Moons of madness review12/30/2023 Your support enables us to continue to provide this type of content and more. If you want to contribute to our coverage of Chicago’s video game scene (and more) please consider becoming a patron. We are the only publication in Chicago that regularly reviews video games, and we cover lots of local Chicago-based events and more. If you like the video game, tabletop, or other technology content that Third Coast Review has to offer, consider donating to our Patreon. Moons of Madness is available now on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Windows. Still, if you like horror sci-fi, and if you’re a sucker for horror in space (like I am) Moons of Madness isn’t the worst way to spend your time. Moons of Madness is great for a single playthrough, but it won’t have any staying power-and it isn’t destined to be a classic. But instead it turns into a long game of catch-up as you listen to them experience everything interesting before you can get there, as if you were playing a multiplayer game with friends that wouldn’t let you catch up to see the story parts. It could have been a great moment to induce horror-to hear your crewmates suffer and die while you can’t save them, etc. There is an awful lot of “telling” and not showing, especially during a rushed feeling and horrible end sequence where you’re forced to catch up with some of your crew mates as they’re getting to the finale encounter before you. Not to get too spoiler-y, but you go from walking around a surface operation on Mars, to exploring vast underground facilities that the characters had no knowledge of-hidden right under their feet.Įven if the premise isn’t original, it’s potentially fun-but it just doesn’t pan out in a satisfying way. Still, when the veil is lifted, I couldn’t help but feel like my suspension of disbelief was lifted a bit too. Screenshot: Moons of Madness.Īppropriate for a game in the Secret World universe, there is a vast dark conspiracy to be discovered, but the conspiracy ends up feeling a bit far-fetched, especially given what we see before. While it presents a good mystery, it’s nothing that hasn’t been done dozens of times before. With such a narrative-forward game, you would expect Moons of Madness to elicit horror and intrigue with its story. It’s certainly interesting, and I’m a sucker for exploring abandoned/malfunctioning/horror-filled space stuff, but aside from a few cheap jump scares, my heart rate never increased. But with all the potential that was there, Moons of Madness never really feels that scary. The story doesn’t help, with its lackluster building of tension. Unfortunately, I felt the atmosphere in Moons of Madness was lacking. There are few creatures you encounter-a few robots, and a few tentacle creatures, but most of the horror is conveyed through the story telling and atmosphere. There are very few animated character models-something that Moons of Madness actually manages to hide pretty well. Most everything is accompanied by a high quality character animation from opening and closing doors on the rover that gets you around the surface of Mars to filling your O2 with oxygen tanks that are conveniently scattered around the various locations.ĭespite its great animations for your character, presentation lacks in general, with the voice acting being the worst offender. These satisfying mechanics are often accompanied by equally satisfying character animations. I’m always a sucker for mechanics that are tactilely satisfying, and this hits the mark. Most of them involve reorganizing equipment, flipping switches and pulling levers to produce the desired effects. The puzzles are satisfactory, even if they are not the most clever. Throughout the game you’ll have several objectives to complete-usually to compensate for the systems that are failing around the Mars bases. And while it technically meets the criteria of “walking simulator” you can think of it as more of a long-rom escape room. Moons of Madness is essentially a puzzle game with horror elements, driven forward by its story. I was okay with being thrust right into it, but after the beginning sequence is revealed to be a dream, I felt like the beginning reveal was a disservice to the slow build-up that follows. Moons of Madness throws you right into it-straight away the Mars habitat you occupy is converted into a writhing, tentacled mess with visions of ghostly crew members. Shane, and a few other crew members, are suffering from nightmares and ghastly visions. You play as Shane Newehart, an engineer for the Orochi Group, which seems like your typical evil corporation. Moons of Madness takes place on a Mars base that has been suffering complications for the previous few weeks.
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