GOATBOY BEGINS

Mothmen 1966 is an Adventure Game/Visual Novel/Playable Pulp Novella by way of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book… okay, that went far enough. Point is, it’s one of the entries I actually like in a genre *cough*visualnovels*cough* that I don’t like. I’m sticking to this assertion, but I’ll leave discussion of it there.

So, naturally for a game like this, Mothmen 1966 is story focused. And, because of that, it’s kind of hard to talk about it without spoiling things. Suffice it to say, though, that as one of LCB Game Studio’s Pixel Pulps, it is suitably pulpy. I guess that’s the benefit when you have an actual novelist (Nico Saraintaris) working on your story.

As you might notice, the graphics are evocative of a time where computer gaming was significantly less high fidelity, and with a smaller color palette. As you can also see, however, artist Fernando Martinez Ruppel played that limitation to an incredible strength. The black/white/cyan/lime-green color palette works for the sci-fi/horror story being told, here. And his spritework is excellent. It simultaneously looks good, while also being evocative (if not better than) some of what you’d see from games of the era they’re trying to look like. Notably, for something with visible pixels, they play with shadow well.

As for gameplay, there are a number of puzzles/interactive moments that break up the story. Aside from a few choices which do change the ending you get, there are a number of puzzles that you have to put just the right amount of brainpower into to get through them, without them being frustrating moon logic puzzles. There are also a few moments where you’ll get to the answer eventually that aren’t quite puzzles, but also aren’t just a straight choice. I’d count things like the binoculars under that latter category; I was aimlessly fiddling with them until the character that hands them to you tells you he has them adjusted to account for the vision in his left eye.

Sound-wise, things are fit to both the mood and the era they’re aping. if you don’t like sound chip beeps and the like, you might not be too happy. Otherwise, if you know what you’re getting into, it pairs well with the game.

As for features, the ability to save at any normal string of text is nice, and you probably won’t need more than the 9 save slots offered. They also have a log to let you review the text and choices, at least back to the beginning of the chapter (probably should’ve checked that more often to be sure, sorry). And while the entire game can be played with the mouse, they did have the wisdom to also add in keyboard controls that are fairly easy to intuit without screwing things up. They also the option on the main menu to play the “Impossible Solitaire” from one of the chapters, as well as a gallery of art unlocked by achieving certain goals.

If I had to nitpick, and I do, I’d point out that it’s a fairly short game. My playthrough ran a little under 2 hours, and at least some small portion of that was me leaving the game running while I grabbed a glass of water or did some small thing around the house. And that short runtime is down to the fact that the game is built for replayability thanks to the multiple endings.

So overall, I’d recommend giving Mothmen 1966 a try. It scratched an itch I didn’t realize I had, and it was nice to spend a night with my face bathed by the unearthly glow of strange creatures attacking a gas station.

*We were provided a code for this game for the purposes of review*

About Author

B. Simmons

Based out of Glendale California, Bryan is a GAMbIT’s resident gaming contributor. Specializing in PC and portable gaming, you can find Bryan on his 3DS playing Monster Hunter or at one of the various conventions throughout the state.

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