Mothmen 1966 Review

Mothmen 1966 is an interactive visual novel that tells the intertwined stories of four characters: a gas station owner, two lovers, and a private investigator. It is set in West Virginia when the Leonids — the most incredible meteor shower on record — occurred on the 17th of November in 1966. During this event, as many as 40 falling meteors were visible per second! But all was not happy; this also marked the arrival of the Mothmen. 

The story begins with a prologue where you take on the role of Holt, a man who owns the local gas station and lives with his elderly grandmother, Elsie. Every character you meet is essential and has a role in the grand story. When we meet him, he plays an anxiety-inducing round of "Impossible Solitaire", a game Elsie taught him. One part of the game requires the player to guess what colour the card flipped will be; if the guess is wrong, the game is over, and the player automatically loses. Holt is so afraid his guess will be wrong he decides to organise shelves, as simple jobs give you self-confidence. Suddenly, three men in black walk into the station and Holt has a feeling of dread. They are just staring at him and asking odd questions about a dream he had a few weeks back, demanding that he tell them the whole story and not omit any details.

The player decides what parts of the dream to tell these strangers. But the story ends with Holt describing what he saw at the end of the dream. Suddenly a dark-winged figure with glowing red eyes appeared in the window, causing him to scream, making him stumble and fall, and smashing his head on the bedpost. Seeing a creature like this would seriously freak me out too! The movie Mothman Prophecies came to mind; years later, I still can't look out a window when it's dark out and not think of this freaky movie! So I can understand why Holt's character was so startled. 

As you progress through the chapters, you will play through the stories of the different characters from their viewpoint. There are three characters you will take the role of at various times during the story: Lee, Victoria, and Holt. Every chapter switches up whose story you are playing as the overall plot progresses; this allows you to learn more about their personalities and their relationships with each other. 

While playing Mothmen 1966, you are just there experiencing this crazy, supernatural story. But every once in a while, you get asked to make a decision; some are easy, like what colour you think the next card will be, red or black. Others are much harder, like which coyote you will yell at to scare off first. If you choose wrong, your character will die, and you will have to retry until you figure out the correct order of events. At first, this was pretty cool, but later on, when you have many possible actions to choose from, it gets a bit frustrating. Constantly having to restart and remember what sequence of events I last tried got pretty hard. Making poor choices makes me think of reading a "choose-your-own-adventure" book. When you get a bad result, you go back to the previous page to select a different option, hoping for a better result! 

Mothmen 1966 looks just like a retro 8-bit home computer game, giving it a unique look you don't see very often anymore. Despite having a more simplistic look, the scenes, characters, and creatures are animated and look great. The style suits the story the game is telling quite well. Mothmen 1966's chiptune music is eerie, adding a creepy atmosphere, while the sound effects accompanying it are done very well and will startle you during the more suspenseful moments!

Mothmen 1966 is an excellent title for fans of supernatural tales or people who love suspense. The fact that you get to help make decisions makes you invested in these characters. Your choices will impact the story, as the ending I got was bizarre. Luckily the game lets you save your progress at any time, so you can undo some of your choices or continue where you left off. I will go back to one of my previous save files and see if I can get a different conclusion, just like I would if I was reading a "choose-your-own-adventure" book! The main story doesn't take very long to complete, but going back in the game to replay sections to get a different ending will surely add to this title's replayability. I also found that once I unlocked the option to play Impossible Solitaire on the main menu, I was addicted.  

I was searching for the next time the Leonids occur, and it looks like it will be later this year, on the 18th of November. While waiting, try out a few rounds of "Impossible Solitaire" available on Mothmen 1966s main menu, and see how you fare in this challenging card game. When it's time, be sure to watch out for this excellent meteor storm, but beware of any Mothmen or men in black that may be watching you…