This is a Moons of Madness article. Here you will learn all about what we know of this upcoming survival horror game.
What we know so far.
In 2016, Rock Pocket Games announced Moons of Madness, releasing a trailer back then that was mostly a teaser to rile up fans. By then we only knew a few things about the game: it was a psychological / survival horror game, and it involved the works and genre of the great literary author, Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
A year later, we now know a lot of other things. Through devblogs on the Moons of Madness site, we’ve learned a lot about this upcoming survival horror game.
Personally, I’m very thrilled to even talk about this, much more cover it (hopefully). I am a massive fan of the cosmic horror genre, and I hope more games come out bearing this.
For now, we can settle with games like Conarium and this aforementioned video game.
What is Moons of Madness?
Developed by the european company, Rocket Pocket Games, MoM is a psychological horror video game to be released on the PC, Xbox One, and PS4 around Q1 2018.
MoM is a lovecraftian and psychological horror video game centered around Shane Newehart, an astronaut stationed on Trailblazer Alpha, the first scientific outpost on the planet Mars.
According to the developer blogs, players can expect an “intense, narrative-driven, psychological horror experience.” You and I will get to explore a very realistic version of Mars while delving deep into the troubled mind of our protagonist, as well as incomprehensible, alien terrors that exist outside his fragile senses.
Hard Science Fiction
As said in the title, Moons of Madness is The Martian meets Cosmic Horror. We all know that Andy Weir’s amazing sci-fi novel had a very grounded approach when it came to the details and the story, and Madness developers promise that it will be inspired by hard science. As such, Madness will be set in a not too distant future. Due to this, developers had to do a lot of research, looking up theories and other paraphernalia from SpaceX and NASA.
Since the game is in development, the developers want to share concepts and ideas to their growing fan base. We can tell them what is wrong about their theories, and they will try their best to change what they can–as much space as the resources, time frame, and game fun could give them.
I really, really like this part of their pitch. For one, you don’t see much hard sci-fi games out there. Every other game delves deep into space fantasy territory, and if they succeed making actual science fiction, it would deliver an incredibly grounded experience, capable of ramping up the tension even more because it’s just so damn believable.
A Healthier Picture of Mental Illness
Mental illness isn’t new in the video game medium (or any medium for that matter). However, mental illnesses are portrayed very antagonistically in other video games. Madness aims to de-stigmatize mental illness, aware of the sensitivity of this subject. As such, madness is not the source of the horror or violence in Madness.
Personally, I’d like to see this play out. For one, the madness aspect of lovecraftian horror is one of my favorites. It’s the logical outcome of seeing ancient alien gods. It’s the outcome of understanding the sheer smallness of humanity amidst the cosmos. To see that it won’t be portrayed in an antagonistic light is a step in a very progressive direction, and I hope the game does well to deliver a balance of classic cosmic horror while doing little to harm real mental illness.
A Love for all things Lovecraftian
According to their website, Madness will be heavily influenced by Lovecraft. They promise that we can, therefore, see his eldritch influence in the game’s narrative, environment, and mechanics.
In their February 7 dev blog, Madness developers elaborated a lot more about this squamous, batrachian influence. The devs tell of their research about Lovecraft’s popular themes in his short stories. They found out that Lovecraftian horror was more focused on the unkillable. “We believe that besides human cultists, it shouldn’t be possible to go up against the higher entities in the Lovecraft universe,” says Orson, one of the devbloggers.
We won’t be fighting Cthulhu in this game, though. Orson explains that “Moons is not Bloodborne or Quake, you wont be fighting hordes of Lovecraftian Monsters. Mostly because to a Lovecraftian Deity, humans are not worth any concern…” he then elaborates on the complete insignificance of humanity in a cosmic horror universe, saying that eldritch monsters are “way too powerful to even acknowledge the existence of something that they mostly perceive as bugs at best.” The author then reveals that the monsters in-game are not just creepy in aesthetic, but eldritch in their nature and story.
(I’m freaking out right now!)
In summary, the developers promise us a game that is very much influenced by the works of HP Lovecraft, in that the monsters will make you feel insignificant and helpless. We can expect the fear of the unknown to be the crux for our bed-wetting after we play.
I’d like to scream: FINALLY. Cosmic Horror is so underrated in video gaming. Sure, you have utter classics like Eternal Darkness and Dark Corners of the Earth, but most horror games nowadays are bent towards a baser, much more down to earth (as in opposite of cosmic) kind of horror. To play a game where I am deathly afraid of something that causes me to feel my utter insignificance will be a breath of fresh air as well as a long-time dream.
Fun fact: Moons of Madness is a direct play on At the Mountains of Madness, one of Lovecraft’s most popular (and most heavily influential) works.
Conclusion
Madness makes an incredible sales pitch to future fans, but since they’re still in their development stage, we have to keep an open eye so that we wouldn’t have another Hello Games situation. Lovecraft fans should definitely be hyped, but must take everything this indie developer says with a grain of salt in order not to be disappointed, should something wrong happen to the game.
But that’s just me advising precautions. I, for one, am very hyped about this game. I’d love to see more cosmic horror in all forms of media, and I pray to Yog-Sothoth that this succeeds.
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