Initial disclaimer: Project Moon sucks right now, politically. This game came out well before that, but if you were to start it at the time of this writing I'd say piracy wouldn't be immoral.
It is unfortunate that PM has blemished their name, because this game is genuinely incredible. One of the most creative things I have played in years. The main concept is easy to describe; you're managing an (off brand) SCP facility. However, while SCP video games have been made, none have managed to actually provide the feeling of managing a facility full of creatures that range from innocuous to world-ending. This game manages to provide that feeling beautifully.
The gameplay loop is incredible. You start a day by picking out a new abnormality to manage. These can range from docile homebodies that never go outside to things that could single-handedly kill every single person in your facility if it got out. Across all the abnormalities in the game, every single game mechanic is interacted with in at least some way. Some act differently depending on employee stats, some are affected by the amount of real time that has passed, some act differently depending whether or not they're on your screen, etc. Until you reach near ~90% codex completion, I'd say you're on your toes almost every day. Going from Day 1 to 50 in this game is a process of picking your own poisons as the abnormalities you have to deal with get more and more annoying, and the things you need to be aware of each day begin piling up.
I do wish one thing: that the game made it more clear that it is a roguelike. Your chances of reaching Day ~30 on a first playthrough are incredibly slim, let alone Day 50, but when you reset back to Day 1, you keep many of the rewards that you've earned on previous runs, such as monster information and mission completion bonuses. Despite this I feel like a lot of players get turned off after their first run because they don't realize that you are essentially supposed to fail at first.
I know before PM exploded, a lot of PM fans would tell new players to skip this game, or to watch the cutscenes online. I greatly reject this notion, as this game is truly one of a kind and isn't something that should be missed. Additionally, the gameplay and story build on each other beautifully in terms of how you cope with employee death and how painful those multiple resets really become. It is a genuinely beautiful example of gameplay and story integration.
This game is weird, beautiful, clunky, creative, buggy, and so, so ambitious that you can just tell that the team behind it had too much ambition for their skill to have ever kept up with. I love all of it.
It is unfortunate that PM has blemished their name, because this game is genuinely incredible. One of the most creative things I have played in years. The main concept is easy to describe; you're managing an (off brand) SCP facility. However, while SCP video games have been made, none have managed to actually provide the feeling of managing a facility full of creatures that range from innocuous to world-ending. This game manages to provide that feeling beautifully.
The gameplay loop is incredible. You start a day by picking out a new abnormality to manage. These can range from docile homebodies that never go outside to things that could single-handedly kill every single person in your facility if it got out. Across all the abnormalities in the game, every single game mechanic is interacted with in at least some way. Some act differently depending on employee stats, some are affected by the amount of real time that has passed, some act differently depending whether or not they're on your screen, etc. Until you reach near ~90% codex completion, I'd say you're on your toes almost every day. Going from Day 1 to 50 in this game is a process of picking your own poisons as the abnormalities you have to deal with get more and more annoying, and the things you need to be aware of each day begin piling up.
I do wish one thing: that the game made it more clear that it is a roguelike. Your chances of reaching Day ~30 on a first playthrough are incredibly slim, let alone Day 50, but when you reset back to Day 1, you keep many of the rewards that you've earned on previous runs, such as monster information and mission completion bonuses. Despite this I feel like a lot of players get turned off after their first run because they don't realize that you are essentially supposed to fail at first.
I know before PM exploded, a lot of PM fans would tell new players to skip this game, or to watch the cutscenes online. I greatly reject this notion, as this game is truly one of a kind and isn't something that should be missed. Additionally, the gameplay and story build on each other beautifully in terms of how you cope with employee death and how painful those multiple resets really become. It is a genuinely beautiful example of gameplay and story integration.
This game is weird, beautiful, clunky, creative, buggy, and so, so ambitious that you can just tell that the team behind it had too much ambition for their skill to have ever kept up with. I love all of it.