Of Murder and Moonshine Review

Welcome to the 1920s. We find ourselves in the Prohibition era, where for 13 years, it was illegal to manufacture, transport, or sell alcohol. Despite these restrictions, Izzy Einstein, an American Prohibition agent, claims that in under 30 minutes, he could find liquor in any city. During this time, organised crime thrived; it gave racketeers a chance to give the Americans what they wanted: wine, beer, and hard liquor on the sly. This bootlegging industry created competition and war between the gang bosses, and in Of Murder and Moonshine, you are right in the middle of it.

You take on the role of Leonard, who is tasked with doing a hit on a rival gang at the O’Kenney’s favourite restaurant. Giovanni, the mobster with seniority over you, gives you this job to test your skills and loyalty to your boss, Luca Marino. The first thing you get to do is select the gun that you want to use: a handgun, pump shotgun, bolt-action rifle, Tommy gun, or trusty baseball bat. Each weapon has a different firing speed and amount of ammo, so it will take some trial and error. My favourite in games is always the shotgun, so that was my first choice. Defeated enemies will drop their gun that you can pick up if you would like to switch it up, and it doesn’t matter how many goons you take out; you aren’t done with your job until you eliminate the target. This is where we get to the tricky part of the game: the controls.

Of Murder and Moonshine is not a title that you will play with a controller; instead, you are using your keyboard and mouse. You move Leonard around using A, S, D, and W, to jump, you use space. There are a few different controls in this game: E is used to pick things up, like weapons; R is to reload (there is a never-ending ammo supply); and F is to conceal or pull out your gun. Make sure before you try to shoot that you have your weapon out; it won’t fire if it’s not out and ready. If you walk around carrying it in full sight, you are sure to get killed. There are always a lot of rival gang members around to take you out.

You control the gun using your mouse once you are ready to take out the enemy. Moving it will adjust the angle, where exactly the gun is pointed, and the trajectory of the fired shot. Once you are ready to fire, click on your target to shoot. Shooting will alert all the gangsters around you to your location, so be prepared to take them out; if there is an exclamation mark over their heads, they have spotted you. Leonard can’t duck, but he can jump, so you can try to avoid the shots coming at you that way. If you happen to be standing on stairs, you can drop down to escape, but watch out for other enemies that may be waiting.

Each of the missions would take me a few tries to learn where all the gang members were located and what order was best to take them out, as each stage was laid out differently. Trying to run through the stage to get to the target without taking the others out is sure to lead to your death. Once you have eliminated the mark, it’s time to escape, an arrow appears to show you the right way to exit the stage. Once you have a couple of successful jobs under your belt, the boss takes a liking to you and calls you the best dropper in the business, so he keeps assigning you to new missions. You are working your way up in the family.

The visual look for Of Murder and Moonshine is very simple, featuring pixel graphics with no details. There are no faces on the characters; all you see are the clothes they are wearing and the weapons that they carry. The same is true for the backgrounds; they are pretty basic, but the trees looked surprisingly detailed in comparison with all their leaves. You will see blood when you shoot and hit a target or when you get hit. If you take damage, red will appear on the outside edge of the screen. The more you are injured, the more blood there will be.

The music screams 1920s. It is jazzy, full of horns, and very fitting for the time period. The songs were quite catchy, but after a while, they can get a bit repetitive, especially if you are stuck on a mission that requires you to start over numerous times. The sound effects with the guns shooting and when outside, you hear the frogs croaking at night, which was a nice way to show you that this mission was taking place outside of the city.

Of Murder and Moonshine has an interesting story based on events that would have been occurring during that time period in America. I’m not the best marksman, but I enjoyed my time trying to take out the rival gang members that stood in my way. I probably relied on my shotgun too much since I was constantly needing to reload, but it packed a powerful punch when it hit! If you enjoy stories about mobs and organised crime, this game is sure to make you happy. Or if you like learning about history, this is a fun way to experience a bit of the events that may have occurred during the roaring ‘20s.