Developed by Forust and published by Leoful, The Company Man offers players a challenging adventure as they take control of protagonist Jim and work their way up through a corrupt corporation. Each level presents new enemies and mechanics, making every section feel like a new adventure rather than a repetitive platformer process. As players reach new levels, they'll also unlock new ways to defeat their enemies.
The Company Man, which is more than a basic platformer game, starts out with Jim's first day of work, and he's determined to climb the corporate ladder all the way to the top. After a brief mishap, Jim finds himself demoted and thrown into the lowest department at the corporation, Customer Service. As Jim moves up through the company, he is faced with a diverse cast of enemies and bosses coupled with witty, amusing dialogue.
Jim starts out with a keyboard that can be used for melee attacks, and each new area awards players with a different ranged ability for completing the section. Cycling through ranged weapons is available at any time, and each one has different energy costs and damage stats. Each type of weapon also has a set range to reach enemies, and generally the more damage it does, the shorter the reach. Jumping and dashing through every level is a necessity and a game of balancing movement, all while defeating various enemies to reach the boss fight at the end of the section.
There are a total of seven levels for players to conquer in The Company Man, and each one has a challenging boss battle at the end. Each boss will have abilities based on their department. For example, the Customer Service boss uses a phone cord to whip Jim. Similar to games like Cuphead, players need to dodge and time their attacks precisely to defeat the bosses in The Company Man. Otherwise, any of the bosses can easily take Jim out.
Players can collect coins by defeating enemies and finding secret areas, and coins can be used to purchase upgrades in between levels. There are health, weapon, and special upgrades to purchase at the over-priced coffee shop. Players will likely need to complete some levels multiple times to unlock all of the costly upgrades available in The Company Man, but the purchasable upgrades are worth spending the time to get for later levels.
In each level, players have a finite amount of health, but there are a few checkpoints where Jim can heal by drinking coffee. However, the checkpoints usually come right after a difficult section of the game, and dying will Jim back to the previous checkpoint or the beginning of the level if he hasn't made it to the first one yet. This can make the game somewhat frustrating to deal with, but it's also part of what makes The Company Man interesting and fun.
The Company Man is an exciting platformer with no shortage of action and challenges. From enemies that shoot ice at Jim to customer service representatives that breathe fire, there's a good variety of adversaries to avoid or defeat before moving on to the next level. The Company Man is an immensely fun platformer reminiscent of old school games, but with a modern look at corporate corruption.
The Company Man is available today, January 21, 2022 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and is also available for PC. Screen Rant was provided a digital Nintendo Switch download code for the purpose of this review.