Lifeless Moon Preview

I got the chance to check out Lifeless Moon before its release on the 10th of August 2023. A successor to Lifeless Planet, developed by Lifeless Worlds Studio and published by Serenity Forge, you play as an astronaut exploring the Moon during the Cold War. However, nothing is what it seems, as you and your crewmate are teleported away from each other. Upon finding part of a normal American town in the middle of nowhere (still on the Moon), it soon becomes a mission to find your lost crewmate and escape before something gets you first.

I decided to play 100 minutes of the game for this preview, so here’s everything I got to experience.

First off, I was kinda freaked out for a good part of my playtime. This isn’t a scary game by any means, but suddenly fast-forwarding while going up a hill and some surprisingly intense music did put me on edge quite a few times, even though there wasn’t anything there to kill me… yet. The game definitely nails its atmosphere (no pun intended…?), with some nice environmental storytelling that also guides you to important locations and items.

Most of the time, you’ll be exploring areas to complete whatever is needed to move forward, with some light platforming and puzzles to solve. In interior locations, you'll shift from third-person to first-person, playing more like a point-and-click adventure game. These parts were pretty nice, the areas you explore can be a sight to behold with some really interesting locales, but some puzzles were a little more confusing than what should be fun. I’m not the smartest person, but I’ve accidentally stumbled into solutions more than once, which doesn’t feel like a good thing.

Still, I had quite a bit of fun exploring different areas and learning the stories that happened within, slowly uncovering the larger picture. If you’ve enjoyed Lifeless Planet, you should definitely look forward to this entry.

Lifeless Moon will release on the 10th of August 2023 on PC via Steam.