Coal LLC

About

Coal LLC is a single player role playing game. It was developed by Bye Bye Ocean and was released on September 11, 2025. It received very positive reviews from players.

Coal LLC is a quirky coal-mining management game where you dig deep, hire billions of employees, and upgrade equipment to meet daily coal quotas. Face an ever-changing underground world and challenging Hard Mode modifiers that test your survival skills across various professions. Race against time and corporate pressure to keep your operation running smoothly.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

91%

Audience ScoreBased on 531 reviews

gameplay13 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game is highly addictive and offers a satisfying gameplay loop that keeps players engaged for hours.
It features a variety of characters and maps, providing different playstyles and strategies to explore.
The developer is responsive and actively updates the game, adding new content and fixing bugs, which enhances the overall experience.

The game lacks permanent upgrades and meta progression, making it feel repetitive after a while.
Many players experience crashes and performance issues, especially in the late game, which can lead to lost progress.
The price point is considered high for the amount of content and depth offered, leading some to feel it should be cheaper.

gameplay
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
58%
8%
The gameplay is characterized by a compelling loop that combines survival and thriving elements, offering a satisfying experience for many players. However, some users find it repetitive and lacking in variety, leading to a sense of staleness after a while. While the mechanics are praised for their simplicity and addictiveness, concerns about the game's depth and value for money persist, with some feeling that the gameplay does not justify its price point.
- “I like the idea of the quota and having permadeath; it makes the gameplay have two loops: first surviving, then thriving.”
- “An incredibly satisfying gameplay loop that quickly grows into a real challenge, balancing your resources against a desire to just go deeper!”
- “The perfect amount of incremental gameplay balanced with meaningful choices.”
- “Gameplay quickly gets stale due to limited variety, and once you get a hang of mechanics (such as they are) it pretty much becomes a laggy idle game after a few (in-game) days.”
- “The gameplay loop is simple and sadly not really all that difficult.”
- “Thought I'd really enjoy it, but the gameplay loop was pretty boring (in my opinion) and I didn't like that you start from zero each map; maybe a persistent skill tree would have made it more fun, but starting from nothing each time rubbed me the wrong way.”
replayability
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
22%
17%
Overall, the game exhibits a mixed level of replayability, with many players praising its charm, diverse characters, and procedural maps that encourage multiple playthroughs. While some users note that the gameplay can become repetitive over time, others highlight the potential for hundreds of hours of enjoyment through various unlockables and updates. Ultimately, the replay value seems to depend on individual play styles and completionist tendencies.
- “I fully recommend it to anyone who likes quirky, little indie titles with unlimited charm and are infinitely replayable.”
- “Good replayability and active updates with new content.”
- “Different maps, different characters, and using different builds with each character on procedurally generated maps is a huge amount of replayability.”
- “Replay value is limited, but depending on your level of completionism, you could probably get between 20-40 hours of playtime.”
- “Good game, play cycle gets repetitive after you sink enough time into it, but there's definitely enough replay value here to more than get your money's worth out of it.”
- “It is what it is, some replayability, lag goes up eventually; unavoidable. Perhaps they can improve the code to 'consolidate' sprites and fuse them together as one of the unlockable skills 'minor fusion' where similar materials will clump together.”
graphics
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
53%
20%
The graphics of the game are characterized as simple and somewhat basic, often compared to MS Paint or cartoonish styles, yet they are clear and functional for gameplay. While some players find the visuals underwhelming, many appreciate the charming simplicity and attention to detail, noting that the engaging mechanics and overall playability more than compensate for the lack of visual complexity. Despite being nominated for "outstanding visuals," the consensus is that the game's appeal lies primarily in its gameplay rather than its graphics.
- “Nominated for the Steam Awards 'Outstanding Visuals' category.”
- “The developers' meticulous attention to detail in the graphics is also impressive.”
- “Very enjoyable, love the simple but cute graphics, and that it feels like a labor of love as you play.”
- “Games like this, Balatro, and Nubby’s Number Factory are like perfectly seasoned French fries: they are incredibly simple at their core, with only a handful of interactive mechanics, limited graphics and music, and very basic controls.”
