Funcom announced that it will publish a sci-fi horror game, Moons of Madness, from developer Rock Pocket Games. The title will debut on the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 during the Halloween season this year.
Set in the not-so-distant-future on Mars, Moons of Madness mixes the scientific exploration of the red planet with the supernatural dread in the style of H.P. Lovecraft’s horror stories. From the look of the trailer, I can see influences from Dead Space, Mass Effect, and Prey.
Norway-based Rock Pocket Games previously showed early prototypes of the game, but after Olso-based Funcom came aboard, they regrouped and expanded the scope of the game to fully realize its potential.
“With Funcom’s support we have been given the opportunity to do all the things we wanted to do with the game and the story,” said Ivan Moen, CEO of Rock Pocket Games, in a statement. “Moons of Madness has been an internal passion project of ours, one that we’ve worked on in between other titles for other publishers, and now being able to fully focus on it and put our creative energy into it is a dream come true.”
In the game, you play as Shane Newehart, a technician stationed at Invictus, a secret research base built by the Orochi Group. You low security clearance means you are completely unaware of a mysterious, intelligent signal that has been detected as coming from Mars. Your job is to keep the lights on until the transport ship Cyrano arrives, bringing it with it a new team.
You discover strange problems. Crucial systems malfunction. The greenhouse is filled with a strange mist, and the rest of your team hasn’t returned from their EVA mission. You see things that aren’t there. Are they visions, hallucinations, or madness?
Moons of Madness draws on lore and mythology from Funcom’s Secret World Legends game, as both are set in the same thematic universe.