I was offered a chance to review The Sun and Moon recently and leapt at the opportunity. I find it very difficult to get into smaller indie games and this forces me out of my comfort zone by making me look at something that I wouldn’t automatically pick up and purchase, and may not have even heard about. The Sun and Moon is a simple premise with a unique twist; it’s a basic platformer that allows you to dive and move not only through the ‘air’ but also through the ‘ground’. It’s very abstract and difficult to explain in normal terms, but I like a bit of simplicity in a game so was eager to get my teeth stuck into this title.

The Sun and Moon is currently garnering excellent reviews on Amazon and it was the winner of the prestigious Ludum Dare 29, the theme of which was “Beneath the Surface”. For those of you who are unaware Ludum Dare started out as a simple forum back in 2002, and it quickly escalated to a set of themed challenges that forces developers to engage with their creative sides to produce simple yet elegant games in just 48 hours. The first thing you’ll notice upon firing up The Sun and Moon are the delightfully rendered title screens and retro 8-bit soundtrack. Be warned, the game is FULL of repetitive earworms that will embed themselves deeply into your brain until you find yourself awake humming them at 3AM. Not that this is a bad thing; it just demonstrates how deliriously catchy the score actually is.

Feverish with anticipation I mashed the “play” button, and after a brief screen explaining the controls (essentially just ‘use the arrow keys’) it was straight into the action. There are platforms, there are shapes, and I appear to be a slightly bigger shape. There’s something that looks like a portal. Nice and simple, grab the little shapes and head for the portal. And initially the game is indeed nice and simple. Blazing through the first few levels allows you to get a feel for the actual controls, and it is here that I need to level an exorbitant amount of praise. The second level adds another control to our sophisticated repertoire of arrow keys; the shift key comes into play and it allows us to ‘morph’ through the floor. Upon hitting the shift key and timing it correctly when your bouncy ball of joy hits a surface you are propelled through it with a measure of momentum. Suddenly a simple platformer throws off its admittedly overdone retro overcoat to reveal layers upon layers of sophisticated finery. Now I understand the fuss.

Gradually the game begins to introduce hazards that we have to avoid. Hazards which, more often than not, are cunningly placed to sit right next to the random dots that you must collect. Sometimes the dots are in the ‘air’, other times the ‘ground’ so you have to get used to transitioning between the two materials with ease and learning how to deal with the pulse of momentum you get when entering the solid stuff. The angle you approach from, exactly when you hit the shift key, how fast you are travelling at the time, all of these things seem to factor directly into where and how you will go shooting off when phasing from one material to the other. Trial and error become the name of the game, as it should with any platformer.

The level design is the glue that binds the whole experience together. Each set of platforms are carefully crafted to be both rewarding and devilishly tricky, and you will repeatedly find yourself slamming the keyboard down in disgust only to sit back down again five minutes later to try again after you have calmed down. This process will very likely repeat itself until you realise it is Monday morning and you have to go to work. Then you will no doubt call in sick, and a month later you will be eaten by cats after you lapse into a coma and die after forgetting basic essentials in life such as eating and drinking; The Sun and Moon really is that addictive. Very few games have hooked me so wickedly and left me in no doubt that I absolutely have to keep coming back for more. I have to do it, better than last time. I have to beat my previous times. I have to navigate my cute little bouncing ball that suddenly has transcended all logic and common sense and become an actual thing that I empathise with in my mind across the evil spiky flashy things without dying. And as with any great platformer you will find yourself uttering those immortal words, “just one more level before bed…”

Should you buy The Sun and Moon? Without a doubt! It is currently priced at £6.99 on Steam, and in the relatively short time I have been reviewing it I get the distinct impression I have only just scratched the surface and that there are a tremendous number of levels to explore and personal bests to beat. If you enjoy platform gaming at all then this is a must have in your collection. It is a challenging, nailbiting, infuriating, frustrating but ultimately incredibly rewarding experience, and of all of the indie games I currently have sat in Steam I know that this will be one that I come back to time and time again. Set aside some time, buy yourself a copy, and let me know how you all get on. I would recommend padding the area at your feet for when you do feel the urge to slam down your keyboard in a fit of gaming induced rage, and stocking up on coffee, Optrex and pizza. Cancel your schedule for the next 24 hours. Sit back, take a deep breath, and enjoy a genuine slice of innovative indie gaming.

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