Deliver Us the Moon

I decided to play Deliver Us the Moon as it is leaving gamepass soon and it sounded like it was a story with puzzles. I was slightly concerned by the action adventure description, but as it was free with gamepass figured I might as well try it.

The game started off well. There were a few easy puzzles to start you off – find a code and type it in, locate a ladder to turn off the hydrogen. You could interact with objects in the environment and read them to discover more about the past, a bit like in Call of the Sea. There were also objects to find and scan to add to your log, this bit reminded me slightly of Subnautica. The story itself drew me in, I was going to the moon!

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First view of the spaceship, I’m going to the moon

Then my issues with the game started, there are timed sections. I dislike timed puzzles, I want to be able to explore and think about what is happening. I understand thematically why it was timed, initially you need to launch before the dust storm and then there are sections with limited oxygen, but I didn’t enjoy it. Thankfully there are no major consequence for failing, you just start back at the beginning of the timed sequence.

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This is earth, not the moon – a great view out of the spaceship window

I tried to persevere with the timed sections – I did briefly flick through a walkthrough to check how frequent they would be and felt it would be manageable. However the timed sections just kept coming, and every time my heart would sink. It seems like an easy option to make a puzzle more difficult, when I’d have preferred harder puzzles that weren’t timed. I made it most of the way through the Pearson Spacestation which I think is about a quarter of the way through the game. I then had another quick look at a walkthrough when I kept dying from electric shocks in another part I disliked – precision movements, very tricky when you are floating around. I realised the timed sections were going to keep coming and as I really wasn’t enjoying them decided to call it a day.

I can see the appeal of the game. I was drawn in by the story. The setting was great, very atmospheric. I liked piecing together information and trying to discover what had happened. Ultimately though the gameplay isn’t for me. If you like action adventure stories though give it a try, it does look like it would be an excellent tale.