Deliver Us the Moon (2020)

Deliver Us the Moon (2020), directed by Koen Deetman, developed and published by KeokeN Interactive

Earth is slowly turning into a lifeless wasteland. For decades the only hope for human survival had been a powerplant set in the Moon. There, helium-3 was turned into electricity that was then sent via a relay station to Earth to power up the equipment, but then, 5-years ago, all communications were halted and the flow of the much-needed power dwindled down.

It took years for the crippled World Space Agency to build a new ship capable of flying to the Moon, but now the day has finally come, on an eve of a storm that could thwart any attempt of leaving the bosom of our dying home for years. This is where you step in, as the sole astronaut, who has been tasked to go to the Moon and, if possible, restart the power plant.

The launch itself is close to ending up with a disaster when the storm hits sooner than anyone thought, but the ship does manage to get on its way. The first stopping point is the space station around the Moon. That is from where you need to make a space elevator ride to the surface, but as you'd expect, the station is barely functioning and wholly abandoned. So getting the elevator to work is the first order of business even before you get to the Moon.

After you get to the Moon, you find the moonbase as abandoned as the space station before it. In the silence of the base, your first task is to find a way forward, which means repairing a personal help droid, a flying ball, which also becomes a secondary playable character that can be used to solve puzzles blocking your movement around the empty base. A droid is also a tool for viewing holographic recordings of what went on the base before the blackout. These recordings provide the narrative but are also means of figuring out what you have to do next. 

The main goal of the game really is to re-start the powerplant as well as align its transmitters to Earth so that the good people of the up and coming dustbowl can continue their work figuring out how to get out of the environmental disaster they are in. This means finding your way in the base as well as around it, as you do get to ride on the surface with a Moonbuggy a couple of times. 

The puzzles are mostly rather simple. Your journey through the base is often stopped by environmental puzzles or lack of power. If it's the lack of power, then you need to find a backup power battery or find a way of re-routing the power arrays set on the surface of the Moon. The environmental puzzles are just that, blocks in the environment, you need to either find a way around or over. At times you have to navigate with the robot through maintenance tunnels in order to find a switch for opening a door.

None of the puzzles is what I'd call tasking. They are simple, yet still enjoyable and what's perhaps more important, logical. Perhaps the hardest obstacles, as I do refuse considering them as puzzles, are a couple of quick-time events sprinkled here and there in the game. QTE's are hardly the pinnacle of game design, but if used sparingly, can add to it. Here they don't wear out their welcome and can be at worst solved with a couple of trial and error attempts. There are no inventory-based puzzles nor do you even really have an inventory at all.

Graphically Deliver Us the Moon shines. It is, by far, one of the best looking adventure games made in recent years. It's not as gorgeous, graphically speaking as The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, given that it is set in a less lush environment of the Moon and space stations, but it still looks top-notch. The interiors are well designed and the scenes set on the Moon surface look very nice.    

Out of all the exploration-based adventure games with light puzzle elements that have come out lately, Deliver Us the Moon is among the better titles of the genre. While it can, at times, seem like a game of following the leader and it is somewhat of a linear experience, it still manages to retain an illusion of openness that carries well through the setting it has. 

The sparsely told story has it narrated through the holographic recordings as well as your usual clippings and notes you find scattered all around. They provide nice intervals to the exploration and as a whole, the end result is more than satisfying enough.  

Deliver Us the Moon is a solid sci-fi tale. It doesn't always allow you to explore the locations in your own leisure, but in comparison to many other 1st person adventures, it doesn't lack a game either. In a word, if a sci-fi adventure with some genuine puzzles is what you seek, you could go and choose a worse game to sink some hours into. Thumbs up and recommendations and all that.       

Deliver Us the Moon is available for Windows, Xbox One and Playstation 4.