First Impression With Moonscars
Ever since I finished Elden Ring, I’ve been trying to find something to play that wasn’t Destiny 2, Power Wash Simulator or a new character in Elden Ring in my off time. It’s taken a bit because outside of the stuff I’ve been covering, there’s been so little coming out that interests me. This changed last week with the release of the current topic of discussion, Moonscars. Developed by Black Mermaid and published in Humble Bundle’s Humble Games publishing wave that also includes previously covered bangers Midnight Fight Express and Prodeus; Moonscars continue the trend of being an interesting indie game being brought to the dance by an unconventional publishing partner going out of its way to establishing itself.
The basic setup for Moonscars is that you play as a warrior named Grey Irma. She’s one of the Clayborne, a group of living statues who were created as warriors by a man known only as The Sculptor. He’s since disappeared and the other Clayborne have either gone rogue or missing following a betrayal at the hands of the other creations of the Sculptor. And based on the early hours I’ve played so far, this is about it. It has some interesting ideas in regard to identity and what death means to a group of beings that effectively can’t die, so it at least has that going for it. The direct narrative may not have much to say so far, but the characters and the world-building are great so far. Grey Irma herself is a great point of view character, the Gargoyles in the Sculptor’s workshop, as well as the Sculptor’s talking pet cat, are great as a collective trickster mentor. All three talking in slightly condescending riddles while Irma does her best to annoyedly play along is some great writing. I hope there’s more of this as time goes on.
As for a video game that you play, Moonscars is what would happen if you threw any post-Symphony of the Night Castlevania game and any Souls game (though primarily Bloodborne) into a blender and hit purée. It sounds awesome on paper and it is…mostly. The game is far more of a 2D action game than it is about exploring. This is because combat is the main star of the show. It’s fast, fluid and has a lot of interesting tools to muck around with. On top of the standard sword combo, you can charge your attacks for a heavier swing, dash to avoid damage (great for traversal as well), and use heavy attacks that are all different weapons. This is where the mechanics all start to diverge from the expected and become more interesting; the heavy attacks can be chosen after dying or discovering new mirrors (checkpoints and save areas) and range from throwing spears, to chunky but slow sawblade punches, to swinging a big fuck off hammer and more. This also applies to the Witcheries, Moonscar’s magic system. You can select a number of basic spells from a skill tree and use them in ways you see fit. Be it a standard magic blast, enemy piercing spikes, or coating your weapon in poison, these spells are needed to progress due to the existence of enemies that can only be killed by Witcheries. It’s a level of customization and depth I wasn’t expecting and I love it because it allows me to change my approaches and challenges me to get out of my comfort zone mechanically.
And you'll need all of this stuff too because the game is mechanically, very difficult. Enemies can kill you in a few hits and healing is tied to your magic meter, which makes for a very tense risk/reward dynamic for choosing when to fight and when to heal. And then there’s Moon Hunger, which is the game’s death mechanic. The world goes into a Blood Moon state when you die causing enemies to become stronger and can only be reverted by sacrificing dried clay hearts, which can also be used to swap out heavy attacks. And this is on top of score streaks offering small bonuses called spite modifiers and I respect this because I too, run on spite.
Lastly, I want to talk about the game’s art style. It’s this almost painterly approach to pixel art that, if you've seen it in the screenshots, looks gorgeous. It’s predominately black and white, with smart splashes of colours to highlight specific characters and effects, such as Grey Irma’s red tabard to make her easier to see in the foreground and enemies flashing red to signal when they can be parried being the prominent examples. As with a lot of the game, it’s grim as hell, but those elements I mentioned and the way that they are all put together make for some beauty to go with that bleakness.
Moonscars is a game that I’m gonna stick with because of all the stuff I mentioned. The story, gameplay and visual design all come together to create something that has a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts in the best way. Plus it's on Game Pass, so if you have that service, you have no excuse to at least give it a spin to see if you like it.
