Moonrise Fall

About

Moonrise Fall is a single player action adventure game. It was developed by Made From Strings and was released on May 31, 2019. It received positive reviews from players.

Moonrise Fall is an atmospheric exploration puzzle game where you play as a boy who, after losing his parents, finds himself lost in a supernatural forest filled with hidden locations and strange creatures. Use your detective skills, camera, and journal to unravel the mysteries of the forest and uncover the truth behind your entrapment. This surreal experience is inspired by real-life experiences, offering a thought-provoking journey of loss and self-disovery.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

84%

Audience ScoreBased on 19 reviews

music7 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

Moonrise Fall features a beautifully crafted atmosphere with relaxing music and charming pixel art, creating an immersive experience.
The game encourages exploration and observation, with unique mechanics like changing the time of day and weather to interact with the environment.
The narrative, while open to interpretation, adds depth to the gameplay, making the journey through the mysterious forest engaging.

Many puzzles are overly simplistic and lack challenge, leading to a sense of tedium rather than accomplishment.
The controls are poorly designed, with slow movement and a lack of customization options, making gameplay frustrating at times.
Once completed, the game offers little replay value, and finding the last collectibles can be tedious without a hint system.

gameplay
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
54%
23%
The gameplay is centered around exploration and photography, featuring a variety of mechanics that keep the experience engaging, such as time and weather manipulation. However, the process of taking photos can be cumbersome and overly complex, detracting from the enjoyment of the otherwise atmospheric and puzzle-rich environment. Overall, while the game offers a unique blend of mechanics, the execution may lead to a frustrating experience for some players.
- “An indie exploration game with great ambience, nice pixel art, light puzzles, and some original game mechanics.”
- “I quite liked all the different mechanics the game offered.”
- “The gameplay consists of exploring every corner of the game world.”
- “The gameplay is mind-numbing.”
- “The gameplay consists of slowly walking, taking photos of specific creatures found by how good your reading comprehension skills are.”
- “Photographing stuff can be fun, either as a side-thing, or like here, the main mechanic, so it would be extremely important for it to be quick and easy, but here's the kicker: while holding space and moving the lens around with WASD, and maybe speeding it up with shift because you're a regular octopus (why doesn't shift work for sprinting?), once it's over something noteworthy, you have to press the displayed arrow key, then maybe the thing will move, follow it, another arrow, do this half a dozen times, then press 'F' to finally take a picture, but that's not all, gotta smash 'E' about a dozen times because you apparently have a Polaroid camera and pictures need shaking to develop.”
music
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
18%
18%
The music in Moonrise Fall is widely praised for its relaxing and atmospheric qualities, effectively enhancing the exploration experience. While the soundtrack is not considered groundbreaking, it successfully sets the mood and complements the game's visuals. Additionally, the inclusion of music puzzles adds a unique element, though they are noted to be quite simple and may not challenge players significantly.
- “The music, while nothing spectacular, sets the mood right, and I especially liked the upbeat 'mines and fields' and 'mystery machine'.”
- “Exploring the beautiful environments, accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack, you collect items and necessary items to proceed to the next areas.”
- “Later on, we find a kalimba (a musical instrument) that can change the weather or trigger some event after playing a tune.”
- “Though I gotta say, the music puzzles were the least annoying, as simple button-mashing made short work of them, which isn't good from a puzzling perspective, but anything to keep things moving here.”
- “None of the art, music, game design, etc. is recycled material.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and surreal qualities, complemented by beautiful settings and a captivating soundtrack. Players appreciate the blend of exploration and puzzle-solving, which enhances the overall experience, making it a compelling journey that invites interpretation. Overall, the atmosphere is considered the standout feature, drawing players into its mysterious world.
- “The mysterious surreal atmosphere and beautiful settings compelled me to keep playing to uncover all the game had to offer.”
- “Immersive exploratory adventure with pleasant puzzles and ominous, surreal atmosphere.”
- “The result is a highly atmospheric journey that is open to interpretation, as the game prefers to hint at what happens rather than give the answer directly.”
story
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
The story is described as relatable and mysterious, but ultimately lacking depth and connection to the gameplay, with some reviewers noting it feels underdeveloped and not story-driven. While there are meaningful elements, the narrative does not fully engage players, and the puzzles, though varied, do not enhance the story significantly.
- “The story is relatable and mysterious.”
- “Underneath it all is a meaningful story that has more of an impact than expected.”
- “But storywise, the plot is a bit lacking.”
- “And that's it for the story until the end, unfortunately.”
- “Not a story-driven game.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and flawed, suggesting that improvements like sprinting, customizable controls, and reducing puzzle complexity could enhance the experience, though they still believe the game would remain fundamentally lacking.
- “At no point did I feel this was a difficult game; unfortunately, it came off as kind of tedious.”
- “Adding sprint and rebindable controls, changing the way the camera works, and cutting half the puzzles in the 'dungeons' would still leave the game flawed and often tedious, but it would be a definite gamechanger.”
graphics
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Moonrise Fall features charming pixel art graphics that appeal to fans of the style, complemented by relaxing music and immersive sound effects that enhance the gaming experience.
- “If you're into pixel art, you will definitely enjoy Moonrise Fall's graphics. The music is really relaxing, especially if you enjoy listening to the sounds of nature.”
- “The pixel art graphics are nice, and the music, along with the sound effects, enhances your experience and helps you immerse yourself in the game environment.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Moonfall Rise offers limited replayability, as players find little incentive to revisit the game after achieving 100% completion, aside from searching for secrets and easter eggs.
- “Moonfall Rise lacks any kind of replay value. Once you 100% complete the game, you can always look for secrets and easter eggs, but that's about it.”
- “After finishing the game, I found no incentive to play again. The story doesn't change, and the side quests feel repetitive.”
- “The game offers little in terms of new experiences on subsequent playthroughs. It feels like a one-and-done type of game.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The game lacks character development, featuring no dialogues or meaningful interactions, as players primarily engage with pagan creatures through photography during exploration.
- “There is no character development; there are no dialogues, and interaction is limited to encounters with pagan creatures whose photos you take while exploring the woods.”
- “The characters feel one-dimensional and lack any meaningful growth throughout the game.”
- “I was disappointed by the lack of depth in the character arcs; they remain static and unengaging.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Many users express frustration with the current state of monetization in gaming, highlighting a prevalence of low-quality games and cash grabs that make it challenging to discover genuinely valuable titles.
- “With so much shovelware, cash grabs, and pseudo-games in the market, it can be difficult to find the wheat among the weeds, the gold among the brass, or the needle in the haystack.”
- “The monetization strategy feels overly aggressive, pushing players to spend money at every turn.”
- “It's frustrating to see a game that could be great marred by constant prompts to purchase in-game currency.”