Sometimes you hear about a mix of genres, and you just know you’re in for something special. That was the case when we heard about Obsidian Moon, a Lovecraft-inspired noir detective game, which has just launched a new demo on Steam.
Jaxon.gg was given early access to Obsidian Moon’s Demo last week by developer and publisher Lost Cabinet Games, and we’ve put together a preview for all those thinking of taking the plunge into this detective romp.
Obsidian Moon nails the noir feel. Screenshot by Jaxon.gg
Obsidian Moon is a slick noir detective thriller which quickly starts to hint at something sinister below the edge. While grisly murders are nothing nice, there’s also the slow build of cult iconography, mysterious old-world stories to discover, especially if you spend the time to dig into each of the many clues.
The game works like this: You are given a set of cards relating to the case. These consist of things like the location, the body, the victim. By performing actions like investigating, lab, searching records, you can find more cards. You can also combine cards (combining a murder weapon with an autopsy, for instance, might give you a deduction card). Each card has some details which will help you figure out which action to take next.
Tasks take time, and time is limited. Each day you’ll have a limited amount of actions you can take to find more clues. At the end of the day, it’s time for bills. Whiskey, bullets, and some random extra costs (some which can act as buffs) appear.
Your caseload can quickly spiral, and you’ll need to figure out which clues are relevant and which are red herrings. Screenshot by Jaxon.gg
Then, you take the cards you need to build the case. Once you’ve found your victim, offender, cause of death, weapon, and motive, you’re ready to submit. You don’t need to unlock all the clue cards to do this, or even most, but you’ll get more money if you do. The game has a survival element tied to the money you make and the sanity you have. You also can’t brute-force the mysteries. A single mistake costs you money if you submit too soon, and it’s far better to spend an extra day or two compiling clues than risk bankrupting yourself with misinformation.
As typical for a Lovecraft-adjacent game, there’s a sanity system, which has a greater effect depending on your difficulty. This is affected by things like unpaid bills and the length of the case. Whisky, paying bills, and solving cases can reduce this loss and restore sanity.
There’s some stuff that’s rough around the edges. The text speed could use some tweaking, or at least a fast-forward button on top of the option to adjust the speed. There’s some jankiness with the handling of clues in the UI, and the tutorial sometimes tells you to press a button that’s named something else. We also once soft-locked ourselves by dragging a clue off screen. A lot of this is polish and something that can be cleared up in the times between now and the full release.
The simple layout can hide the fun in this deduction-based game. Screenshot by Jaxon.gg
What really sells this game, though, is the atmosphere. Obsidian Moon nails the old-school aesthetic, both of a game from a prior era, and of the era itself. This is gritty noir with a hint of horror, handled with a careful balance of simplicity and complexity. The cases never feel unsolvable, but they’re taxing enough to make you stop and think.
The Demo gives you just two cases, a tutorial and a longer main case. There’s maybe an hour of gameplay here, especially if like us you make a silly mistake and forget to send the body for an autopsy for the first three days of a case. There’s some replayability as well. There’s around 40 pieces of evidence/clues to find, and several deductions. We’re excited for the full game which will likely push our deduction skills to the limit.
Obsidian Moon’s demo is available now as part of Steam’s Detective Fest. The full game is scheduled to release later in 2026 on PC. You can support the game by wishlisting it.
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Featured Image Credit: Lost Cabinet Games
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