Info about Moon Mystery:

Official game description:
The Moon. Our closest celestial neighbor. A place full of mystery and strange things. That's right, there's more than just rocks and impossible challenges out there. A lone astronaut is about to learn that first hand, when he loses contact with Earth and begins an interstellar odyssey across the universe
Moon Mystery is a first-person shooter adventure full of puzzles, action, set on strange new worlds. The gray rocks of the Moon are just the first step on a great journey. Fill up your oxygen tanks, top up your magazines, and get ready for a long trip. You won't be seeing Earth for a while.
Humanity's return to the Moon was no easy feat, requiring state-of-the-art technologies and Artificial Intelligence. Piece together what happened to the previous mission on the Silver Globe alongside the sole survivor, the AI computer. Our first permanent lunar base being the origin point for where everything went wrong. What happened? What do you need to prepare yourself against? Just why did we go to the Moon in the first place?
The Moon is one of the most hostile environments known to man. Put wits and platforming skills to the test while traversing treacherous landscapes and vast abandoned bases. Pilot multiple vehicles such as spaceships, radio-controlled cars, lunar rovers, and even a submarine to get through alien worlds and solve the many puzzles that await.
While outsmarting puzzles and platforming through the environment is one thing… Dealing with malfunctioning robots stalking the corridors alongside other, more terrifying and mysterious foes, is another. Keep that gun loaded alongside oxygen bottles, you'll need it.

Release date: 28 Oct, 2024

Categories: First-Person Shooter, Puzzle Solving, Exploration, Platformer, Single-player Story, Character Progression, Weapon Customization, Vehicle Piloting


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Satisfying and engaging gunplay (weight 0.47): The game features enjoyable and well-executed gunplay mechanics. Weapons feel punchy and satisfying, with smooth controls and diverse customization options. The combat is further enhanced by elements like slow motion and a variety of enemy types, creating an engaging and rewarding experience.
- Impressive and appealing graphics (weight 0.4): The game boasts impressive and visually appealing graphics, creating a beautiful and immersive world. The environments are diverse and well-designed, with striking visuals and a distinct artistic style. The graphics are often cited as a major positive aspect of the game, especially considering its indie nature.
- Interesting and engaging story (weight 0.36): The game presents an interesting and engaging story that captivates players, especially in the beginning. The narrative is well-paced, with intriguing twists and turns that maintain player interest. The story avoids excessive exposition, encouraging players to uncover details gradually, though some found the ending less satisfying.
- Clever and refreshing puzzles (weight 0.27): The game incorporates clever and refreshing puzzles that provide a welcome change of pace. These puzzles are generally well-designed and engaging, requiring more than simple solutions. The puzzles contribute to a refreshing and enjoyable experience, balancing challenge and accessibility.
- Striking and immersive atmosphere (weight 0.26): The game creates a striking and immersive atmosphere, particularly within its eerie lunar or space setting. The detailed environments, combined with atmospheric background music, contribute to a captivating experience. The space setting and its surroundings are a major attraction, evoking a sense of wonder and loneliness.
- Generally enjoyable experience (weight 0.2): Many reviewers express general enjoyment of the game, its story, and its various systems.  While positive, these points lack specific details, making it difficult to assess their true value.  Therefore, the importance score is reduced.
- Passionate and responsive developers (weight 0.15): The game is made with passion and care by a small, dedicated development team. The developers are responsive to player feedback and actively work to fix bugs and improve the game. This commitment and hard work are evident in the game's quality, especially considering the team's size and resources.
- Well-done music and sound (weight 0.15): The game features well-done music and sound design that enhances the overall atmosphere. The soundtrack is often described as amazing, fitting the tone and adding depth to the experience. The voice acting is also solid and professional, contributing positively to the game's immersion.
- Responsive bug fixing and patching (weight 0.08): The developers are responsive and actively patching the game to address bugs and issues. They are listening to community feedback and quickly releasing hotfixes to improve the player experience. This dedication to fixing problems and addressing concerns is a positive sign for the game's future.
- Variety of vehicles available (weight 0.07): The game offers a variety of vehicles, including cars, lunar vehicles, spaceships and submarines, adding diversity to the gameplay. The vehicle driving experience is notably good, exceeding the quality found in some dedicated racing games. Players enjoy the opportunity to operate different vehicles, enhancing the overall fun factor.
- Short and concise experience (weight 0.05): The game is relatively short, making it suitable for casual play sessions. The length is considered appropriate, avoiding unnecessary filler tasks and respecting the player's time. This concise experience allows players to complete the game in a reasonable timeframe, providing a satisfying and enjoyable adventure.
- Satisfying mobility and voice acting (weight 0.04): The game features satisfying character mobility, a rare find in indie games, and surprisingly good voice acting for an indie title. The movement mechanics are fun, and the game evokes a sense of nostalgia, reminiscent of older platform/action games. These elements contribute to a unique and enjoyable experience.
- Cinematic and impressive ending (weight 0.04): The game features a very good and cinematic ending, often inspired by science fiction movies. The final plot twist is well-received, and the ending is surprisingly good, resembling a movie. The sci-fi scenes are well-made, contributing to an impressive and memorable conclusion.
- Impactful and relevant upgrades (weight 0.04): The game features an upgrade system that feels impactful and relevant, enhancing the player's progression. Updates have drastically improved the game, with weapon upgrades being particularly well-received. These improvements demonstrate the developers' commitment to enhancing the player experience.
- Mix of familiar gameplay elements (weight 0.03): The game is often compared to a mix of other popular titles like Portal, Black Mirror, Outer Wilds and Half-Life. Reviewers note similarities in puzzle gameplay, action elements, and overall vibe. These comparisons highlight the game's unique blend of familiar and innovative features.
- References to Interstellar movie (weight 0.03): The game incorporates references to the movie Interstellar, appealing to fans of the film. The plot, while based on saving Earth, is original with elements of Interstellar. This connection enhances the game's appeal for those who appreciate the movie's themes and style, but is a niche point.

