I have a special treat for you Game Room readers today! Some of you may remember my PAX East Roundup where I highlighted Moon Hunters as being the most interesting game I saw. For those who didn’t see that post, Moon Hunters is a unique multiplayer RPG with a versatile class system and smooth comfortable combat, with a lot of emphasis on decision making, and how those decisions might reflect a player’s personality. The game is available on Steam and is slated to launch on PS4 this spring. I got to talk to Tanya Short, a designer at Kitfox Games, and ask her questions about some of Moon Hunter’s highlights.
I asked the Game Room standard question, requesting a highlight of three key features that you can only find in Moon Hunters. When asked about this, Short highlighted three truly interesting features, that reflect the game’s tone and intent very clearly.
“I think the three unique points of Moon Hunters are the randomly generated RPG world, the 4-player co-op, and the setting (not a lot of ancient Assyrian inspired worlds out there).”
A randomly generated RPG world certainly opens doors for replay value. The section of the game that I played at PAX had very strong pacing, separating combat heavy sections and instances for self review in a way that really allowed you to customize your experience and play in a way that is thoroughly true to your own style.
When asked about her favorite part of the development process, Short found that one of the best experiences was communicating with supporters. “My favorite part of the development process has been talking with our Kickstarter backers! It’s made the whole process so much more enjoyable, to know that there are people out there who support what we’re doing and are cheering us on. It really takes a lot of the stress out of development.”
It’s noticeable that games are really starting to weave in this element of player psychology. This was very noticeable over the past year, where games like Until Dawn and Life is Strange have been taking center stage, allowing player choices to be the primary mechanic in the game. In a world where his sort of psychological emphasis is becoming more important to developers, it was important to me to find out what role Moon Hunters plays in that evolution? When asked about this, Short stated that the non-binary aspect of the game truly creates a fully fleshed out personality test experience.
“Moon Hunters is much more freeform than most other games’ personality systems — no traits are binary or mutually exclusive, because in real life, it’s entirely possible for someone to be known as a ‘nice guy’ to some people and a real jerk to others. The heroic equivalent is when some people call you a brave hero and others call you a vengeful destroyer. We worked really hard to stay away from “either/or” systems and let people express who they are and explore the consequences of their actions.”
There you have it. Moon Hunters is a unique experience that avoids the trends often associated with “Game Morality” and allows you to make more thorough more human choices. Combine that with an awesome setting, well fleshed out mechanics and controls, and a beautiful score, and I’d say you have yourself quite a game. So give it a go!
Thank you all for reading this Game Room Exclusive! While I wanted to do a video today, I felt as though this took a slight amount of precedence. That being said, I do plan to have a video in the next two days. For more on sick indie titles like Moon Hunters, come back soon for more from the GAME ROOM!!!