The adventure genre has been here for quite a while now, and is probably one of the most interesting genres out there, not to mention popular. Currently we have gotten a surge of games like Broken Sword and Broken Age that have not only kept the classic gameplay, but also managed to remain as interesting as they first were. Moebius seems to be the next in line, with having tons of backers on Kickstarter. Backers who are going to be veeery happy.
Moebius: Empire Uprising, follows the story of Malachi Rector, a unique individual who has a very peculiar gift that allows him to recognise recurring patterns based on historical events. Due to that ability, he catches the eye of a secret organisation, FITA. FITA specialises in making sure that the historic patterns play out as intended by locating recurring individuals who can shift the balance of the world. These recurring individuals though, have no idea they are important and there are always some people who are trying to break the pattern in order to push events into their favour, by resorting to any means necessary.
Let’s get the game mechanics and controls out of the way, and then I will go on to the story, which was absolutely entertaining and badass by the way. The game controls like any other classic adventure game you may have played where you use your mouse to point and click on items to interact with them, or areas to move your character towards. However, what is interesting here is how seamless the menu and User Interface is. Basically you’ve got the inventory on your right, which shows up when you click on its tab.
On the menu you’ve got different buttons which you can use to either, combine, look at , or hear descriptions of specific items. To use an item, you basically have to click on it, which brings it up on the highlight menu. After that, you can click on objects or persons, which brings up the little interactivity menu. That menu contains the traditional use button (if applicable), a talk button(if it is a person) and a look at button. However, there is one very interesting addition that is unique to this game. The analyze button.
Basically, whenever you have a person of interest, you can click on the analyze button to try and deduct different personality traits from their appearance. Think of it something along the lines of the new Sherlock Holmes series and Robert Downey’s movie. In my opinion, it is a very refreshing mechanic that is as interesting as it is unique. I especially love some of the lines you have to select from as they are quite hilarious. For example, during the later part of the game, I was going to analyze this servant and one of the categories told you that he looked sharp and gave you choices accordingly. My favourite from that particular one was, “He is probably related to me.” You might be wondering who me is. Well “Me” is Malachi when you control him, as you are analyzing people through his vision.
Analyzing people is perhaps the central mechanics of the game, especially when you have to find out someone’s personal history and cross reference it with important historical figures like Caesar or Leonard Da Vinci. Malachi’s job is to find out more about key individuals by investigating around their personal lives and making a fact folder, which he then uses for his cross-reference examination. The best thing about his job is that he gets to travel around the world, to some really beautiful locations in places such as France, Italy and even Cairo. So, you will get to see a varied amount of beautiful artwork that is unique to each location.
Coming back to the story, the basic setting is very interesting as I have mentioned. However, there is a reason Malachi is doing all this, and it is not for himself. For you see, Malachi has done well for himself over the years, building himself a reputable antiques career that allows him the luxury to interact with some of the most important people. So, he couldn’t care less. He is basically what you’d call a selfish bastard. What throws him into this predicament however, is when someone who is supposed to play a key part in the current US political affairs shows up on the radar. That person is related to an important historical figure. Since no one can pinpoint who that person is, anyone even remotely related to that historical figure starts getting killed. FITA, the agency I was talking about before, does not want that and thus hires Malachi to locate and recognise that person before the assassins get to them.
I am just brushing on the details, as I really think this game deserves to be played without any knowledge of the plot whatsoever, in order for some really cool details to be able to surprise you. The story feels fresh, but most of all, is interesting. I really wanted to finish it in a day, just because the story kept on getting better and Malachi started becoming more badass, but fortunately, the game sports a good length, so I didn’t get to finish it in a day. If this was a book, it’d be what you’d call, a page-turner. In fact, I honestly think that if you have been really enjoying the current Fables series by Telltale, you should give this story a go as Malachi’s character is similar to that of Bigby. He really starts taking control by the end. I really want to tell you who the other main character is, but don’t want to spoil your experience even a little bit, as his introduction is really cool.
Another thing I really like about some of the cutscenes is when Malachi starts thinking, and you have all these words appearing everywhere as Malachi tries to deduce the situation, and find the best explanation. He pretty much is reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes. There is also this problem Malachi has, which plays great with the overall plot, leaving players guessing about what he actually is going through. I was frustrated a bit at first, but things do get clear.
Also, as this is an adventure game, you are really encouraged to explore every nook and cranny, especially since it does not have a hand holding hint system. You do have objective notes guiding you in the right direction, but they don’t straightforward show you the solution. I will admit the game gets hard because of that, but you soon realise that there is probably somewhere you haven’t looked so it isn’t really impossible by any means.
Now, let’s talk about my favourite thing in videogames, the music. The music is absolutely exciting here, especially the main theme that you get to hear as soon as you launch the game to the menu. It is memorable, exciting and mysterious. The music also gives a lot of depth to some scenes. For example, early on in the game, you will have to visit this mini bridge where a murder had taken place. When you enter that area, a really sad and heartbreaking piano melody starts playing and it feels very depressing moving around. Furthermore… later on, when you are controlling the second character trying to save Malachi, there is this full-on drums and guitar theme playing, which is probably the main action theme, making the scenario more exciting. Basically put, the music isn’t random, and is carefully used for different emotional responses.
The only features of the game that kinda irked were the monotonous animation cycles. You see, even though they have taken a great amount of care building each scene and character, the animations just don’t feel so realistic at times, and get in the way of truly making a scene stand out. However, it is easy to get used to them, and after a while you will probably not notice much, but they are unfortunately still there. The last mission was also extremely frustrating, where you have to go through a network of caves, and it gets tiring really fast. Otherwise, aside from that, not once did I get a game-breaking bug that made me restart my progress, or crashed the game. Furthermore, it runs great and no one should have any problems maximising the graphical settings. The developers do recommend that if you face some action delays, lower your settings.
Overall, I had a lot of fun playing this game and the story was so interesting that I never wanted to stop. Every person you had to find out was different, and every location unique. Mix that up with some really badass scenarios, especially by the end, and you have a really exciting game, that you won’t want to let go. Jane Jensen, if you are reading this, PLEASE make more Moebius games, as I would be more than happy to continue playing as Malachi and solving more recurrences. If you are an adventure game fan, or just love good stories in general, you owe it to yourself to play this. Also, did I mention this game has kickass opening credits? I couldn’t recommend this game enough, so go and play it!