Moons of Madness
A mysterious signal has been recorded coming from the red planet. The message confounded Orochi scientists. Their analysts broke it down and determined it was of intelligent origin. Orochi management immediately concluded that the discovery was too sensitive for public knowledge and moved to keep it hidden. In secret, the corporation began construction of Trailblazer Alpha, a state-of-the-art Mars research outpost designed to identify the true nature of the message. You are Shane Newehart, an engineer stationed at Trailblazer Alpha and your security clearance means you are completely unaware of the existence of the mysterious signal. Your job is simply to keep the lights on until the transport ship Cyrano arrives bringing with it a new team to take over your duties. Soon you discover strange and unusual setbacks. Crucial systems are malfunctioning, the greenhouse is filled with a strange mist and the rest of your team has yet to return from their EVA mission. Things are starting to fall apart. You begin seeing and hearing things that aren’t there. Visions, hallucinations – or is that even what it is? Is this real… or are you slowly descending into madness?
Game Discussion
Steam User 13
It's okay. Has a wallpaper worthy ending sequence.
The gameplay is okay'ish. Very easy puzzles. Solutions that are right near you.
There are almost no false leads. You see a puzzle and have a solution.
A few jumpscares that are very obvious. The game is not really a horror game in that sense that it's just not scary at all.
The game has clearly taken inspiration from Half-Lifes canal sequence and the FallOut dream sequence.
The graphics are okay. Good enough for today's standard. Performance wise I couldn't complain either.
The game has a problem where it keeps leading you through hallways and doors without giving you incentive to explore the rooms between. For instance, there were two sequences were I arrived at a new place with a building I just had to completely rush through to get to the center never really having to look at rooms. I would have appreciated if the game had given me more time to explore the ancient ruins on Mars but that mission was over shortly after it started. You were in and out in a flash only having to finish something in the center and then ran out because of it collapsing. Same can be said about parts of the secret complex.
Another point is that it has a lot of downtimes and build ups for nothing BUT ultimately the final get-away. The missions don't deviate from the structure of 10 to 20 minutes of build up for a very short 2-3 seconds encounter with a monster that seemingly is there to just look cool and say hello. One time you have to wait half a minute for an elevator and the monster is right behind you but the plot armor of the main character is so thick that the monster is forced to walk in slow-motion even though it could clearly just eat you before the elevator arrived.
If you need a space adventure I can recommend this but it's not something you haven't seen yet or tries something new. Risks weren't taken and it becomes a slog really fast.
And finally, while this game has no combat sometimes there are enemies which can grab you from 5 meters away. It looks like teleportation when they do. It's also kinda bugged. I assume it is supposed to kill you instantly so you have to reload a checkpoint but it doesn't finish you off right away, lets you go but then grabs you again from 5 meters away before the screen turns black. The game has one or two quicktime events and I wonder why they didn't use that system for when you are getting grabbed. It would have given the encounters a bit more depth.
I would rate the game to be worth around 10-15€ not 25€.
Steam User 9
This game is an absolute masterpiece. Puzzles, mystery, cinematic events, sci-fi and space exploration. Highly recommended and kudos to all who worked on the game.
Steam User 6
Solid game, enjoyed it. Would have liked the game to be longer, But had no issues with the story line.
Some improvement needed, maybe make a second one, or just another Lovecraft style game.
Steam User 9
I wanted Moons of Madness when it first launched but I had to buy a new PC so sadly, I had to miss out on on. Recently, I'm sure, it was part of a Humble Bundle and I picked it up instantly.
I am a huge fan of HP Lovecraft's work, anything supernatural and in general SPACE. So I was really excited to finally be able to sit down and just relax on a game that didn't need you to be "MLG PRO LEAGUE" worthy.
Below I will mention what I liked or disliked with a little opinion at the bottom but before I get into that, a small disclaimer!!
This review is MY opinion, MY own personal experience and MY thoughts. I am brutally honest when it comes to reviewing games. If you do not like my opinion, my time or respect my personal experience, please move on.
A quick Pros+ & Cons-
+First of all, the game's Psychological Horror aspect was spot on. They don't use "cheap" jumpscares to get their kicks out of you and I thought it was true to a Lovecraftian type horror based game (specially if you think CULTIST like)
+The story and writing was very well done also. It kept me interested from start to finish.
