My initial thought when I picked up the controller was Moo Lander was going to be an Ori clone. I was wrong.
Moo Lander is a 2D adventure platformer in development by The Sixth Hammer and releases in Spring 2022 on Steam, Playstation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. Inspired by the Ori and Rayman series of games, Moo Lander has similar level design and feel it’s own unique twists on the genre. You take control of your civilisation’s last remaining spaceship scouring the wide expanse of space trying to find the legendary Milk Generating Device. Milk is the main plot element and a fundamental resource of the game, and the protagonist is looking for milk to save his dying civilisation. Milk is used to power your arsenal to unlock different abilities based around either defence or lethal and non-lethal skills. Choosing which armament and ability you’re going to upgrade and spend your milk on will be crucial.
My initial thought when I picked up the controller was Moo Lander was going to be an Ori clone. I was wrong. From the moment the game starts, you’re drawn in by the stellar voice acting, vivid visuals and an alien cow. I was able to play through the demo which is about 30 minutes of gameplay. You start the campaign of Moo Lander having crash landed on Mars. Upon being startled by a huge cow, you reboot the ship and meet your AI companion Hamilton, where he informs you the ship is missing parts and you will need to find them in order to continue exploring this planet. The ultimate aim is to teleport enough cows to secure sufficient milk to save your civilisation. After a brief introduction with said cow, you take control of the ship and I found using a gamepad/controller much easier than keyboard and mouse. Movement controls are very smooth and the landscapes are full of twists and turns to help you get a good feel for them.
The music and soundtrack with unique instrumental sounds are very harmonious and compliment the level design of Moo Lander wonderfully. The ups and downs of the instruments as you move deeper underground and up to the surface are spot on and help immerse you into the game. I also loved how the music changes tempo and tone as you approach a puzzle or battle. Hamilton’s almost robotic monotone voice compliments the sometimes erratic nature of our protagonist’s voice, and their dialogue exchanges are very fluid and feed well off each other. It was a surprise to see a branching dialogue system included in the game and kind of fits well to develop the story.
There are multiple different enemy types in Moo Lander and I encountered a wide variety during my playthrough. Each type has multiple different attacks and needed different strategies to beat. All in all, the enemies were challenging but not too difficult. One feature I found interesting was when you defeated enemy types you gained research from their DNA which is then added to your ship as unlockable skins called camouflage modules. Once unlocked and equipped, they add passive bonuses in game.
One aspect of Moo Lander I absolutely enjoyed and found well thought out was, during the boss battles with these behemoth bovines, only non-lethal attacks can damage them. This is done in order to be able to teleport them back to your home planet to provide them with the milk they need to survive. It is a refreshing thought that you don’t require purely lethal attacks to progress in the game. I thoroughly enjoyed this demo of Moolander and even though it was only 30-minutes of gameplay, I cannot wait for longer demos and the game eventually releasing next year.
This early impressions review key was provided by the developer. Moo Lander is currently in development and set for release in Spring 2022 on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch.
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Written by: @Blustreak81