- “Even though the graphics are very simple and it looks a bit MS Paint/cartoony, the actual mechanics are amazing.”
- “Very simple graphics.”
optimization
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
33%
25%
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while it runs well on platforms like the Steam Deck and has shown dedication to fixing performance issues, players report significant performance drops after extended play, particularly beyond day 15. Some users note that movement bugs and UI controls need improvement, and there are concerns about the underlying technology's limitations affecting overall optimization. Overall, while there are solid aspects, the game still requires balancing and further optimization to enhance the experience.
- “It’s fun to play on Steam Deck, but a couple of control and UI optimizations would be helpful.”
- “There wasn't anything I saw suggested that wasn't either done or at least worked on if it was realistic, and the dedication to trying to fix bugs and issues with performance (which really hits on those longer runs) showed how they genuinely care about this game and want to make it as fun as possible for the community.”
- “Runs great, well optimized.”
- “Performance does start to break down after a few million employees, but I mean, you're mining out anything you can reach at that point.”
- “However, the game's performance tanks after day 15.”
- “Poorly optimized (I know what it was made in isn't good at optimization).”
story
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
The story aspect of the game features a quest system that players find enjoyable but lacking in depth and utility, with many expressing frustration over the cumbersome reward mechanics and the need for more engaging characters and quests. While the quests themselves are fun, there is a call for improvements to make them more rewarding and less buggy. Overall, players desire a richer narrative experience with additional content to enhance their engagement.
- “The quests are very fun, but need more depth.”
- “More characters and possible quests would be awesome.”
- “A rudimentary quest system is in place, that gives you benefits of varying value.”
- “Either make the quests easier to turn in, or make the rewards worth the time.”
- “The upper quest givers seem buggy.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with some players finding it enjoyable and calming, while others criticize it for being repetitive or of poor quality. Overall, it complements the gameplay, which is described as challenging yet simple.
- “Music is quite enjoyable and the gameplay is perfectly challenging.”
- “The music is calming yet groovy and I'm already looking forward to whatever byebyeocean does next :)”
- “The sound/music design is good quality but gets a little repetitive.”
- “The music is atrocious.”
- “Games like this, Balatro, and Nubby’s Number Factory are like perfectly seasoned French fries: they are incredibly simple at their core, with only a handful of interactive mechanics, limited graphics and music, and very basic controls.”
grinding
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be enjoyable and engaging, with many new features enhancing the experience. However, some express frustration over the need for permanent upgrades and the tediousness of having to restart quests in a specific order, which can detract from the overall enjoyment.
- “It needs some kind of permanent upgrades, as once you fail to fulfill your quest, it's so tedious to play again from scratch.”
- “They force so many resets because you have to do them in a specific order, and it basically boils down to reaching day 15 on every class, then day 25 on a specific map with a specific class, and it's just too tedious for me.”
- “However, at that point I was farming 150 trillion coal a day.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is characterized by a self-aware, meta approach, where jokes are pushed to absurdity, creating a unique comedic experience. Players find it amusing and entertaining, often referencing popular content creators like dangerouslyfunny to highlight its comedic style. Overall, the game successfully blends humor with gameplay, making it a lighthearted experience.
- “An example of what happens when a joke is taken so far that it becomes funny again.”
- “Funny little game.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
67%
Overall, the game is well-optimized and runs smoothly; however, players have reported significant issues with NPC behavior, particularly on horizontal maps where mining NPCs can disrupt gameplay by digging down and damaging collectors, as well as bugs affecting quest givers.
- “Runs great, well optimized.”
- “The game maintains a steady frame rate, even during intense action sequences.”
- “I haven't experienced any crashes or bugs, which makes for a smooth gaming experience.”
- “NPCs are buggy, especially on the other maps. Horizontal maps are unplayable with mining NPCs as they'll just dig down and break your collectors.”
- “The upper quest givers seem buggy.”