+ I had no issues running the game at all. No FPS drops, freezing, stuttering e.t.c. So What I am saying is - it is well optimised (for me anyway on a high end PC)
+ Fantastic soundtrack. Especially at the end! (not gonna spoil anything)
- The game, IMO, needed more puzzles. More things to interact with in general. For the most part it was just your tasks you interacted with.
- The part with the "robots" could have been done better. More interactions with them or something more with them as it felt like I just rushed through this area.
- The runtime of the game does NOT justify the price of Moons of Madness. I completed it in 4 hours flat. For £21 I would have expected about a 10 hour game but not 4 hours. I quit at the credits and pressed resume to get the other ending.
- Puzzles seemed way to simple to solve as the game GUIDED you to everything.
- Lack of exploration of any type.
- Way to much "WALKING SIMULATOR" and not enough actual game, for me anyway.
My Verdict
After finally playing it to 100% after almost 5 years, I have to say - I enjoyed it. Really, I did. Despite it's short runtime (for me as puzzles were to easy) the price of £21 is WAY to steep to attract customers but as of right now - 16/09/24 the game is on sale for £8.39 which is an absolute STEAL and if you wait for Humble Bundle or another websites bundles to be released you could even get it for £1 - like me!! (if you think about the games included in HB)
I would recommend the game on sale but not when it is full price sadly. Overall experience - I wanted more when it was finished.
7/10! Wait for a heavy sale as 4 hours of playtime is not worth £21 but the game is rather enjoyable
Steam User 3
Cool game. Very immersive and fun to play. The jump scares are kind of lame and its super short but what's there is well done. Good lovecraft in space story.
Steam User 6
This was better than I expected. I picked this one up on sale, and at around 6 hours, it's short enough to keep you interested but long enough that I wasn't disappointed. I'm a big fan of Lovecraft and space-horror, so this was the best of both worlds. You may end up confused if you don't read the various terminal entries, but otherwise the story is a nice mix of space horror and cosmic horror. Well done!
Steam User 6
Should preface by saying that I only paid 10 Australian dollars for it when on sale, and would suggest the same to others, get it on sale.
The beginning and end were strong, it was interesting exploring the Martian outpost, seeing the beginnings of a massive problem forming. The build-up to the scary part becoming 'real' was strong, which for a horror game I always like. Gameplay wise, there isn't much challenge, you go around doing your duties as a technician for a Martian outpost. Early on it is okay as it is building the atmosphere that is in my view, excusable.
Eventually, things go wrong in the cosmic horror sense. Which is when you reach the more "actiony" parts of the game. I'm still not sure if it could be classified as a walking sim or survival horror game. It really isn't difficult when threats are present and chasing you, but it isn't often that you have a threat of something hunting you down. It really only occurs in short sequences which are specific set pieces. All it really requires is that you sprint away in the linear route that is provided and then you're safe, which is usually leaving a room or the general location. Once safe, you're back to traversing to the next location, and as far as I could tell nothing will be hunting you. So to me, it primarily is a walking sim, with a few sequences you could fail.
In terms of Lovecraft theming, it was mostly good. As I mentioned, the build up to the threats appearing was good. Discovering the impact "it" had on your coworkers was engaging. The setting fit well, and there is one location that I thought was fantastic. The actual encounters with the monsters was for the most part, good. Earlier on it was better, though that was primarily before I knew how the chase sequences worked. Quite quickly I learnt the enemies were no real threat, saying that, I still did like most of the enemies and their designs. Not the robots, they were dumb.
My biggest issue was the secret facility. Which I'll try to avoid spoiling too much, but in essence you discover a big secret corporate facility part way through the game.
I really didn't enjoy this sequence, I suppose I could see the point of it, but to me it really just did not fit. Had they removed this facility and expanded on the massive ancient ruins you also discover, then that would've been better. Especially as the ruins were really interesting but incredibly short.
A minor issue of note, was the main character, he had a bad case of narrating almost everything that he did and saw. I can see things myself, and internalise what I am doing myself. Though I am biased, I hate voiced main characters generally.