Common complaints:
- Inadequate save system (weight 0.88): The game's save system is criticized for lacking manual saves and relying on infrequent or poorly placed autosaves/checkpoints. This leads to frustration when players die or encounter bugs, forcing them to replay large sections of the game. The absence of cloud saves is also a significant drawback.
- Repetitive, bland, unengaging gameplay (weight 0.87): Many reviewers found the gameplay to be repetitive, bland, and unengaging, with little to draw them into the next level. The game's mechanics quickly become tiresome, and the levels feel empty and linear. Some reviewers also noted that the game becomes boring after a few hours of play.
- Numerous bugs and poor optimization (weight 0.84): The game suffers from numerous technical issues, including frequent bugs, glitches, and poor optimization leading to freezes and frame rate drops. Many reviewers mention that the game feels unpolished and unfinished. Some reviewers encountered game-breaking bugs that required restarting the game or loading from earlier saves.
- Weak, incoherent story and dialogue (weight 0.77): Reviewers consistently criticize the game's story, dialogue, and writing as weak, incoherent, and unengaging. Many found the plot to be nonsensical, the characters to be one-dimensional, and the dialogue to be unnatural or childish. The story often fails to create a sense of investment or emotional connection.
- Poor difficulty and weapon balance (weight 0.42): The game's difficulty balance is off, with some reviewers finding it too easy even on the hardest settings, while others struggle with unbalanced boss fights or enemy encounters, especially early in the game. Weapon balance is also an issue, with some weapons being significantly more effective than others.
- Linear, empty level design (weight 0.38): The level design is often criticized as linear, empty, and uninspired, lacking meaningful exploration opportunities or a sense of purpose. Environments feel sterile and unengaging, with repetitive textures and a lack of detail. Some reviewers also noted that the game's levels feel disconnected from each other.
- Repetitive and uninspired enemies (weight 0.36): The game suffers from repetitive and uninspired enemy design, with limited variety and uninteresting AI. Enemies often exhibit simplistic behavior, such as running directly at the player or standing still, and some stronger enemies feel like bullet sponges. The lack of enemy variety contributes to the game's overall sense of monotony.
- Clunky controls and camera issues (weight 0.19): The game suffers from various control issues, including clunky movement, unresponsive controls, and camera problems. Some reviewers experienced issues with mouse and keyboard settings resetting or malfunctioning, leading to disorientation and frustration. The game also lacks proper control remapping options.
- Tedious and unrewarding puzzles (weight 0.12): The game's puzzles are often criticized as tedious, unrewarding, and lacking context, feeling out of place in the action-oriented gameplay. Some puzzles are frustratingly difficult, while others are too simple and repetitive. The game also struggles to cohesively blend puzzle elements with other gameplay mechanics.
- Broken sniper rifle (weight 0.1): The sniper rifle is frequently cited as a problematic weapon, with broken scopes, inaccurate aiming, and low damage. Some reviewers experienced issues with the sniper rifle's scope displaying a static image or being too zoomed in, rendering the weapon useless. Other weapons are also considered weak.

