MY RATING: ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✘ 7 / 10 Lovecraftian Mars horror without scares or: puzzle fun instead of cosmic horror In the role of engineer Shane Newehart, we are responsible for maintaining the Trailblaizer Alpha Station on the red planet. Shane is plagued by terrible visions and nightmares, which create a dark and engaging atmosphere right from the start of the game. The entire space station is riddled with dark tentacles and hideous growths and ... ... then we wake up from the nightmare ... Immediately after waking up, we notice the detailed furnished quarters. We learn something about us and the history of the game in which we can read various notes, look at objects and explore the impressive station. With an arm scanner that we find while exploring the station, we can now scan the environment, show us the route to the next destination and even hack surveillance cameras or other devices later in the game. Right from the start, the first orders await us where, for example, we have to re-supply the station with electricity, align a solar panel or repair a satellite system. But there is still no sign of other colleagues and there are tons of locked doors. But in our absence, the result of a secret science project has spread to the space station and the hallucinations are becoming more intense, increasing in frequency and a mysterious witch seems to be terrorizing the space station. Reality can hardly be distinguished from reality and the references to horror stories by H.P. Lovecraft can be seen more and more clearly... First-person exploration puzzle walking simulator survival horror game And from then on we run, sneak or escape from “dark figures”, are surprised by the obligatory jump scares, hide, talk to ourselves, solve various puzzles and delve deeper and deeper into the disturbing story of the game. Despite the occasional escape passages, Moons of Madness is not really a full-fledged action adventure but rather a manageable horror adventure. You are alone on the Mars station, reading computer logs, looking for key cards, “fighting” with plant research or making short trips to the surface of Mars. And to do this, we put on a helmet in the airlock, supply ourselves with oxygen and can then drive our Mars mobile to a wide variety of locations outside the research station. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3117582190&tscn=1703068390 Unfortunately, we can't drive ourselves and our job here is simply to start the vehicle. The game manages to build and capture an oppressive atmosphere, and in places it may even be reminiscent of Layers of Fear, Soma, Alien: Isolation and perhaps others. But there is no action-packed fight for survival apart from the run-away passages in Moons of Madness. Shane can't shoot or hit and if you get caught, Shane is quickly killed. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3117582223&tscn=1703068384 Moons of Madness is somewhere between a walking simulator and an adventure and is therefore quite credible when it comes to the everyday life of an astronaut and perfectly captures the feeling of working on a Mars station and fortunately the developers have decided to change the process to make the second half of the game much more varied. The stories become darker and even if the “Cthulu mysticism” portion looks quite random and jumbled together, it motivates you to keep playing. A weakness of the game is clearly that it is never really scary or frightening. Apart from a few shocking moments, nothing really threatening happens to Shane, so there's no real fear for his character's life. Exploring within the station is a linear process of achieving small goals and so the game remains a well-told adventure that makes up for the slow start in the second half with Lovecraftian mysticism. Moons of Madness is relatively classic with scripted jump scares, but you are quite entertained and the alternation between story, puzzles and the shocking moments is quite balanced. However, in my opinion there are too many chases in the game and generally not enough variety in the gameplay. Visually, the game looks really great. A small drawback for me is that you can't freely assign your keys again. Of course this isn't an issue for most people, but for people who don't play with the standard controls, it's always a bit annoying and sometimes a bit fiddly. The controls themselves are sometimes a bit fiddly and can be a bit annoying. The game saves automatically, but the save points are sometimes quite far apart and depending on the QTE or collecting and crafting tasks, the death of Shane can mean that you have to do the puzzle tasks you have just solved again. In places the atmosphere also suffers from the fluctuating graphics quality. Some important things are simply worse designed than others. While the interiors are beautiful and detailed, some monsters, caves, or dream sequences, with their poor textures, look worse and less threatening than they could and should be. Unfortunately, the tentacles sometimes look more like misshapen, thick tree roots. Despite all this, as the plot continues, the developers manage to tell an interesting story that makes you want to keep playing and find out what happens next. Moons of Madness isn't a bad game, but it's not really a good one either. It's a shame that so much potential was wasted here. If you like “horror” games or are a Lovecraft fan, you should still definitely take a look at Moons of Madness, because the great potential of the game flashes every now and then and you can play the game for around 6-10 hours (depending on how often you die or explores the levels). But wait for a sale or another good offer before you grab it. There are trading cards and achievements for the game. You get almost all of these Achievements automatically when you play through the game. There is, however, a missable achievement, but you get it if you do something in the game that you logically wouldn't do otherwise. MY PROS AND CONS: ✔ good mix of story, puzzles and horror moments ✔ detailed interiors ✔ appealing (tricky) puzzles ✔ Puzzle complexity increases ✔ appropriate soundscape ✔ great astronaut flair ✔ optional details on the edge ✔ interesting side stories ✘ some weak textures ✘ boring monster design ✘ too linear ✘ some bad checkpoints ✘ undemanding QTE ✘ Bugs and design errors ✘ Shock moments predictable ✘no real side tasks or side quests Review Date: December 20, 2023 PLAYED WITH: ⌨️ 🖱 🎧 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42616051/] ⮩ VISIT ME IN MY LITTLE WORLD https://store.steampowered.com/app/1012840/
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