Reviews

Lifeless Moon review for PC

Platform: PC
Publisher: Serenity Forge
Developer: Stage 2 Studios
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: Not Rated

It’s been nearly nine years since Lifeless Planet came out, and I’ve got to be honest: I haven’t thought of it since I reviewed it back in 2015. So when I went back to re-read that review as I started writing about its sequel, Lifeless Moon – or its “spiritual successor,” if you go by what its developers are calling it – I was a little surprised to realize that pretty much everything I wrote about Lifeless Planet applies just as well to Lifeless Moon.

I’ll save you a click and tell you that’s both a good thing and a bad thing. On the positive side of the ledger, just like its predecessor, Lifeless Moon excels at creating a creepy, vaguely unsettling atmosphere. Just as the title promises, you’re wandering around a planet (or, I guess, a moon) where you see the vestiges of civilization and get a constant sense that you just missed someone or something. You spend most of your time in the game alone and isolated. If you’re after that feeling of loneliness and emptiness that the best sci-fi offers, you’ll find that here.

Unfortunately, also just like its predecessor, Lifeless Moon struggles to do anything interesting with its near-perfect setting. The game is only a few hours long, but you spend most of your time here slowly following a linear path, going from info-dump to info-dump with a few simple puzzles (or, at least, puzzle-like diversions) to break up the monotony. You pick up a note that tells you everything that happened to a certain point, then follow whatever directions the game gives you to the next note.

In other words, Lifeless Moon spends way too much time telling, and not nearly enough time showing. And on one level, I get it: a small indie studio isn’t going to have the budget to show how a civilization on the moon fell apart. But at the same time, when you’re this good at creating an atmosphere, it can’t help but feel a little disappointing when the rest of the game doesn’t quite measure up.

Serenity Forge provided us with a Lifeless Moon PC code for review purposes.

Score: 6
Matthew Pollesel

Recent Posts

Tune in for the Death Stranding 2: On The Beach live premiere with Geoff Keighley and Hideo Kojima

Get tickets for the in-person event or check out the livestream in a little over…

4 minutes ago

Promise Mascot Agency review for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch

Think Yakuza, if Yakuza featured sobbing silken tofu, overly helpful bloody thumbs, and plenty more…

11 minutes ago

Mafia: The Old Country’s first “Breaking Omertà” dev diary takes us back to where it all began

Hangar 13 brings us to old school, 1900s era Sicily during their development efforts.

19 hours ago

Iron Meat gives you more to chew on with its latest free major update

Finally a F gun to go with my U gun!

19 hours ago

NIKKEs go to bat in new baseball themed costumes in the game’s latest update!

A longtime NPC jail character finally becomes recruitable as K joins the roster!

20 hours ago

Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV to drop on July 24th

An enhanced Switch 2 version of Super Mario Party Jamboree is set to bring us…

24 hours ago