Funcom and developer Rock Pocket Games are teaming up on a new Lovecraftian cosmic horror game called Moons of Madness.
“In Moons of Madness you play Shane Newehart, a technician stationed at the Invictus, a secret research base built by the Orochi group,” reads the description of the game sent via press release. “Your low-security clearance means you are completely unaware of the existence of a mysterious, intelligent signal that has been detected as coming from the red planet…Soon you discover strange and unusual setbacks. Crucial systems are malfunctioning, the greenhouse is filled with a strange mist and the rest of your team has yet to return from their EVA mission. You begin seeing and hearing things that aren’t there. Visions, hallucinations – or is that even what it is? Is this real… or are you slowly descending into madness?”
The studios mention that this game does take place in the same universe as a previous Funcom title (Secret World Legends) but that you won’t need to play Secret World Legends in order to follow Moons of Madness. Both feature independent stories that so happen to share some themes and references, but the two stories are otherwise independent of each other.
That’s good news considering that this game looks fairly intriguing all on its own. The debut trailer showcases an interesting blend of scientific exploration and pure cosmic horror. While it’s not clear at this time whether the scientific elements of the title will extend beyond the opening (kind of like what we saw in Half-Life), it would be interesting to see the player fall further into this dark world as they begin to dig deeper into their assignment.
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We’re seeing an unusual amount of Lovecraft horror games as of late. Last year’s Call of Cthulhu generated a bit of buzz despite its considerable flaws, and the upcoming Sinking City looks to tap into the nature of that horror style via some fascinating detective gameplay. Sadly, none of these will likely bring us closer to the Eternal Darkness remake, reboot, or sequel that’s been floating near the top of our wishlist for quite some time now.
Here’s everything else we know about Moons of Madness:
Moons of Madness Trailer
The release date trailer for Moons of Madness offers an appealing glimpse at the game’s mysterious premise:
Here’s another look at this terrifying upcoming game:
And here’s the announcement trailer:
Moons of Madness Release Date
Moons of Madness will be released for PC on October 22. It will then arrive for PS4 and Xbox One on January 21, 2020.
Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014.