Are you a fan of Neil Armstrong and Tim Peake? Do you dream of walking on the moon? Well, you’re in the right place, but don’t expect it to be stress-free. As Earth breathes its dying breath, a new energy source is found on our celestial satellite. But all of a sudden, the supply stops… and the moon base has gone silent. Your job is to find out exactly what has happened.
Let’s not beat around the bush: Deliver Us The Moon is a great little game! The game was funded through a Kickstarter campaign before being released on PC in 2018 and consoles in 2020, in an improved version every time. The final result is a success. Who would have thought that space and silence could be so scary?
What we have here is a good-looking game that fans of the first Alien film will love. Whereas in many other games you dread whichever nightmarish creature awaits around the next corner, or what exactly made that unusual sound, here it’s the crushing emptiness and silence that generate fear. The silence and emptiness of space: cold and indifferent. The soundtrack does a lot of the work, with melancholy piano tracks that give way to more explosive themes in the image of the Interstellar soundtrack.
To get to the point, you play as an astronaut sent on a solo mission to the moon, which ceased all contact three years ago. Earth is running out of resources and short on time, but a new energy source called Helium-3 was being harnessed on our natural satellite. All of a sudden, the moon stopped sending energy and the lunar base seems to be deserted. Your job is to find out if that is, indeed, the case.
To do so, you will explore (seemingly...) abandoned lunar habitats and uncover the truth of what happened, all in an atmosphere that’s as tense as they come. The puzzles are never difficult despite demanding a bit of grey matter, and it’s straightforward enough to progress from one area to the next. And space is never far from your mind.
Your journey through the game is a beautiful one. Despite not having the same limitless resources as a AAA studio, Deliver Us The Moon has nothing to be embarrassed about. You’ll spent a lot of time roaming the corridors of a lunar station, but their design means that you don’t always feel like you’re passing along the same piece of scenery.
For anyone who wants to experience life as an astronaut, your in-game mission is a varied one that covers everything from preparing your rocket for lift-off to reactivating the station’s oxygen system, and even a bit of moonwalking on board a lunar rover.
A lot of the game takes place in a weightless environment, so moving around might feel tricky for those used to FPS games. But we absolutely adored the sequences taking place outside the station with limited oxygen, or the sequence inspired by Gravity that will leave you shaken. We’ll let you experience it for yourself.
And remember: in space, nobody can hear you scream!
