Rating
Moons of Madness
Moons of Madness throws the player into a unique, first person, psychological horror game, combining Lovecraft influence with hard sci-fi.
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Moons of Madness Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
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.
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.
Have you been checking out every new game that has the potential to spark joy similar to the original Dead Space game? It seems like I’ve spent the last decade chasing that dragon. When I first saw the trailer for Moons of Madness I thought, “Finally! This might be it!” Thinking about a Lovecraft-inspired horror game set on Mars got my adrenaline pumping. But would this adventure fill the hole in my heart? Let’s find out together.
Moons of Madness is a first-person, story-driven cosmic horror game where the scientific exploration of Mars meets the supernatural dread of Lovecraft.
I'm a big fan of science fiction and the works of H. P. Lovecraft, so when a game claims to be a Martian exploration game shrouded in a Lovecraftian cloak my
Moons of Madness is a first-person horror game that starts off strong with its Lovecraftian space vibes. The opening segment, while not delving into spoilers, invokes a sense of dread and set me up for an experience I thought would carry forward with its own momentum. Wow, I thought to myself, we’re already deep in the scary stuff! Can’t wait to unravel this plot.
It’s not that Moons of Madness is without merit, but it does come across as a game where the development team never quite reached creative cohesion and weren’t able to quite work out what they wanted to achieve with this game. From the butchering of Lovecraft’s vision, to a scenic structure that feels too disjointed for its own good, to the over-reliance on cheap horror tricks like jump scares in the absence of true narrative and thematic depth, Moons of Madness is just a little too confused for its own good. It’s an inoffensive way for sci-fi and horror fans to while away a few hours,…
Moons of Madness might have its tense moments and a couple of cheap jump scares that made me react to what was going on, but for the most part, it plays like a mostly well animated and passable adventure game. Lovecraftian only in name, it fails to instill a pervading sense of dread, as it never manages to make its monsters and cosmic threats actually feel implacable. No matter how many tentacles you add to a misshapen creature, if evading its slow walk only requires mildly sprinting on the only linear path ahead, that leaves little room for terror. Being an occasionally competent thriller onl...
Moons of Madness demonstrates adaptation mismanagement of Lovecraft’s method to leave you haunted by his story’s horrific implications.Eldritch horror has been making a comeback. While zombie outbreaks may remain the most popular in the horror [...]
Nothing about the Lovecraftian horror of Moons of Madness is outright terrible, but its slow, chore-heavy gameplay doesn’t conjure up a lot of reasons to forgive the fact that there’s just not a lot of incentive to visit its haunted corner of Mars. Although there are moments of cinematic flourish, the basic puzzles, insubstantial gameplay, confusing storylines, and a lack of genuine scares make it a hard sell. As it stands, you’re better off avoiding this Mars expedition.
While I’ve never dived into the actual works of H.P. Lovecraft, I’ve certainly played games inspired by them. Call of Cthulhu, and The Sinking City, for example, are both incredibly entertaining stories where the main protagonist eventually descends into madness, witnessing all sorts of horrific hal
I went into Moons of Madness hoping for a Lovecraftian story, and it delivered. It has that Lovecraft-inspired tone through and through, so if cosmic horror is your thing, you should be pleased with the way Moons of Madness develops. A few parts of the story feel a little disconnected from the rest–possibly because Moons of Madness is set in the same universe as the publisher’s MMO Secret World Legends–and I was disappointed in how similar the two endings were, but overall it was a dark, unsettling journey that hit all the Lovecraftian notes I went into the game hoping to see.