When a project is described as "atmospheric", whether or not that's a good thing depends on the project. I've seen critics use those types of comparisons as a crutch to prop up a movie/movies that when I watched them, all I saw was visuals compensating for an underdeveloped story and a slow pace. In the case of Deliver Us the Moon, I found the opposite. I loved the atmosphere and the setting. It captures what good science fiction does (I would compare the feel of it to something like Interstellar or The Martian) where you truly feel the loneliness of the main character, the setting is both hauntingly beautiful but indescribably eerie. The idea of being trapped on a space station, alone and with the fate of mankind in your hands, its an idea that seems more fun than it would be. At times the combination of the graphics, the setting and the atmosphere are awe inducing but at another moment I found it frightening. Play through the sections where your running or franticly floating and looking for oxygen, it gets pretty real. I'm a huge science fiction fan, I've played games that may have been more fun or action packed but Deliver Us the Moon seems more grounded and does a better job fleshing out the world than most adventure games would.
Video games are an underrated medium for storytelling. I've played lots of games that have completely wrapped me up in the plot and transported me to another world with them. Deliver Us the Moon is such a title, despite our main character not having a name (for most of the runtime) or much of a singular identity, they pose some pretty serious questions to the player. It also approaches a trope from a different angle. If we have to colonize another planet and leave the earth behind, what happens to the people left behind? I've seen a couple of movies broach this subject (Interstellar) but I feel like this game really plays into how grave the choices are for the characters and how hard it is to wrap your head around that choice. Deliver Us The Moon has some real emotional stakes and while I scoffed at people crying over the ending, when I finished up, I understood. They maximize what they do with the premise and this game is a journey instead of just a sprint.
I'm not big into puzzle solving games (there are the rare exceptions, Portal 2 is one of my favourite games on any platform) so when I heard that Deliver Us had puzzle solving elements, I was skeptical. I found a couple of them frustrating but they were otherwise manageable throughout the game. The rest of the gameplay is about exploring this space station and accomplishing objectives to move on to the next section. Figuring out where to go has some challenges, there isn't always a lot of direction but it rarely got to the point where I was frustrated or about to give up. I did encounter a bug where the lunar rover was continually sketching out but it fixed itself when the game updated. The gameplay has enough variety to keep you interested and even when you're in a slow portion, the plot was able to carry me through.
With the new Xbox and Playstation consoles coming out, I've been trying to find some hidden gems or some underplayed games that pique my interest. Deliver Us the Moon is the high point in the recent stretch of games. It's a different type of game than what I'm normally playing but it was enjoyable from beginning to end and between the visuals and the plot, it's a memorable one. Where I couldn't recommend Close to the Sun or even Cuphead at their respective price points, I would absolutely endorse Deliver Us the Moon. Its not a lengthy campaign (I was around 8 hours on my playthrough and I was taking my time) but it's a unique experience and worth investing some time into.