Gameplay feedback:
- Mixes shooter, puzzles, exploration (weight 0.32): The game blends shooter, puzzle, exploration, and platforming elements, often within a sci-fi setting. Players explore planets, solve puzzles reminiscent of games like Portal and Half-Life, and engage in FPS combat. The balance and integration of these elements vary.
- Features weapon and skill upgrades (weight 0.15): The game incorporates RPG-lite elements such as weapon upgrades, skill trees, and character progression. Players earn skill points to unlock perks like faster reload, double jumping, and stat upgrades. Weapon customization includes attachments like suppressors and scopes.
- Basic, simple gameplay/combat (weight 0.11): The core gameplay and combat mechanics are considered basic, simple, and old-fashioned. Gunfights offer nothing new, and some reviewers found the mechanics one-dimensional and boring. Some reviewers describe the game as a walking simulator with simple puzzles and few enemies.
- Linear structure, guided exploration (weight 0.09): The game follows a linear structure with guided exploration and a lack of open-world elements. Some reviewers found the 'exploration' segments to be linear with no actual exploration. The game lacks manual saving, relying on autosaves.
- Puzzles vary in quality/difficulty (weight 0.08): The game features puzzles that vary in challenge, with some being simple and others requiring more thought. Some puzzles are considered obvious or mechanically difficult despite clear solutions. Some reviewers found the puzzles uninspired, citing familiar mechanics like laser redirection.
- Offers diverse vehicle control (weight 0.07): Players can control a variety of vehicles, including spaceships, rovers, submarines, and even missiles. These vehicle segments offer diverse gameplay experiences, from driving on land to piloting spacecraft and submarines.
- Tedious manual item collection (weight 0.03): Players must manually pick up items like ammo, credits, and datapads by walking over them or pressing a key. This manual collection process is considered tedious by some reviewers.
- Repetitive pillar deactivation objective (weight 0.02): A core objective involves deactivating pillars, which some reviewers found monotonous and lacking clear purpose or explanation.
- Unclear mission objectives/guidance (weight 0.02): The path to mission objectives is often unclear, leading to aimless wandering and vague task guidance.

Performance notes:
- Frequent stuttering and FPS drops (weight 0.3): Numerous players report significant performance issues, including stuttering, frame rate drops (even on high-end systems), and freezes. Some experience these issues consistently, while others note they occur during specific actions or in certain areas. Some players also mention texture streaming problems.
- Variety of minor/major bugs (weight 0.28): Players have encountered various bugs, ranging from minor visual glitches to game-breaking issues that require reloading or reverting to earlier saves. Some bugs include getting stuck, settings resetting, and crashes. The frequency and severity of bugs vary among players.
- Underwhelming/outdated graphics quality (weight 0.22): Some reviewers feel the game's graphics are underwhelming or outdated, especially considering the performance demands. Some players report blurry textures even on high-end systems. This suggests optimization issues are present regardless of graphical fidelity.
- Jittering and camera instability (weight 0.03): Some players experience jittering, shaking, and camera issues that cause disorientation. These issues persist even after adjusting settings, indicating a potential stability problem with the game's camera or movement mechanics.
- Noticeable LOD pop-in (weight 0.02): Level of detail pop-in is very noticeable. This can be distracting and detract from the overall visual experience.
- Settings not saving correctly (weight 0.02): Some players report that gameplay settings either revert to default or do not function as intended. This can be frustrating and require players to readjust their settings repeatedly.
- Controller input issues (weight 0.02): The game displays mouse and keyboard commands when using a controller. Some players also report issues with specific controllers not being recognized.
- Audio and map boundary bugs (weight 0.02): Moving too quickly through a level could cause audio messages to cut each other off. Sliding around in unplayable areas sometimes resulted in falling through the map.
- Steam Deck performance issues (weight 0.02): Significant performance issues on Steam Deck have been resolved. However, the 'medium' video preset still causes significant video lag on the Steam Deck, disrupting the timing of jump puzzles.
- Repetitive music (weight 0.01): The music becomes repetitive due to the same track playing repeatedly. This can become monotonous and detract from the overall audio experience.
- Getting stuck in scenery (weight 0.01): The character got stuck in the scenery twice. A vehicle got stuck in the scenery twice.
- Resolution setting issues (weight 0.01): The option to adjust screen resolution was missing at release. The game is set to a weird resolution on the Steam Deck.

