Full ReleasePC

SCP: Secret Laboratory

Northwood Studios · Horror, Shooter, Action

Overview

Deep within a secure underground facility, a sudden containment breach allows many of the secured anomalies to escape from their chambers. Assist the Foundation in re-securing the facility, help the Insurgency in their goal to capture it, or wreak havoc as an SCP in a frantic bid to escape.

Deep within one of the SCP Foundation’s emergency containment sites, a catastrophic containment breach leads to multiple SCP subjects being released from their cells. With containment compromised, facility personnel rush to evacuate while waiting for Mobile Task Forces to arrive and restore order, but with the Class-D population running amok in a desperate attempt to escape, along with the involvement of the Chaos Insurgency, the fate of Site-02 remains uncertain.

SCP: Secret Laboratory (SCP:SL) is a free-to-play multiplayer horror game where you must escape from fearsome entities, or fight to secure a facility under the control of the SCP Foundation, an organisation which seeks to secure and contain anomalous items and creatures in order to protect humanity. These objects, or SCPs, range from mundane-looking items with extraordinary effects, to horrific abominations capable of bypassing the most impenetrable containment methods the Foundation puts in place.

Throughout the game, you will witness the perspective of the 5 different human classes, each trying desperately to survive. These include:

Scientists: Foundation personnel caught in the midst of the chaos, they must work with Facility Guards and the Mobile Task Force while using their equipment and wits to escape.

Class-D Personnel: Prisoners and test subjects using the breach to their advantage, they start with nothing and will do anything it takes to escape from the Foundation.

Facility Guards: The woefully unequipped first responders who must help the Scientists escape, prevent the Class-D from escaping, and hold back the SCPs for as long as possible until the Mobile Task Force arrive.

Mobile Task Force: Specialised re-containment agents sent into containment breaches to restore order and eliminate threats, they are tasked with assisting in the evacuation of Scientists and taking down anything that poses a threat to the Foundation.

Chaos Insurgency: Soldiers of an unknown directive, who are ordered to attack major Foundation sites and terminate all Foundation personnel. They also aim to rescue Class-D Personnel in order to gather useful information from them.

Site-02 is a sprawling maze of different zones. Light Containment Zone, where Scientists and Class-D Personnel reside. Heavy Containment Zone, where the SCPs are contained. Entrance Zone, where Facility Guards are stationed, and Surface Zone, where the evacuation point is located, along with the insertion points for Mobile Task Forces and Chaos Insurgents. The site is prepared for these breaches, containing numerous emergency measures — from Tesla Gates able to electrocute anything caught in the blast, to emergency bulkheads able to temporarily hold back threats from a fleeing target, or even the on-site nuclear warhead capable of vaporising the entire underground section of the site.

Despite all the security precautions and safety measures, Site-02 is not impenetrable. Fight alongside and against other players in order to help the Foundation restore containment and order, sabotage the site as the Insurgency, or kill everyone as a SCP in a murderous rampage.

From the game's Steam store page.

THE GAMEQ VERDICT9,998 reviews analyzed

What players are actually saying

1. Summary

Reviewers treat SCP: Secret Laboratory, a free round-based multiplayer game set during a containment breach, first as a social game. The most common praise, in 18% of longer reviews, is for unscripted rounds that fall apart into comedy: betrayals at the elevator, D-Class bargaining with monsters, strangers screaming over proximity chat. Players add that it costs nothing and sells nothing, that voice chat carries the experience, and that the community servers (modded, roleplay, vanilla) let you find a crowd that suits you. The other players get both praise and complaints: some reviewers met lifelong friends, others describe lobbies full of slurs, sweats and screaming kids, and a few say both in the same breath.

Longtime players (15% of longer reviews) describe a game that has turned from a dark, goofy sandbox into a sweaty shooter with nerfed SCPs; a smaller part of that group singles out the brighter lighting and the lost sense of fear. Technical trouble comes up in 13%: poor frame rates even on strong PCs, crashes on launch or while joining a server, and lag spikes. Other complaints cover a steep learning curve with no real tutorial, long stretches spent dead and spectating, and kicks or bans on some servers.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

Unscripted, chaotic rounds that turn into comedyHigh

At 18% of longer reviews, this is the largest praise theme. Reviewers describe the game less as horror than as a machine for stories: a scientist who promises safe passage and then grenades the elevator, a D-Class who talks SCP-096 into leading him to an armory, a zombie horde chanting in unison, an impromptu radio show over the intercom. "Every round turns into a completely different disaster depending on the people you meet," one player writes. Several reviewers say they enjoy rounds they lose because the way they lost was funny. Players who want a tense, serious experience find the same chaos grating, which feeds the frustrations below.

