Play Moons of Madness with the Lights On

There is nothing quite like closing the curtains, turning off the lights and powering up your Xbox with a brand-new horror game installed.

Usually the ominous music, the screeches, or worse; whistling, that accompanies the dark and gloomy intro screen are enough to make my hair stand on end and goosebumps cover the majority of my arms. It’s self-torture, but I love it.

I must admit, though, that every now and then, I find myself heading for the light switch with lightning speed. Like when daddy Jack Baker first makes his appearance in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard or when the lights start flickering about half an hour into Alien Isolation. It’s either lights on or stop playing all together.

For Moons of Madness, which is due to release January 21, 2020 on Xbox One, I am not even going to bother turning the lights off in the first place. I have already seen what the artists, writers, and programmers have planned for us, and as amicable as they may seem when you meet them in person – they obviously find some disconcerting enjoyment in terrifying us in every way imaginable.

Moons of Madness is a cosmic horror game, combining Lovecraftian elements with Mars exploration. You start the game seemingly all alone in a research facility on The Red Planet, except for a trusted colleague you can communicate with on your comm. But soon after you are done with your morning routine, you come to the realization that you may not be all alone after all. And whatever else is there with you, it doesn’t seem to have your best interest at heart.

The terrors you face cannot be defeated with any conventional means, meaning you must rely solely on your wits and your ability to run and hide. The problem being, of course, that when you are stuck on a research facility 140 million miles from the nearest police station – you can only run so far. Sooner or later you are going to have to face your demons, and as those of you who are familiar with Lovecraftian horror already know – your worst enemy may be your own sanity. In Moons of Madness you will be faced with terror both from the outside and from within in your own mind.

As stated, the game will release January 21, 2020 on Xbox One. However, you can pre-order the game on the Microsoft Store starting on October 22 — pre-ordering the game grants you instant access to the psychological horror game The Park.