When out on Mars, you have oxygen levels to concern you. Even if you’re on the wrong track, Shane’s internal chatter will prod you in the right direction. These can take more thought but the information you need to solve them can be simple to suss out.

Logic puzzles do arrive to test your reasoning. Again, it helps instil a sense of momentum but doesn’t flex your brain too much. Puzzles spice up the walking with most of them having solutions very close by. Your radio team act as constant help and supervision and they are written well as colleagues that have spent time together.

In terms of gameplay, you explore the substation or the Mars surface in search of clues. There’s no opportunity for branching paths which do help funnel the player from beat to beat. Moons of Madness does have a very linear structure. It builds well, although the first act’s pacing felt somewhat laborious. There’s some obvious horror furrows but there’s some nice corporate sidetracks that make the final act a lot more interesting. Once it does, you’re given some decent sub-plots to sink your teeth into. You spend a lot of time exploring and reading terminals before the action real kicks off. The first act sort of plods before any real information is handed your way. Whilst I can’t knock it’s execution, I’m a bit sick of games retelling those kinds of tales. There are some heavy, heavy Lovecraftian elements coming from Moons of Madness‘ narrative. It’s familiar and, at times it left me feeling cold. Whilst investigating the local flora and fauna, things inevitably go sideways into catastrophe. You’re a member of a group of scientists who set up on Mars. Rock Pocket’s effort does at least attempt to provide intrigue of its own beyond the usual genre trappings. Now, forgive me if I’m a little worn out by the relatively recent influx of cosmic horror. Lovecraft’s work is an obvious example of this and Moons of Madness looks to take heavy inspiration from the Victorian horror writer. There’s an unknown quality to space that media loves to plunder and explore. Main PS4 / Reviews tagged cosmic horror / lovecraft / mars / moons of madness / rock pocket games / space / story-driven / walking simulator by Mike

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