Deliver Us The Moon is unique, atmospheric and gorgeous as it launches you into the vast space above.
Bold letters that banner the official Deliver Us The Moon website intriguingly waggle a finger to draw you in. Clearly KeokeN Interactive is as bold as they are confident in delivering not only the Moon, but an experience that the vast majority of us will never have the privilege to be exposed to. Backed in a successful Kickstarter campaign (€103,770 pledged of €100,000 goal), Deliver Us The Moon aims to take us to the sky and beyond.
Humanity is in serious trouble. Resources on Earth are scarce and only getting worse by the minute. To remedy this, the WSA, or Worldwide Space Agency was formed, launching astronauts to the moon where research was conducted to find a solution. Unfortunately, through a series of events, WSA was shut down, and the efforts were shelved whilst the clock ticked closer to devastation.
You play as a rogue astronaut with the sole ambition of going back to the abandoned WSA stations to try and revive these efforts. It's critical, sad, and lonely, but without you, there is no hope for the rest of us.
Made with the Unreal Engine 4, Deliver Us The Moon no doubt runs with incredible visuals, and I can't stress that enough. The launch, which happens within the tutorial level, made the hair raise on the back on my neck and a knot well up in my throat as we looked back at our dear planet Earth. It's not just how gorgeous everything is, but the feeling and atmosphere behind it; lighting is subtle, but striking in all the right places. The assets are wonderfully done and strewn about. It feels real simply by the way KeokeN Interactive chose to paint the picture.
Gameplay is rather simple, and linear for the most part. You'll have to research objects, flip switches, solve puzzles and the like. The puzzles require a bit of thinking at times, but nothing too difficult. I got the feeling that when going through the game that it was more meant to be the experience of space and space stations themselves, rather than a game solely revolving around 'winning'.
The sound is incredible as well. Audio transmissions are believable and wonderfully done, not at all over-acted or campy. The mission you're embarking on is to be taken seriously, and the sound design more than reflects that.
Unfortunately there's a few hangups I have about the overall game, but rest assured nothing in the way of not recommending it to you! Deliver Us The Moon is a graphical powerhouse, one that if you intend on running it in all it's glory, will require a bit of clever hardware on your computer. There's some inconsistencies with the playable parts graphically as well--incidental cutscenes litter the storyline here and there, and these tend to be of a different, lower quality to the rest of the game's design. Heavy noise filters are good at masking a bit of these lapses in quality, and whilst they don't ruin the game itself in any way, are still there.
The gameplay itself is a bit up in the air at times for me. I enjoy exploring and taking in the atmosphere, but busy tasks such as flipping a bunch of switches, moving stairs and pressing endless buttons for things to happen are a bit monotonous at times. Still, most, if not all, is forgivable within Deliver Us The Moon's gorgeous capabilities.
It's interesting, haunting and if you've ever dreamed of space, a must have. Deliver Us The Moon gives us a unique imagining of saving a world we need, long after we've so foolishly cast it aside. Deliver Us The Moon gets a resounding recommend from me--now, it is time to be the astronaut you were meant to become. Suit up, and meet hope in the sky.