You remember Lucas Pope, right? He who casually dropped two of the most influential puzzle games ever then got distracted by yellow cranks for six years, occasionally popping up to drop a demake of Papers Please? Well, Pope has ceased hogging that crank, for now at least, and just released Haloween-y adventure game Moida Mansion. It’s on Itch here, and it’s completely free to play in your browser.
It’s a beautifully presented thing, faux-encased in a red, four button handheld. “Oh no!” reads the mock-up instruction manual. “The Adventure Club’s official mascot turtle has carelessly wandered into Moida Mansion. Your friends went after her and got trapped! They broke the golden T.A.C rule: “Stay out of Moida Mansion!” Now it’s up to you. Sneak in and rescue them before it’s too late!”
The idea here is that you’ll explore the Moida Mansion in first person, listening for noises to locate your missing mates. It’s basically a very elaborate game of hide and seek. There’s also puzzles, helpful and harmful inhabitants to meet, and a ‘monsta’ chasing you around. No word on whether the New Yoik-ification of these terms has any bearing on the actual game, but maybe pizza rat will show up at some point.
It’s fair to say Pope has a penchant for retro presentation. The excellent Return Of The Obra Dinn utilised early Macintosh monochrome, and the Playdate itself has its own, stripped back style. If you’re yet to play Obra Dinn itself, it’s safe to say it’s somewhat of an RPS favourite: one of our favourite PC games of the 2010’s, actually. “Obra Dinn asks you to tease out social lives from a freeze frame of murder,” was wot Matthew (RPS in peace) reckoned. “It doesn’t take the little grey cells to realise this is remarkable stuff.”