Free, with nothing to buyMedium

9% of longer reviews bring up the price, mostly as a reason to try it: "there are NO microtransactions at all," as one put it. Players point out there is no battle pass, no cosmetics shop and no progression grind, and several say they would happily pay for it. The cost complaint that does come up is about hosting: reviewers say a private match with friends means renting a server (see the server-access item below).

Proximity voice chat carries the experienceMedium

Voice chat comes up in 7% of longer reviews, usually as the reason the game works at all. Begging an SCP for mercy, coordinating MTF pushes, SCP-939 replaying a dead player's voice to lure others, and intercom announcements to the whole facility all depend on it. Some reviewers tell newcomers to bring a mic; one wrote that "The microphone here is not just an option, but a necessity." A few reviewers with anxiety or no mic find it isolating that voice is the only real way to communicate, and the same channel carries the soundboard spam and abuse covered in the split section.

A wide choice of community serversMedium

6% of longer reviews talk about the server list: heavily modded chaos servers, roleplay servers with custom roles, regional and language-specific servers, and named favorites that reviewers recommend to each other. "Definitely would recommend modded servers over vanilla, especially if you're getting bored of the regular game physics and content," wrote one player. Moving servers is also how some players deal with a stale vanilla loop or a hostile lobby. Others warn that modded servers can be unbalanced and that a "modded" tag tells you little about what you are joining.

Best with a group of friendsLow

4% of longer reviews say it shines with friends, and some recommend gathering a big group on a private server. "Absolute blast with friends," as one short review sums it up. A few add that playing solo on public servers is harsher.

Every round is differentLow

A smaller group praises replayability: random role assignment, shifting facility layouts and different players mean no two rounds play the same. Some long-term players say that once you learn the layouts, the variety comes mostly from the people.

Where players are split

The other players are the best and worst partHigh

15% of longer reviews talk about the people, and they pull in opposite directions. Some describe friendly regulars, people who teach newcomers, and friendships made in lobbies. Others (9% of longer reviews) describe toxicity: slurs over voice chat, racism and homophobia, harassment of players who sound young or female, soundboard spam and trolls. A few reviewers hold both views at once: "You will find the most unfunny and rudest people in the game while also finding the most funny and nice people in the same match." The usual advice is to shop around until you find a server you like. Several players add that the game is not suitable for younger teens because of what they hear in voice chat.

SCP balanceMedium

7% of longer reviews argue about balance, and they disagree on which side is too strong. Longtime players say SCPs have been nerfed into "an inconvenience": most now need two or more hits, Hume Shield and juking let a single human outplay them, and items like the Micro H.I.D. and Jailbird let humans solo them. "Why am I supposed to outlive 049's touch?" asks one. Newer players and some veterans say the opposite: SCPs reach Light Containment within a minute and wipe unarmed D-Class, 079 and 096 dominate, and "Scp are way too op after so many reworks since parabellum." Specific items (SCP-127, SCP-3114, the candy) draw both praise and complaints. Both camps complain that late rounds often collapse into MTF against Chaos gunfights.

Updates: real polish, slow paceMedium

The update cycle comes up in 5% of longer reviews. Supporters say the free updates are high quality, the developers listen, and recent additions they name (the returning horror stingers, chase themes and the Heavy Containment overhaul) made the game better. Critics say major updates are slow and mostly rework existing systems: "there's been more reworks to existing mechanics that define the game's identity than there are actual content updates." Their requests are specific: new playable SCPs (some say the roster has barely grown in years), a Surface Zone rework, and an updated SCP-049 model. Reviews first written before mid-2025 complain about update direction far more often than newer ones.

What frustrates players

"It's not the game it used to be"High

The largest complaint, in 15% of longer reviews, comes from players who remember earlier versions. Their main point is that the game turned into a shooter: SCPs no longer one-shot, and gun reworks (attachments, recoil patterns) plus faster respawn waves made it, in some reviewers' words, a Call of Duty or Counter-Strike clone with monsters on the side. "The game has turned from a SCP game with guns, to a gun game with SCPS on the side," one wrote. A smaller group within this theme says the horror is gone too, pointing at brighter lighting and the removed horror cues; one summed it up as "See you in the dark, seen in the light, losing my identity, lost all my fright." They also blame the shift for a sweatier, more competitive player base and miss specific removed features such as the femur breaker and the old Heavy Containment layout. Some returning players disagree and say the current version is better; one called it "so much more polished and has much more play-style variety." Reviews written since mid-2025 raise the complaint far less often.

