Moons of Madness

Moons of Madness is RockPocket Games' debut in horror games, although it is not the team's first work, which was a title with completely different atmosphere called Shiftlings. It is worth mentioning that the production was supported by institutions such as the Norwegian Film Institute (through a grant of 1.5 million Norwegian crowns, which is around 150 thousand dollars) and the Norwegian government, which allocated 500 thousand Norwegian crowns (about 50 thousand dollars) for its creation.

Story

In Moons of Madness, the player takes on the role of Shane Newehart, a member of the space expedition with Mars as its target. Initially, everything goes according to plan, and the first research facility, called Trailblazer Alpha, is established on the Red Planet. However, things gained momentum as mysterious cosmic forces inspired by the creations of H.P. Lovecraft's imagination, created for the purposes of Cthulhu Mythology, began to come into play. The protagonist began to fall into a gradual madness, ceasing to distinguish hallucinations and reality.

The prose of the Loner from Providence, as the famous writer used to be called, is not the only foundation on which the game's story is based. It is worth mentioning that the developers got acquainted with the results of research and experiments carried out by NASA and SpaceX in order to make the adventure as rooted in the real world as possible.

Mechanics

In Moons of Madness the action is seen from the first-person perspective, which intensifies the dense, thrilling atmosphere. During the game, we visit not only the surface of Mars (both on foot and at the helm of a rover) but also claustrophobic corridors straight from classic science fiction horrors.

During the game, the hero has to face not only external threats in the form of mysterious forces coming from the alien world (the danger awaits him at every step, also due to a shrinking supply of oxygen), but also his own fear. As mentioned earlier, the protagonist gradually slips into madness, the effects of which can be seen on the screen, e.g. when he temporarily loses awareness of the environment. Although Shane's mind projections seem to be detached from reality, they are closely linked to it, reflecting events from his past.

Technical aspects

Working on Moons of Madness, the devs used Unreal Engine 4, which enabled them to achieve high quality graphics and present the Red Planet in a realistic way.

Last updated on March 8, 2020