Moons of Madness Reviews
Moons of Madness is a pleasant and very beautiful adventure with nice puzzles and a well-written story, which includes references to the films "The Martian" or "Prometheus", and the legacy of the cult author. It is a pity that the oppressive atmosphere of sticky nightmare and horror failed because of not impressive monsters. Otherwise, if you are a fan of this format of games, it is definitely worth a try.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Moons of Madness is an okay horror game couched within a super science fiction game. While this identity crisis may be a bit off-putting (and there are a few sections of the game that make you wish it would just get on with it), there is some fun to be had with the nice visuals, great writing, and solid puzzles. If there weren't so much Cthulhu, this would have been an even better game.
Moons of Madness is an engaging and atmospheric effort that feels like a Love(craftian) child of Half-Life and Dead Space. You'll be playing more for the cerebral rewards than the scares, though. Despite its seamless merger of cosmic horror and credible sci-fi, the game doesn't quite match its potential in the consistent emotional intensity of its execution. Plus, the ending feels rushed.
Still, there is a lot here to recommend. Moons of Madness delivers, and like the best horror experiences doesn’t outstay its welcome, or let you become too comfortable with your surroundings.
A Lovecraftian horror title, Moons of Madness, is tense, and at times genuinely frightening. It does focus a bit too much on basic puzzle-solving. I did enjoy the stunningly haunting and interactive environments that you find yourself in. What other game allows you to escape from Lovecraftian cosmic horrors, and then proceed to pick up and fill a mug with coffee?
There really isn't much to say about the Moons of Madness. While it poses itself as a big horror game and that there is a lot to be excited for, it never quite builds off the initial hook. Often times you're stuck dealing with boring scenes that pad gameplay and do such a good job of keeping you guessing, you forget why you were interested, to begin with. For some, it will still be great but for many, it just isn't worth it.
Moons of Madness delivers an intriguing and terrorizing story of Shane Newehart stranded in Mars, where he walks on a thin line between reality and fiction. Once you overlook its shortcomings, the game makes a solid case for itself as one of the best Lovecraftian titles.
While very linear and completely devoid of replayability, Moons of Madness scratches that Lovecraft itch, melding science fiction and horror together extremely well.
Moons of Madness tries to fit in a genre of experience games like Everybody's Gone to Rapture or What happened to Edith Finch. The potential is there because of the sci-fi setting and the Lovecraftian tale. Unfortunately, Rock Pocket Games did not have the courage to let go of your hand and leave you to explore and discover the world for yourself. They wanted to control the narrative too tightly and also felt the need to introduce some superfluous gameplay elements. As a result Moons of Madness feels like it's trying too hard and trips itself.
As a fan of horror games I would recommend you play Moons of Madness at some point if you enjoy the genre.
Even if the puzzle density and technical issues may drive you to madness, this cosmic horror still has something unique to offer.
The problem with all puzzle games is that they are almost always a single-play through experience, so that initial run has to be the memorable one. Moons of Madness has some jump scares and other surprises, but its biggest draw might be that it takes Lovecraftian elements into a wholly new environment and replaces combat with exploration, puzzles and a slow-growing sense of confusion and dread.
Moons of Madness brings us Lovecraftian terror on Mars, a curious combination that works very well, and that will delight fans of the genre. The first-person adventure lacks exploration and is forced to a linearity that will subtract tension from the action, something unhealthy for a horror game. In spite of this we will live some moments of nightmare, a good story, and a very well achieved atmosphere that will invite us to continue until the end.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
In the end, Moons of Madness was an interesting game that certainly fed my psychological horror hunger. The game was great at building chilling atmospheres that play with the themes of isolation and paranoia, but small changes to some of the game mechanics would have made this game even better.
The console version of Moons of Madness is not on par with the PC ones on the technical side of things, but it remains a solid narrative based adventure to enjoy.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Lovecraftian narrative and setting of Moons of Madness have tremendous potential that, unfortunately, is not accompanied by gameplay to match.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
At the end of the day, if you feel like getting startled and wandering around a horror atmosphere for a few hours, Moons of Madness will serve adequately. The visuals and sounds are well crafted and immersive. Just be aware that the game itself is mainly a walking simulator with a B-movie plot and some minigame puzzles mixed in.
In this regard the horror aspects of Moons of Madness lie squarely within the realm of forces outside of both human control and understanding.
I'm not one of those people who wants to jet off into space and attempt to colonize or explore another planet. I've seen the Alien movies. Moons of Madness promised a fictitious version of Mars from the comfort of home, with all of the suspense and jump-scares a girl could want, but unfortunately fails to deliver. As much as I wanted this horror fantasy, I can't bring myself to go back to Mars. My patience has worn thin. Every time I hover over the graphic on my PS4 I audibly groan. Perhaps I'll find the energy to return to it at some point, but much like the game itself, I'm not in a rush.
Moons of Madness promises a lot but only delivers a rather intriguingly beautiful yet trudging cosmic horror title which is ultimately a disappointingly forgettable experience. With just 8 or so hours of gameplay, it somehow feels incredibly short yet overly drawn out due to woefully slow pacing.