I love alien themes in games and games like Prey and Alien: Isolation proves that it really works to scare players. After playing through the 3-4 hour game, I wish they just picked a singular theme. Add in the idea of doing it in space and you really have a lot of material to work with. Whether it be the monsters, the memories of the hallucinations, the idea of reality not being what it seems is one of the easiest ways to offer some “out there” creativity. The idea of “is it real or is it just in my head” is the most common trope and leaves a lot of space for creativity. Losing your marbles is a common theme in all Lovecraftian games. Has something infiltrated the base or are you just losing your mind on the red sands of Mars? People are acting strange and you are beginning to see things that aren’t there. The greenhouse inexplicably floods and as you maneuver to fix it, you find weird things are growing through the facility. Finally, more supplies are headed in and your family doesn’t even know you’re off the planet when all of a sudden everything starts to get really bizarre. You play as Shane Newehart, a technician stationed on the Invictus One Mars. MOONS OF MADNESS was developed by Rock Pocket Games and published by Funcom. I couldn’t wait to explore the far reaches of the solar system and the mind with this game. Such is the case with MOONS OF MADNESS, which just finally hit consoles after being on PC since the end of 2019. Even though I do love those games, I like it when developers use the themes of Lovecraft but take them to new places…like Mars. Games like Call of Cthulhu and The Sinking City are a more literal representation of the stories of the Old Ones. From terminals to journals, Moons of Madness is full of reading material that sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t add to the world.There have been a lot of Lovecraftian-themed games in the last few years. Additional details of the Mars station story are piled on at the back end and through even more hours or written logs. The most compelling and cohesive narrative of Moons of Madness is the one associated with the Mars station and what occurs to it about halfway through the game. In addition, he is discovering details about the secrets of the Mars station and some of his fellow colleagues. His history starts to appear to him as hallucinations scattered throughout the story. As it progresses, the game starts to add plot lines from Shane’s past and his present. Moons of a MessĪt first, Moons of Madness seems to have a straightforward four- to five-hour plot. If only the story Moons of Madness told was not so intertwined with numerous plot threads. Even though the puzzles felt pointless, they really did place me on the surface of Mars. The only real enjoyment of these science-fiction activities was the interaction I had with the sleek futuristic designs of equipment. On the science-fiction side of things, I got really tired of calibrating solar panels, searching for power cells and rerouting power through nodes very quickly. Fetching orbs and locating where others were in the cosmic cave space was entertaining. The best puzzles were undoubtedly the ones that helmed from the Lovecraft genre. On the other hand, some of the puzzles are well thought out, and I had a genuinely fun time solving them. Most of these puzzles are tedious and fill the empty spaces with what feels like busywork. The majority of gameplay Moons of Madness brings to the table is through puzzles. Nevertheless, the excitement to explore was stifled with tedious tasks and puzzles.ĭeveloper: Rock Pocket Games / Publisher: Funcom Puzzle after Puzzle after Puzzle The station is exactly what I would expect to be on the Mars surface in a handful of years. Moons of Madness absolutely nails its environments. The more I walked around the station, the more I wanted to see. The station is brilliantly designed and pay homage to popular science fiction movies. Once Shane wakes up, he is able to explore the Mars station. However, the beginning sequence did set the standard for what would come later. The nightmare was exactly that, a nightmare. In an instant, this nightmare is ended by Shane waking up. A strange women’s voice can also be heard throughout the beginning of this nightmare that comes into play later on in the story. Shane wakes up to the Orochi Mars station covered in strange tentacles, and many of his coworkers gone. You take control of Shane Newheart, an engineer for the company Orochi. Moons of Madness starts strong before it becomes bogged down by the rising action. Developer: Rock Pocket Games / Publisher: Funcom The Start of a Hopeful Nightmare
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