Recent reviews by Crimzonkat

It's a basic 3D 'puzzle' platformer with environmental hazards, two limited open-world driving opportunities, a couple Zero-G/Low gravity segments, one quick-time scene, a couple scripted, tense but forgiving countdown events and a couple 'sudden-death' puzzles.

It's gameplay isn't new or particularly innovative.

Disclaimer: I played on an Xbox controller.
Controls can vary between clunky and delayed to hypersensitive hair-trigger.

Overall movement 'floats', animation outside of cutscenes feels wooden and lacks 'weight', however, vehicle handling is satisfying.

I use 'puzzle' to describe the genre, but it's more, 'Can you follow the level design?' as there are plenty hints built into the environment and most times I ran into trouble, it's because I overthought what to do next.

You can probably finish this game in 2-3 sittings.

This game is an experience. To get the most enjoyment out of it, approach it as an interactive book.

The story unfolds like a mystery novella.

The pacing is well done; you're organically fed just enough information through flavor texts, cutscenes, and the environment to keep you invested and asking questions about what happened next. There are a couple twists/revelations that flip your understanding of several character's motivation as you solve the greater mystery of what happened to the base staff, the reactor, and more, all which build up to the bittersweet and satisfying ending.

The voice acting is superb, coupled with fantastic sound design and a soundtrack on par with AAA games, they all work in tandem to bring character and life to the deserted base.

I've read quite a few reviews complaining about how unbelievable the plothook is and use that as justification for why they don't recommend the game. I personally wonder if a majority of them skipped the pre-menu cutscene which gave all the background information necessary.

Yes, there are a couple cliche tropes and events, some things that may strain your suspension of disbelief at the beginning, but it's important to remember that science fiction is a broad genre, and just because 'science' is in the title, doesn't mean everything has to withstand any amount of scrutiny before it crumbles.

If anything, what strains my disbelief is that the tidally locked moon power transmission tower can aim consistently and keep connection with a single receiver dish when the moon itself is on a nearly ecliptic orbit around the planet, but I don't see any reviews discussing that, nor do I think 'hard science' of this is of particular concern.

Regardless, while I do think you could just watch a playthrough online, the actual act of playing this game is what makes the story have connection and impact.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to Deliver Us Mars in a few months.