What’s worse than being stranded on Mars in a malfunctioning research station? Being stranded on Mars in a malfunctioning research station… with monsters. This is the simple yet very effective premise of Moons of Madness, the sci-fi/Lovecraft-themed horror adventure from Rock Pocket games.
My recent demo at E3 2019 took me through what is essentially the first hour of Moons of Madness’s story, and did an excellent job proving two things:
- The team has done a great job blending these two distinct horror genres
- I am still a huge wimp when it comes to horror games.
You’ll play as Shane Newhart, Chief Engineer for the Invictus Mission – a topper-than-top secret mission to explore the potential for humanity to colonize Mars. The mission, funded by the corporate conglomerate Orochi Group (if that sounds familiar, it’s because Moons of Madness is set in the universe of Funcom’s The Secret World), is entirely privatized and wholly off the books – it seems that not even NASA’s top brass knows you’re up there. Learning this, by reading through various notes, emails and NDAs that Shane has signed, adds another welcome layer of anxiety-inducing world-building – if this goes south, no one is coming to help you.
Source: IGN.com Moons of Madness Strands You on Mars with Cthulhu Monsters and Horror