Often I’ll read about people complaining that they’ve played it all and are bored at the current landscape of games. They’ll wax on about days when games were more experimental and I’ll chuckle to myself. Here we are at an age where the barrier for game development has never been lower and experimental games are releasing at the speed of sound and these guys are complaining because AAA studios aren’t more experimental. Meanwhile, small devs that are trying very interesting, novel, experimental things are struggling to feed themselves. I can’t point the blame at others without also pointing the blame at myself. I love Moonana games and I’ve yet to really write about them. Let’s take this opportunity to better both of ourselves and maybe spend a little extra cash on something experimental today.
Keylocker, Virgo Versus the Zodiac dev Moonana announced today that they still haven’t recouped the costs from their latest game, Keylocker | Turn based Cyberpunk Action. Moonana, who have developed some really interesting games, announced recently they were working on a new clown-based tactical RPG, Clowned King.
“In a world made of glass, an exiled Prince becomes a clown to conceal his bloody past behind a mask of laughter.”
Come on, that sounds great! Of course, the Brazilian developer has always had bizarre and interesting ideas for their games. I wrote about Virgo Versus the Zodiac last year for a feature about short RPGs and mentioned it had become one of my favorite RPGs I played that year. Featuring many elements that intrigue me as an RPG enjoyer, Virgo Versus the Zodiac employs a gorgeous color palette against a unique story where you play as the Holy Queen whose goal is to restart the universe. The soundtrack is incredible.
“Dethrone the Zodiacs, revive the Golden Age and purge the Heretics that swarm the galaxy as Virgo, the queen of Purity, in this unforgiving timed actions turn-based JRPG.”
Unfortunately, without sales Moonana won’t be able to continue creating interesting and unique RPGs anymore. Skeeting out on Bluesky this morning;
“We are today announcing a new game we just released for Christmas, Ginger’s Letter to Santa, although this game has a bit of a bittersweet story behind it. As many of you are aware, Keylocker has not recouped as of today, leaving us on a big financial pit…”
How to Support Moonana: Ginger’s Letter to Santa and More
Ginger’s Letter to Santa is up on Steam for a paltry $3.59 USD. I would urge you to consider buying Ginger’s Letter to Santa even if it ends up not being your cup of tea to keep experimental studios afloat. And if you do end up liking it, consider checking out Keylocker | Turn Based Cyberpunk Action or any of Moonana’s other games to keep interesting, experimental games alive.
