THE MOOSEMAN Review for Xbox One

I was The MOOSEMAN for a few days and the game delivers good atmospheric scrolling bang for the buck. Developed by two Russian guys you’ve probably never heard of (Vladimir Beletsky and Mikhail Shvachko) and published by newcomer “Sometimes You,” The MOOSEMAN places the player in a mystical scrolling landscape inspired by primitive cave drawings. A muted color palette and a cool gloomy soundtrack combine with highly stylized simple graphics to create an immersive experience. You’re The MOOSEMAN, dude!

You play as an ancient hunter equipped alternately with staff or bow, depending upon the level, and you scroll through different terrain types solving puzzles and facing the challenges presented by animals / pagan looking monsters. Visuals are pretty cool and the developers employ a nifty trick of rendering foreground (trees, vines, and cave formations among others) which obscure the player character temporarily as he / she moves behind them; this effectively creates a feeling of depth and the illusion of 3 dimensions.

It’s pretty engaging as a puzzle game because meeting challenges is intuitive but difficult enough to keep players interested in more than just the sights and sounds. It’s a good thing controls and problem solving are intuitive, because you are pretty much on your own in this world. There are some subtle hints but mostly players are left on their own to figure out the game – how to control your character and how to move forward past obstacles / threats. There are difficulty levels, but I only played on normal…so maybe there is more help if you select easy mode, but where’s the fun in that? I think the game works well as a mystery the player solves mostly on his or her own; less is definitely more here.

My only real issues were the language settings and the amount of “educational” content. I kept getting stuck in Russian language mode for some reason, and the cut-scenes between levels, while not long, are just written and spoken language; for me often in Russian and it was pretty obnoxious. When I did understand the cut-scenes, I was subjected to a pretty comprehensive re-telling of pagan mythology from Finland, complete with a lexicon of character names, places, and their respective cryptic allegories…it was all a bit much and, frankly, pretty obtuse stuff; I had no idea what the lady narrator was talking about and really didn’t much care – I’m The MOOSEMAN; just let me do my thing!

One more odd issue: I inexplicably needed to be logged into an online profile to play the story mode and, when I encountered some un-related connectivity issues with my modem, the game booted me out and I had to log in once internet was back up to play; it was annoying because there doesn’t seem to be an online component – strange MOOSEMAN things afoot.

Here is how I rate The MOOSEMAN systematically / by standard gaming criteria:

Graphics and Audio:

Grade –7/10 for VERY COOL and ORIGINAL; the guys who developed this did a great job of creating a cohesive and immersive environment. They kept it interesting and different from most scrolling games by incorporating interesting foregrounds and a unified mythos of characters and environments. It looks and sounds pretty darn cool

Controls / Playability:

Grade – 6.5/10 for SOMEWHAT INTUITIVE and BASIC; It takes some figuring out and most buttons on the controller do nothing. Credit for keeping it simple; more depth or complexity would probably detract from the mystery of this title; The MOOSEMAN keeps his secrets. A little ding for the language glitch I encountered and the cut-scenes suitable only for third year archaeology majors (preferably who speak and read Russian).

Story:

Grade – 5/10 for MYSTERIOUS but TOO MYSTERIOUS; it’s cool to be introduced to a strange magical mythology and it’s also cool to figure things out on your own. It’s not quite as cool to read Russian or hear an in-depth tale of how some octopus-legged elk-god with a bunch of vowels in his name created the moon when it seems to have zero bearing on the game-play…this could be just me.

Value: Grade 10/10 because the game costs only $6.99 on XBOX Live; well worth every penny of that.

I definitely recommend this game to anyone in the family; it looks cool, sounds cool, and is fun to play. Play it in a cabin in the cold winter woods. If you’re not in a cabin in the woods, but wish you were, then play this bad-boy with the lights off and I guarantee that’s exactly how you will feel – let The MOOSEMAN do its thing.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

Check Out The Mooseman Launch Trailer:

The Mooseman is available for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and  PC via Steam for 6.99 USD / 6,99 Euro. For more information, head to mooseman.ru.