Lunacid - Tears of the Moon Review Summary

This King's Field-inspired Lunacid prequel is fun and atmospheric, but clunky tank controls, easy combat, and a disappointing comparison to Lunacid hold it back.

King's Field Homage Appeal: The game successfully captures the essence of King's Field, offering a nostalgic and accessible experience for fans of the series. It serves as an excellent introduction for newcomers and a satisfying itch-scratcher for veterans.

Fun and Enjoyable: The game is widely described as fun, with many players having a great time playing it. It consistently delivers an enjoyable experience across the board.

Lunacid Prequel Excellence: As a prequel to Lunacid, the game expands the lore and worldbuilding in a compelling way that delights fans. It answers questions and provides a beautiful side story that enriches the overall narrative.

Lovingly Crafted Experience: The game is noted to be made with a lot of love and care, resulting in a pleasant and delightful experience. It is seen as a gem.

Short and Sweet: Players appreciate that the game is concise but fulfilling, never overstaying its welcome. Its brevity is seen as a strength, providing a tight and enjoyable experience.

Clunky controls and tank movement: Controls are often described as clunky, with tank controls being a frequent complaint. This makes movement and combat feel awkward and difficult to adapt to.

Combat is too easy: Combat is frequently criticized as very easy, basic, and underwhelming, with hardly any challenge. Some note it becomes too easy after the first few hours.

Disappointing compared to Lunacid: Reviewers note that the game is not as scary, much shorter, and has little in common with Lunacid. It is also more frustrating and less fun.

Cannot rebind controls: Several reviewers complain about the lack of control rebinding options, especially for native keyboard and controller setups. This adds to the frustration with the controls.

Game is too short: Many reviewers feel the game is too short, taking around 6 hours to finish. They wish there was more content and story.

King's Field Engine Heritage: The game is built using the King's Field engine, specifically the Sword of Moonlight creation tool. This establishes a direct technical lineage to FromSoftware's classic first-person dungeon crawlers.

First-Person Dungeon Crawler: It is a first-person real-time dungeon crawler in the style of King's Field. The core gameplay involves exploring dungeons from a first-person perspective.

Outdated Engine and Controls: The game uses a very old engine, resulting in archaic controls and movement that feel dated. The engine is approximately 25 years old, leading to a clunky experience.

Basic Combat with Stunlock: Combat is basic and simple, featuring stunlock mechanics. Enemy variety and difficulty vary, and weapon hits restore mana.

Rewarding Exploration and Hub Area: Exploration is rewarding and addictive, with a main hub area and explorable locations. The world encourages players to explore.

Resolution and display instability: The game frequently changes or jumbles resolution, moves windows around, and causes flickering or display issues, especially on multi-monitor setups. Many players find these problems impossible to resolve through the in-game options.

Game crashes on death: Players repeatedly report the game crashing, force-closing, or kicking them back to the desktop whenever their character dies. This includes crashes on any death as well as specific deaths such as against the first skeleton encounter.

Startup and launch crashes: Numerous players cannot launch the game at all, or it crashes immediately upon starting a new game or loading a save. Some cases require a full PC reboot to recover.

Old engine compatibility hassle: The Sword of Moonlight engine is difficult to run on modern PCs, requiring manual tinkering such as editing config files or using dgVoodoo. Some players report that included fixes or compatibility modes resolve the issues.

Input and control problems: Players experience input swallowing, double inputs, mouse not being supported, and controls that do not work correctly. These issues are sometimes worse at higher resolutions or framerates.

Controller strongly recommended: Many reviewers emphasize using a controller for a better experience, sometimes stating it is necessary or strongly advised. Suggestions include using Steam Input and the developer-provided control scheme.

Not for everyone: Several reviewers note that the game's dated design and clunky controls make it unsuitable for all players. It is specifically not recommended for those expecting modern controls or quality-of-life features.

Worth trying, with caveats: Many reviewers say the game is worth a try, especially for free, but with warnings about its dated design. It is often described as a short, sweet side quest for fans.

Good for Lunacid fans: Players who enjoyed Lunacid recommend this game as a prequel or side story that provides more lore and a similar experience. It is often described as a must-play for fans of the original.

Free, so worth trying: The fact that the game is free is a common reason given to try it, with little to lose. Reviewers say it is worth a shot even if just for curiosity.

Community fair range: $0.00 - $5.00.

Game completion: 6.0h.

Story completion: 6.0h.

Session length: 0.3h.

The game has a delayed time-to-fun curve: early areas and engine/control friction make it rough at first, but it becomes enjoyable after players adjust and reach later content. Some late-game slog reports exist, yet the dominant pattern is that it clicks after early friction.

Friction: Early areas described as boring and monotonous; Sword of Moonlight engine jank; No tutorial; Unconventional keyboard and tank controls; Learning curve; Maze-like level design.

Unlock drivers: Getting past Sword of Moonlight engine jank; Adjusting to unconventional or tank controls; Patience with the learning curve; Reaching the latter half where the best content appears; Exploration design that makes levels less tedious and frustrating.

Old-School King's Field Veteran: Patient exploration with tank controls or a controller, secret hunting, and circle-strafing through resistance-based combat. Motivation: To relive the atmosphere and design of King's Field-era first-person dungeon crawlers. Stance: buy.

Lunacid Prequel Lore Seeker: Playing after Lunacid, exploring for lore and secrets, and comparing the prequel's story and mechanics to the main game. Motivation: To get more Lunacid lore, worldbuilding, and story continuity. Stance: buy.

Curious Old-School Newcomer: Learning tank controls, using a controller, checking inventory notes, and exploring cautiously. Motivation: Curiosity about a classic dungeon-crawler style with no financial risk. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: Audit of Steam Deck user reviews finds the game is generally playable but requires controller tinkering. Steam Deck users need community layouts and manual rebinding to fix dropped inputs. General clunky controls are widely reported. One user could not launch the game on Linux and switched to a laptop, indicating a compatibility risk. No evidence of small text, external launchers, battery drain, or frequent crashes. Final friction score is 50, placing it in the Tinkering Required tier.

Linux and Proton: Only one relevant review was available. It reports that the game could not be played on a Linux PC, and the user had to switch to an older laptop. No positive Proton or native Linux evidence appears in the dataset. The limited sample prevents a broad consensus, but the available evidence points to a broken or unsupported Linux experience.

Built on King's Field engine: Multiple reviews state the game was created using the King's Field Toolkit or the same engine that powered the King's Field games. It is built on an old engine from From Software's King's Field maker.

Prequel to Lunacid: Many reviews describe this game as a short prequel to Lunacid, set before the end of the world and expanding its backstory. It is often called a prelude or a scrapped early version of Lunacid.

Similar to King's Field: The game is frequently compared to King's Field in theme and vibe, and is noted to be made in the same engine. Some reviews mention it as a companion piece to King's Field and Shadow Tower.

Free on Steam: The game is completely free to play on Steam. Reviewers highlight that it is a free game serving as a taste for Lunacid.

Story ties into Lunacid: The story of Lyria connects to the original Lunacid and the well, providing extra lore for fans. It is set thousands of years before Lunacid's events.