Murder on the Eurasia Express left too much of a bitter taste in my mouth, and with the lockdown still going strong, it was only a matter of time before I tried my hands at System Sacom’s more famous (and localized) game, Lunacy. In this specific case, the interval was roughly two hours. Why do tomorrow what you can do today?

Of course, this being about a story-heavy game, expect some spoilers!

Meet Fred the Traveler. I’m using a capital T there, because he sure loves introducing himself as “Fred the Traveler”, almost as if that were his family name. Of course that’s impossible, because Fred is not even necessarily his real name: see, he’s one of those amnesiac protagonists you might have heard about. They are usually stuck in JRPGs, but once in a while someone manages to escape into another genre.

Anyway, he finds himself inexplicably in Misty Town (which is not Silent Hill), where he’s strong-armed by the local ruler, an evil guy with a penchant for evil laughs, to find the mysterious city of Moons! So there starts your adventure. You’ll be going around, asking people to “please tell me everything you know about the City of Moons!”, which Fred does make sound like a threat. Not that you’ll be asking a lot, since there are maybe seven people in the whole town, perhaps it’s locked down because of the virus?

Worry not, because the second half of the game does bring you to the amazing city of Moons! Which is also empty, and actually quite small. There are ghosts and stuff. And plot twists. Also people die in hilarious manners, some of which can be brought upon by your own hands. Unexpectedly for the type of game and the era when it came out, you don’t get a good or bad ending depending on how many people you saved, so go nuts if you wish – though you will get some extra scenes during the credits if Fred saves those people instead. The game does borrow from the Lucasarts style by offering no dead ends and no game overs, and there’s no time limit to contend with either, which makes it more approachable to the casual player.

Gameplay is exactly the same as Mansion of Hidden Souls: look around, zoom on relevant items to get them automatically, use items from your inventory when you need to. That’s all, very basic. But I’m afraid it inherits similar flaws as well. Many items can’t be interacted with until you actually need them, which is not so uncommon in adventure games, but this game does sometimes go one step further: for example, at one point a character gives you an oil can. Later, you find a rusted door. You might think of using the oil, but it doesn’t work. Instead, you have to look for that character again, to trigger a second scene where he will gloat about juuuuust how good that oil is for rusted doors. Only once you have heard his boasting, the oil will work. Maybe Fred didn’t know how to apply it properly?

Some gripes aside, impressions are certainly much more positive than the last game I played. The videos look much more detailed and very smooth next to the Mega CD, and actually run a bit better than the Eurasia game. It again uses the same trick where the stills are merely video frames, and not higher quality as in Riven, so there is no jarring quality drop when you go between standing still to moving around. And the town looks quite lovely. Although it is a maze indeed. It will take a while before you remember where everything is.

Once again there are no subtitles, and one annoying problem is that the music is sometimes a bit too loud next to the voices, occasionally drowning them out. Luckily there’s an easily accessible in-game video player where you can watch any cutscene again. Considering this game is 100% cutscenes, it means you’ll never miss anything.

It’s a FMV game from the 90’s, so expecty cheesy CG animations and mostly unacceptable voices. And lip syncing? What lip syncing? I won’t lie, it is pretty jarring at times. The script doesn’t help either, you’ll often get gems like “maybe this perfume will protect me from this KILLER CARPET!”. No joke.

I was surprised to discover during the game that there are connections to Mansion of Hidden Souls. The theme of butterflies as human souls is once again present, although it has a more tangential role this time around. As I said, the gameplay is also exactly the same. Overall, it feels like it was made by the same team – unlike, say, the actual Mansion of Hidden Souls sequel on the same platform. Strange how that works.

I said that it looks like it could have been made by the same team, but a cursory look at the credits shows that it is not so. In fact, the only returning lead is the composer. I wasn’t expecting this. Also a shame that System Sacom doesn’t seem to be mentioned anywhere during the game. All credits reference single individuals, Sega or Atlus (who published it in the USA).

But know what’s even more unexpected? Apparently the director of Lunacy, Hiroyuki Maruhama, also directed Deep Fear. I never even knew that System Sacom co-developed that game. And after playing this one, I now feel quite interested in Deep Fear too. Since everybody is going to be busy with Resident Evil 3, I might as well get my own dose of survival horror too.

See? I already have my next goal. Getting through the lockdown is going to be easier than ever.