Recommendations:
- Needs polish and bug fixes (weight 0.92): Many reviewers recommend the game conditionally, often citing the need for more polish, bug fixes, and content. Some suggest purchasing only on sale due to the game's current state, while others advise waiting for future updates. A significant number express disappointment with the game in its current form, with some even requesting refunds.
- Good for specific genre fans (weight 0.86): Reviewers have mixed feelings, with some recommending the game to fans of specific genres like sci-fi or old-school shooters. Comparisons to other games like Interstellar, Moon, and No Man's Sky are common, setting expectations for the game's atmosphere and depth. Some find the game enjoyable as a lightweight FPS or a relaxing space adventure, while others feel it lacks depth and replayability.
- Worth buying on sale (weight 0.78): A recurring theme is that the game is worth buying, but only when it's on sale. This suggests that the game's content and quality do not fully justify its full price. Players are more willing to overlook its flaws and shortcomings when they can purchase it at a discounted rate.
- Unbalanced difficulty (weight 0.77): Some reviewers found the game's difficulty unbalanced, citing specific examples like the "Guardian at the Gate" boss being too challenging early on. This difficulty spike can halt player progression and lead to frustration, making the game less enjoyable.
- Short playtime (weight 0.71): Some reviewers noted that the game felt complete and could be finished quickly, even in a single day. This suggests that the game may lack substantial content or replay value, making it a short-lived experience.
- Support the developers (weight 0.55): Some reviewers suggest purchasing the game to support the indie developers, especially given their hard work and responsiveness. This recommendation is often made independently of the game's actual quality, focusing instead on supporting small studios. This sentiment may indicate review bombing to support the developers.
- Poor game elements (weight 0.03): Some reviewers mention specific elements that detract from the experience, such as a terrible companion NPC, useless skill trees, and bad driving portions. These issues negatively impact the game's overall quality and enjoyment.
- Good indie game potential (weight 0.03): Some reviewers focus on the game's potential as an indie title, highlighting its foundation and creativity. They recommend it to fans of specific genres like adventure, puzzle-solving, or sci-fi, suggesting that it caters to a particular audience.
- Numerical score given (weight 0.02): Some reviews simply state a numerical score (e.g., 7/10, 10/10, 6/10) without providing much context or explanation. These scores offer a general assessment of the game's quality but lack specific feedback.

Other player notes:
- Small, passionate indie team (weight 0.14): The game is an indie title developed by a small, passionate team, which is often mentioned as context for both its strengths and weaknesses. Reviewers acknowledge the team's hard work and dedication, sometimes tempering criticism due to the game's indie nature.
- Sci-fi setting, inspired by media (weight 0.06): The game is a sci-fi FPS set in space, drawing inspiration from movies like Interstellar and Moon, as well as concepts like O'Neill cylinders. The plot involves humanity's contact with aliens and the secrets of space exploration.
- Responsive developer feedback implementation (weight 0.05): The developers are very responsive to player feedback, actively addressing issues and implementing fixes quickly. They are present on community forums and Discord, showing a commitment to improving the game based on player input.
- Character: Sam and AI Toby (weight 0.04): The player character is named Sam, an astronaut or biologist, who is assisted by an AI companion named Toby. The story often involves Sam trying to return to his family.
- Story quality is inconsistent (weight 0.03): The game's story receives mixed reviews, with some finding it interesting and well-done, while others consider it simple and unengaging. There is no consensus on the quality or impact of the narrative.
- Graphics/sound similar to AAA (weight 0.03): The game's graphics and sound design are compared favorably to AAA titles like Prey, Doom, Borderlands 2, and Portal 2. The game evokes a feeling reminiscent of the first Half-Life series.
- Story: crystals, robots, invasion (weight 0.02): The story involves robots interested in blue crystals, an Earth invasion, and uncovering secrets of human space exploration. The protagonist discovers the lunar base is under attack by unknown entities.
- Polish game developer (weight 0.01): The game was developed by a Polish game developer, and there is hope it will continue to develop and improve.
- Inconsistent gun printer currency (weight 0.01): The game features a 'gun printer' that uses salvaged parts to create guns, but the currency is called 'credits', which feels inconsistent to some reviewers.
- Enjoyable sci-fi setting (weight 0.01): The sci-fi setting and the rendering of the black hole are enjoyable aspects of the game.
- Game has potential, unpolished (weight 0.01): The game has promise, but is not recommendable in its current state.

Emotions:
No emotions}