Zarya-1: Mystery on the Moon

About

"Zarya-1: Mystery on the Moon" is a narrative-driven adventure game set in a Cold War-era lunar base. As a member of a rescue team, you must uncover the truth behind the sudden silence of the base and its crew. The game features puzzles, exploration, and a rich, immersive storyline inspired by classic science fiction.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

79%

Audience ScoreBased on 38 reviews

story15 positive mentions

gameplay4 negative mentions

The game features an intriguing and well-written story that keeps players engaged and curious about the outcomes.
The concept of exploring different endings and the mystery surrounding the narrative adds depth to the gameplay experience.
The atmosphere and sound design effectively create a sense of tension and immersion, enhancing the overall experience.

The gameplay is hampered by tedious mechanics, such as unskippable dialogue and lengthy waiting periods, which detract from the enjoyment.
Many choices feel arbitrary and lead to frustrating trial-and-error gameplay, making it difficult to achieve the desired outcomes without external guides.
The lack of meaningful interaction and limited gameplay elements result in a more passive experience, making it feel more like a chore than an engaging game.

story
54 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
65%
7%
The story of Zarya-1 is generally regarded as intriguing and well-written, featuring a compelling premise centered around a team of explorers investigating a mysterious signal on the moon. However, many players find the execution flawed due to tedious gameplay mechanics that require repetitive navigation through the narrative, often leading to frustration and boredom. While the narrative offers depth and multiple endings, the cumbersome structure detracts from the overall experience, making it feel more like a chore than an engaging adventure.
- “Great story, though it can get tedious going through all the decisions and endings.”
- “The tale is immersive, the characters are friendly, and the story is actually interesting and original.”
- “Amazing story and writing!”
- “The game wastes your time so much in between trying to find different routes or choices that I had enough after about 90 minutes and having the mission failed yet again by a seemingly innocuous random choice.”
- “The game is very stingy with information about the characters, about the story, or about why you should care for any of this.”
- “Zarya-1 is a 'choose your own adventure' style story, but the interactive elements are very rare, quite limited, and -- which is the worst aspect -- the game is full of unnecessary and unskippable mechanics which only wastes your time and contribute nothing.”
gameplay
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
59%
24%
The gameplay of Zarya-1 is criticized for being overly simplistic and repetitive, often feeling more like an interactive story than a game, with limited player agency and clunky mechanics that detract from the experience. Reviewers noted that the game is bogged down by unnecessary and unskippable elements, making exploration tedious and failing to track player choices meaningfully. While the atmosphere and characters received some praise, the overall execution of gameplay left many feeling disappointed and frustrated.
- “Really liked the clever mechanic of fast forwarding mission time.”
- “I am curious what the writers could achieve with a game that offered more complex gameplay, and I hope they are going in that direction.”
- “This mechanic is a lot like in Steve Jackson's Sorcery!”
- “Overall, the game follows a very boringly presented story using very boring game mechanics.”
- “Unfortunately, the gameplay of Zarya-1 is extremely crude; in fact, there is barely any gameplay provided.”
- “More of an interactive story than a game - gameplay elements are sparse and basically only serve to put the player in the story.”
graphics
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
The game's graphics are a mixed bag, featuring limited still images and a primarily text-based presentation that some players found appealing, while others criticized the lack of detailed artwork. Despite these shortcomings, the visual style received praise for its quality, particularly in relation to the narrative, though there were notable issues in the final chapter's graphics. Overall, while the visuals may not be the game's strongest aspect, they complement the engaging story and characters.
- “It's well-written, and alongside the writing, you get some decent artwork with the narrative justification that one of your squad members has a camera that he sends you photos from.”
- “The story and the characters seem interesting, the sound effects and the music are adequate, and the visuals are nice.”
- “The graphical style, even though it is mainly just text, was really good; you should give your artist a raise.”
- “The game lacks graphical artwork.”
- “Kinda like playing a text adventure with limited still image graphics on a C64.”
- “Also fix his graphic for the final chapter, which seems to be replaced with bones for some reason.”
grinding
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, as it requires multiple replays to explore all possible paths and endings without the option to skip sections. While the story and writing are praised, the repetitive nature of replaying scenes can become frustrating, especially when clarity on character motives and plot elements is lacking.
- “Basically you have to replay the game many times, grinding through all the possible paths, until you happen to get lucky and choose the right door.”
- “And while the writing is good enough to read a scene 2 or 3 times, it does get tedious after a while, especially since there is no way to skip forward.”
- “I really wish we got to see what was on the hard drive you can recover (you can't to my knowledge) and it gets really tedious replaying sections of the story to find all the endings, something that really bugged me after a while.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The atmosphere of the game is generally praised for being creepy and well-executed, contributing to an amusing experience with decent horror elements. However, some players feel that the mechanics detract from the overall tension and mystery, and the story is criticized for being too short.
- “Well, the atmosphere is quite creepy and well executed in my opinion, so no faults there.”
- “Now some of the good aspects: the horror is alright, the writing is decent, and the atmosphere is quite well executed.”
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The music and sound design in the game are praised as phenomenal, enhancing the overall experience. However, some users find the music adequate but overshadowed by frustrations with gameplay elements, suggesting a mixed reception.
- “Absolutely phenomenal music and sound design!”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy of the game relies heavily on ad support, with players facing delays unless they pay to remove ads, which detracts from the intended repeat play experience. This approach may frustrate users who expect a more seamless gameplay loop given the game's premise of exploration and failure.
- “It seems that all these time-wasting mechanics are actually just delaying tactics for the ad-supported mobile versions, where players can only fast-forward time during countdowns and remove ads if they pay for the game.”
- “The game is not set up to encourage repeat play, despite its premise of failing and trying again, which feels frustrating given the monetization strategies in place.”