based on how many days have progressed in your present playthrough
-Your bullet stock resets on each Meltdown (More information later)
-Bullets pierce every single employee that it lines up with (meaning if every single employee is in 1 spot, you hit them all)
-They cannot be used on employees in containment chambers

Beyond this, they can provide a variety of bonuses. This can range from defensive barriers to damage types (if you’re facing a specific type of enemy), restore HP/SP, execute employees that are dangerous to keep alive/clerks, slow panicking employees (or anomalies).

Because they reset every meltdown don’t hesitate to use them very generously. If you need to execute clerks to keep other anomalies contained, do so whenever it’s safe to expend the bullets.

That said, to be efficient always make sure you hit as many employees as possible per bullet as well.

As for which bullets you need, it depends on the anomalies you have;
If you need to deal with combat more often, HP and SP from Welfare is a solid call.
If you need stuff to keep anomalies contained, Disciplinary Department is probably your preferred choice.

A few additional notes about bullets that you can acquire:
-Shield Bullets have a time limit until they expire, as well as a set amount of damage they block. Because of this, don’t expect to just give everybody buffs far ahead of time.
-You can only have 1 Shield at a time, and you can’t stack them. You can reset them by re-shooting an employee though.
-Slow Bullets can affect both anomalies and employees. They don’t last long but for fast moving anomalies or panicking employees, it is an easy way to keep them in place for slower weapons.
-Execution Bullets on Clerks do not count as “Deaths” for anomalies affected by things dying in your facility.

Elevators are arguably one of your best tools in the game (the vertical chambers along the sides). There’s plenty of reasons for this;

1. Employees barely move in them. This is useful for gathering large groups into a single spot without having to worry about things getting spread out (In essence, better precision for employee management).
2. Because employees cluster up, it’s easy to use 1 bullet to give it’s effect to every employee in the room.
3. Elevators transition between large stretches of area quickly.
4. While moving between floors in an elevator, they are completely untouchable. Anything that could hit an employee that’s passing from one area to the next simple does not. This allows you to quickly avoid a lot of hits that would otherwise be undodgeable.
5. A Large amount of anomalies, especially ordeals, cannot enter elevators. Not to say they are impervious, but they are safer simply by being present there.

It is highly recommended you get familiar with these and what you can and cannot get away with. Some challenges almost require for you to take advantage of this.

While you can end a day as early as you have your energy quota, it is often ill-advised to do so. It doesn’t take long to hit that quota, but Employees can still gain Experience and Gifts.

To clarify, based on the work you send them for, they gain Experience in the respective stat, and Anomalies can give “gifts” on a % Chance any time an employee works with them.

For example; If they do “Instinct” (Red) work they gain “Fortitude” (Red) Experience at the end of day. This in turn levels up their stats without you spending any points in doing so. In fact, to get the highest stats, you can’t just use points to do so; only experience helps them reach that point. Working with higher class anomalies grants them more Experience as well, so it’s much more worth it to farm it off what the strongest you can safely get away with is.

By default, the max value in each stat is 100. You can gain upgrades later on to increase this, as well as employees with “Gifts” (random drops from anomalies) can go beyond these limits. Because of this, you often want to drag days out a bit longer than you might normally want to just to make sure employees are getting the Experience they need.

This helps avoid future headaches with employees not having high enough stats to deal with some anomalies, but also makes sure you’re prepared for any combat you have to deal with; a Stronger Employee is often worth more than 5 weaker ones.

As such it’s often much better to keep working long after quotas get met to make your employees as strong as possible. Just know your limits and what you can and can’t get away with. If things are looking like they are going to get dicey, you can often get away with ending the day still.

On similar notes;
Employees dying or going insane in the same room as others does a huge Sanity hit on anybody else in the room. Having a couple employees die in 1 room can easily send the whole room into unrepairable chaos. As such, a handful of elite well-equipped employees is often more valuable than a zerg-rush of mooks with low level equipment.

Also, having an employee only do 1 kind of work because that’s simply “Their best” often bottle necks an employee’s potential. It’s much better to get them to do a variety of work so long as they can get away with it. You want employees to work on every stat, and in turn you want them to work on every type of work.

Extra Note about Gifts:
Any employee has a % Chance to get it from anomalies; stronger anomalies have lower chances but their gifts are often amazing. However, once you receive a gift in a specific slot (For Example: Head 1), any other gifts of the same “Slot” (Ex. Another “Head 1”) can replace it; it is not permanent. During “Setup” at the start of a day, however, you can “Lock” a gift if you really like it to ensure it can’t get replaced.

Qliphoth Meltdowns:
The meltdown clock (in the upper left) only progresses each time you do 1 work (excluding tools). Because of this, you can manipulate it by getting it to 1 spot away before it changes, and then prepare for the upcoming challenge in advance. For example, Ordeals.

There is no “Good” Abnormalities:
There are some abnormalities where the negatives are outweighed by positives that it gives, but there is no abnormality, save for “One Sin and A Hundred Good Deeds” that has purely beneficial effects. If one seems to be positive, assume there’s a catch you simply do not know yet.

Fortune Favors the Bold:
For any challenge this game offers, there’s always a worthwhile reward. If something is giving you a headache, the prize from it is usually worth it. Often times it’s worth persevering. Whether it’s a tough to contain abnormality or a challenging mission.

Some Abnormalities Give Weapons on Surpression:
It may not be obvious, but if a tough to deal with abnormality doesn’t have a weapon shown as a drop, it’s quite possible you have to let it loose and re-surpress it to get its prize. NOTE: The same does NOT apply for Armor.

Days 41-45:
Due to how the “Boss Fights” work a department for it must be fully unlocked. Make sure that for the last 2 departments you don’t fully upgrade one or the other; if you do you’ll run out of days to upgrade the one you didn’t during days 36-40, and as such have to start a whole new playthrough to attempt it again.

Days 46-50:
If you don’t complete all missions, Day 45 is the final day.
If you do, Day 46-50 can be done. These are extremely challenging bonus days, so if you’re aiming for completion you will want to make sure you have your facility prepared for it. As I mentioned, you can abuse Time Travel to keep rewards to set yourself up as best as possible.

Employees are Expendable, Equipment is Not:
While it pains me to say this, employees tend to be less expendable than the equipment they wear. The 2 might be one and the same early on, but later days you will have to make choices on whether or not you’re okay with an employee dying, moreso due to what equipment they lost.