Legendary indie developer Lucas Pope has released Moida Mansion, a brand new game inspired by Tiger Electronics handhelds and Game & Watch that you can play right now on PC.
Pope is perhaps best known for the likes of maritime detective game Return of the Obra Dinn and oppressive document-checking simulator Papers, Please, but Moida Mansion has an altogether different tone, as you've probably guessed from the humorously phonetic spelling of "murder" in the title.
On Moida Mansion's Itch.io page, it's presented as a charmingly old-school handheld throwback, with the screen surrounded by character artwork and some properly chunky-looking retro buttons (which you'll need to click to interact with the game).
Moida Mansion's display pays homage to the devices Pope was seemingly inspired by; it's got a monochrome color scheme and the refresh rate is low, leading to an effect that's almost a slideshow-style series of still images rather than a fluid, moving image.
The game is also accompanied by a delightful 80s-style instruction manual; in fact, Pope himself says that Moida Mansion was "a good excuse to make a very 80s instruction manual", apologizing to any players "struggling through [his] youth here".
You play as a member of the Adventure Club, an intrepid group of kids who have wandered into the titular mansion in order to find a wayward turtle mascot. Unfortunately, you're not alone in the mansion, and so you must look for your missing friends while also avoiding a "terrible monsta".
You'll need to search through objects to find your friends, and rooms in the mansion often contain secrets or hidden passages as well. Not only that, but Moida Mansion "is constantly changing", as Pope says, so each run won't be the same.
Moida Mansion operates along similar lines to Mars After Midnight, a work simulator Pope designed for the retro Playdate console line, as well as the similarly LCD-heavy LCD, Please, a Game & Watch-style take on Papers, Please.
You can play Moida Mansion right now on PC via Itch.io, and you can also find some of Lucas Pope's other work there if you're interested in checking that out.
