I for one welcome our space-mold-robot overlords.

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In the Shadow of Ganymede captivated me with its unique idea, of a possible dark future that forces mankind to leave the safety of Mother Earth. In the wake of recent events, the fear of stepping into the unknown beyond our home might be something we can all relate to and Ganymede showcases this well with its extraterrestrial horror elements. Unfortunately, the game does not hold up very well beyond that and I was left feeling disappointed by its abrupt and untimely ending.

I should start by mentioning its favorable points.

True to its theme, In the Shadow of Ganymede delivers a daunting space-horror tale with a great choice of setting and idea. It's easy to digest the grim situation these cosmonauts face through some brief but effective dialogues. There is a great buildup toward the final reveal of humanity's fate on Earth that I feel carried through. Little hints of bad things happening at home here and there gave just enough to keep us guessing.

A coworker speaking of the first newborn receives a distasteful remark from the overworked protagonist.

Another speaks of the terrible conditions they endure - still preferable to whatever they left behind on Earth.

These ideas were delivered concisely and fit well into natural-seeming conversation while still serving the purpose of storytelling. They give hints to the situation without dumping massive texts full of lore very few players would be willing to read. Subtlety done well.

The graphics and audio also fit perfectly well. As mentioned in the credits, many of the sounds are real noises from outer space, which was impressive to me and gave me further appreciation of the cosmos. The title menu looks nice and the BGM was great, although I wished that font was more readable. Though the map tileset throughout remained basic, some custom art could be found in the form of some sprites which added a fine touch. I also liked the design for the mold, more so than the other monster in the game. Encountering them in the dark confines of the caves amplified the fear of the dark which that section truly excelled in.

On the topic of lighting, Ganymede also had a rather cool torchlight feature. The light somehow cuts off at corners! Although it can't be shown properly with screenshots, the shadow animation led me to believe some special effort was made to display that effect. I thought it was a small piece of detail that was done really well.

Unfortunately, it doesn't take very long to notice the flaws in the game.

Despite having praised the concise nature of dialogues, the narrative overall was in fact too concise to be very enjoyable. Certain side dialogues feel out of place, written in a way that makes you wonder why the protagonist would bother asking these questions. Very little time is given to build up character and friendship between the two main characters. We are often introduced to an idea and then left to wonder where it could lead as the game already moved on to a new one.

It is clear from the structure and final resolution of the story that Ganymede is meant to be a tragedy, but I was barely able to empathize with the characters as I never really had time to get to know them. One moment we were jumping to safety from a liquid-filled cave and the next second everyone at the base was dead, us being next. I can see that the game tried to have a strong buildup with how the story started on an ordinary day at work and ending in the death of practically everyone, but for such a short game too many things were happening at once without anything really soaking in. We are introduced to the true horrors, the killer bots and the sentient mold, in the final five minutes of the game. In the Shadow of Ganymede was built with good ideas as a foundation, but they ended up not being displayed very well.

The excessive use of instant death traps is also something that I find off-putting. These instances were abundant in the pitch-black maze sequence and felt cheap almost every time. My immersion felt ruined when I had to save my game every time I have to check a corner for holes in the ground. The other route on the other hand was done really well by having a huge sense of urgency. Having to push around a large battery cell with freezing liquid creeping up behind you can be pretty panic-inducing - and that's a compliment for a horror game.

My greatest regret was the fact that there was no way to avoid the tragic ending even if I had the key item that was clearly shown to disable the killer bots. The EMP device was supposed to be used to evade a killer bot you would find when you take the elevator route, but I decided to take it through the caves on my second playthrough since I knew I would be cornered in the final cutscene. Unfortunately, there was no change and I could do nothing but silently bemoan the fact that the protagonist could have lived had he dug into his pocket for a mere second. I'm aware that the game must have been originally designed with a singular ending in mind but if this was the case then providing a way to carry over key items for routes where they are ultimately meaningless becomes a show of bad game design.

As for how the ending played out, I should say I was unsatisfied not because it was written badly but because I was disappointed with the lack of emotional impact it carried. We get a heartfelt moment where the two protagonists exchange what would become their final farewells but all of this happened after only about two or three meaningful conversations between the two (that were shown to us players). In all honesty, I very much enjoyed the philosophy of the story, a tale of how humanity becomes its own downfall even in the far reaches of space, but overall I thought the ending was too abrupt and not enough tension was built up toward the very end.

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My final score is 2. I wished I could have given more - biased as I am toward sci-fi horror - but overall the game felt more like a concept than it was a finished product. It had polish in some parts, but that alone couldn't provide a full experience as it needed much polish in other parts. I don't regret having gone cave-exploring In the Shadow of Ganymede, but I can't say my experience truly ended with a bang.