Deliver Us The Moon Review

Fly me to the moon

Deliver Us The Moon PS4 review

The Moon, that ball that shines bright in the night sky, so far away from us yet so near. It’s easy to take the moon for granted but what if the moon was the only source of earth’s energy? Beaming power to us through some futuristic technology. What if somehow that technology suddenly stopped beaming energy to Earth? Earth would be pretty much screwed.

Set in the near future where Earth’s natural resources have run out, a World Space Agency was formed to colonize the moon and harness the power of Helium 3.  The Helium would then be beamed back to earth using a device called an MPT, so that earth would have energy.

Something went horribly wrong though and all communication with the earth was lost and the MPT stopped working and the energy stopped getting sent to earth.

That’s the basic back story of Deliver Us The Moon.

Deliver us the moon - become an astronaut

Become an Astronaut

In Deliver Us The Moon, you play as an Astronaut sent to the moon in the hope of restoring the energy transfer from the MPT to Earth and to investigate what went wrong.

The game starts off on Earth at an old Cosmodrome facility where you have to solve a few basic puzzles to get your rocket up and running that will fly you to the Moon. The game does a good job of using this first chapter as an introduction to some of the game mechanics and puzzle elements you will need to solve throughout the game.

Once you reach the second chapter, this is where the game really starts to shine and you become immersed in the game.

The main gameplay takes place in various World Space Agency facilities across the moon. Your main tasks involve exploring these facilities for clues and solving puzzles to progress to a new area or on to the next facility and chapter.

Deliver us the moon PS4 review

Gameplay in Deliver Us The Moon features several different elements. Early on in the game, once you have reached the moon, you have to control your Astronaut in a zero-gravity environment whilst in first-person view. The zero-gravity gameplay is incredibly well done and it was very enjoyable to float about the space station.

Deliver Us The Moon does start off a bit slow, I thought the whole game would have just been about exploring the various facilities, going from A to B solving puzzles and finding information to progress to the next area. Thankfully, the game delivers some very tense and exciting moments.

Tense Moon Moments

There is a part where you are blown out into the vacuum of space and have to make your way back to the space station, dodging debris and collecting oxygen pickups on the way.  I thought this part was amazing and was a good way to break up the wandering about looking for stuff parts.

The gameplay features several tense moments, where you have to complete a particular task before a timer runs out or if you’re in zero-gravity, before your oxygen runs out. These different gameplay moments really add to the game.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a game about the moon if it didn’t have some moon surface exploration and the game doesn’t fail to deliver some impressive moonwalking and moon driving sections.

Deliver Us The Moon PS4 review

Moonwalker

That was another pleasant surprise Deliver Us The Moon gave me, driving in moon buggies. When I got to the part in the game where you have to open up a vehicle bay and get into a moon buggy I thought, “Yes, I get to drive on the surface of the moon”.

The moon surface gameplay is also very nicely done and the surface of the moon looks great, you can look up and see the sun lighting up the surface. There is even an easter egg on the moon’s surface about the original moon landing and the conspiracy theories surrounding it.

The gameplay in Deliver Us The Moon is solid. The different gameplay elements from first-person views to third-person views, zero-gravity parts, moon surface gameplay and even platforming elements all make the game an absolute joy to play.

The level both interior facilities and exterior moon surface areas are well designed and the atmosphere and music give you a sense of loneliness as you explore the facilities and try to solve the puzzles.

ASE, your friendly robot pal

You are not alone for too long though and the game surprises again with giving you a floating robot companion later on.

deliver us the moon PS4 review

Your newfound robot companion, called ASE is key to solving some of the puzzles in Deliver Us The Moon. You have to control the little guy through various pipes and ducts to activate things and find information to help you progress.

The addition of a robot companion is another welcome gameplay mechanic that adds variety to the game and makes exploration of the levels and figuring out the puzzle solutions interesting.

Stories of people long gone

From the outset, your goal in Deliver Us The Moon is very clear, reactivate the MPT so that Earth can have energy again and be the saviour of humanity.

Although your Astronaut character doesn’t really have any story of there own to tell, the real story is about the colonists who once lived and worked on the moon and in its facilities.

Deliver us the moon PS4 review

Throughout the game, you can find and activate holograms and audio logs from some of the colonists. These give you a look into the backstory of the moon colonists and through listening to and watching the audio logs and holograms, you slowly uncover hidden agendas and stories about the colonists.

The audio logs and holograms are very well voice acted and the dialogue is well written, usually, I just want to skip by cutscenes and things like this but I was actually intrigued by the characters and the stories they had to tell.

You can also collect other pieces of information or lore by scanning certain items and reading them in the database by pressing the touchpad.

Although the story of these long-gone colonists is intriguing, the audio logs and holograms have to be found throughout the levels of the game. Some you can’t miss but some can be easily missed and you end up not getting the full story of the colonists, which can lead to sometimes not paying much attention to the stories and events which took place.

You can, of course, play through the game again and using a guide, find any audio logs, holograms and other information you may have missed, this give Deliver Us The Moon good replayability.

Deliver us the moon PSr review

Graphically, Deliver Us To The Moon looks very nice indeed. The design of the interior of the moon facilities and the lighting really adds to the atmosphere of the game.  There are some nice little details as well added to the various levels, like photos and certificates and other personal items that you can pick up and read and help you get engrossed in the game even more.

Overall, the different gameplay elements, the design of the levels and the stories and characters portrayed in the holograms and audio logs make for one very interesting game.

Delvier Us the moon PS4 review

Conclusion

Deliver Us The Moon by Dutch developer KeoKeN Interactive is a very polished and enjoyable experience which easily rivals some established Triple-A games in terms of quality and gameplay.

The mixture of different gameplay elements means the game never gets stale or boring and there is an intriguing story to uncover on the moon.

The puzzle elements are never too difficult or frustrating but at the same time still make you scratch your head and think.

Overall, a very good experience and an enjoyable game to play and at only £19.99 on the PlayStation store you can’t go wrong. There is also a physical edition coming out soon and can be ordered from Amazon and other good game retailers.

The game is not terribly long and can be completed in a  few hours but it has a great trophy list which requires finding various secrets and collectables, so there is very good replay value with Deliver Us The Moon.

If you’ve ever wanted to be an Astronaut or wanted to explore the moon and futuristic moon bases while solving some neat puzzles and finding out about interesting, long lost moon colonists, then Deliver Us The Moon is the game for you.

Deliver Us The Moon - The PSF Verdict

9

Deliver Us The Moon by Dutch developer KeoKeN Interactive is a very polished and enjoyable experience which easily rivals some established Triple-A games in terms of quality and gameplay.