![]() In relatively short order, you’ll go from realigning communication arrays to scrambling through ducts to escape a murderous plant monster, to solving puzzles in your childhood basement in a flashback. Overall, Moons of Madness does a good job of constantly presenting new scenarios and types of gameplay. These action set pieces are generally well-handled, although there are a few instances where the game resorts to clunky quick time events. The game also serves up its share of more intense moments, as you run for your life through crumbling terrain, scramble past writhing tentacles, and even do battle with a giant sentient tree. Make no mistake, Moons of Madness may take its time at points, but it’s no walking simulator or laid-back adventure game. The visuals are elevated by great sounds design – the game’s slithering and squelching noises are all appropriately disgusting. ![]() The game isn’t cutting edge in terms of tech, but it’s plenty moody, serving up a wealth of dark foreboding corners, desolate Martian landscapes, and some imposing late-game sights. During these quiet moments, you’ll notice Moons of Madness is really rather nice looking. Moons of Madness isn’t afraid to take a minute to breathe – you don’t even encounter your first enemy until about an hour and a half in. You make your way around the Martian base and a handful of other locations, sometimes venturing out onto the surface of the planet, where you solve puzzles, unlock doors, read documents, and get caught by the occasional jump scare. Moons of Madness sticks fairly closely to the standard survival horror template, albeit without any regular combat. Although maybe I’m just tired of playing Lovecraft games starring drunken detectives. Shane is just a regular Joe space engineer who gets plunged into some very freaky stuff, which arguably makes for a more relatable, absorbing story. Moons of Madness does do some nice little things to show Shane is unraveling as its story progresses – his hands begin to shake as he tries to operate certain instruments and he fumbles to open doors – but it doesn’t hit you over the head. Often Lovecraft games go a bit overboard with the misery and gloom, and I’m kind of glad the game didn’t portray Shane as mentally unstable or particularly damaged (I honestly don’t need to play another game with a “sanity meter” ever again). The tone takes a while to get used to, but.I didn’t hate it. ![]() Some shambling slime-covered monstrosity will jump out at him, and he’ll be temporarily startled, but minutes later he’ll be back to calmly solving puzzles and busting his coworkers’ balls. Even when shit really starts to go down, Shane more or less just rolls with the punches. While Shane rarely interacts with anybody in person, he’s constantly joking around and trading insults with other members of his team over the radio. You’d think everyone on Mars would be rather freaked out at this point, and yet Moons of Madness maintains an oddly jovial tone in its early hours. Everyone is being haunted by disturbing dreams, sightings of a mysterious being known as “The Witch” are on the rise, the base is falling apart, and certain crew members have isolated themselves as they work on mysterious projects. We're never clearly told what exactly this mission is, but that’s neither here nor there – what matters is that it’s not going well. ![]() Moons of Madness casts players as Shane Newehart, an engineer engaged in a secret mission on Mars on behalf of the shadowy Orochi Corporation.
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