Poor optimization, crashes and lagHigh

13% of longer reviews report technical problems. Low or unstable frame rates on hardware that runs much heavier games well come up most; players cite drops when many players or bodies are on screen and say performance has worsened with graphical updates, leaving low-end PCs behind. "I am able to run silent hill 2 at max graphics and RTX ON better than this game," wrote one. Crashes are the second strand: the game failing at launch or on the photosensitivity screen, freezing PCs, or crashing at 90% while joining a server ("it stops at 90% and it crashes"). A smaller group reports rubber-banding and ping spikes on servers. A minority say it runs fine, even on modest laptops.

A steep learning curve with no real tutorialMedium

"Every single step of the way I was confused," wrote one new player. 7% of longer reviews describe being lost like this: no tutorial, a confusing randomized map, keycard and SCP-914 systems nobody explains, and text-heavy help screens. Some say it clicks after a few hours, especially if someone in voice chat helps. Their advice: watch a YouTube guide, follow an experienced player, and opt out of playing SCPs until you know the basics. Some add that experienced players mock newcomers, which makes the start harder.

Strict rules and surprise bansMedium

6% of longer reviews complain about getting kicked or banned. Some say servers act as "fun police," banning or kicking players over jokes, usernames, mild language or killing the wrong player, and that server rules are hard to know in advance. Others say the same servers leave slurs alone. A smaller group reports bans for cheating or for using a VPN that they say were false, with appeals rejected and the ban left showing on their Steam profile. A few praise well-run servers, which is part of why "find a good server" is the standard advice.

Dying early and spectatingMedium

"Alive for 5 seconds. Dead for 20 minutes," one review reads. 5% of longer reviews say too much time is spent dead: spawn as D-Class, get shot by a guard or caught by an SCP within a minute, then wait several minutes for the next respawn wave. Some note the respawn system can keep you out for most of a round, and a few ask for something to do while dead. Others accept it as part of the format and say the spectator chat is fun in its own right.

Getting into a serverLow

A small group (2% of longer reviews) says official servers cap at 25 players and fill fast, that there is no queue so players spam the join button ("DESPERATELY NEEDS A QUEUE SYSTEM FOR SERVERS"), that South-East Asia lacks servers, and that playing privately with friends means renting a server. A few first-time players never got into a match at all.

CheatersLow

About 2% of longer reviews mention aimbots, spinbots or wallhacks, mostly in public lobbies; one returning player found "3 spin botters with aimbot" in the first lobby joined. Others say cheaters are rare and get banned quickly.

3. The player conversation

Most of the reviews are one-liners, running jokes about specific SCPs and meme copypasta, and the tone is loud and jokey. The longer reviews read like war stories from individual rounds.

When a review was first written makes a clear difference. Reviews first written before mid-2025 and since revised are more negative (75% positive) than those written from June 2025 onward (88%), and they carry most of the complaints that the game was better before: among longer reviews, 24% of the older ones raise the game's changed direction against 10% of the newer ones. Several are multi-year edits that track a reviewer's falling enthusiasm, or a return to say the latest update won them back. Newer reviews focus elsewhere: the confusion of the first hours, performance on their PC, and what they hear in voice chat.

Toxicity comes up in older and newer reviews alike, and reviewers who raise it often warn each other and name servers to join or avoid. Several thumbs-down reviews about crashes say they would switch to positive as soon as the game launches for them.

4. What the developers could do

Make performance and stability the priority. 13% of longer reviews report low or unstable frame rates on capable hardware, launch crashes and crashes at 90% while joining, often after graphical updates, and some reviewers who like the game turn negative only because it will not run.
Slow the drift toward a pure shooter. The largest complaint (15% of longer reviews) is that the game became a gunfight with SCPs on the side; a smaller group asks for darker lighting options, more horror cues (they welcomed the returning stingers) and SCPs that feel lethal again.
Add a real tutorial or an offline practice mode. 7% of longer reviews describe being lost with no guidance, and several ask specifically for a solo or bot server to learn the map, the keycard and 914 systems and how each SCP plays.
Look again at false bans and make server rules easier to find. Players say they get kicked for jokes on some servers while others ignore slurs, and a small group reports cheating or VPN bans they call false, with rejected appeals and the ban showing on their profile.
Give dead players less waiting or more to do. 5% of longer reviews say early deaths followed by long respawn waits leave them spectating most of a round.
Spend more update time on new content than on reworks. Critics of the update cycle ask for new playable SCPs, the Surface Zone rework and updated models such as SCP-049 before further overhauls of existing systems.
Add a server queue and an easier way to play privately. Reviewers describe spamming the join button on full 25-player official servers, South-East Asian players say they lack servers, and new players are surprised that a private match with friends requires renting a server.
Keep pressure on cheaters in public lobbies. A small group reports aimbots and spinbots, sometimes several in one lobby, though others say bans come quickly.