The Mooseman

The gameplay consists of moving the protagonist, the Mooseman, through a 2D-world, and solving various puzzles. The Mooseman can only move left or right, and, being "The One Who Knows", is able to move between the world's real and spirit planes. Switching between planes allows the player to see spirits and changes the surrounding objects: for example, what in the real plane seems like an ordinary boulder, in the spirit plane begins to move itself. The player can use such objects to hide from enemies or, for example, to build a bridge over an abyss.

During the game the player can collect artifacts of the Permian animal style hidden in different locations, each of them has short historical descriptions. Passing the idols, the player opens entries in the in-game encyclopedia that explains the Komi mythology, the same idols serve as save points. Unlocked myths in the encyclopedia are written in Anbur, the ancient Permic alphabet.

The story in the game is presented without direct dialogue between the characters, both through the visual and through the entries from the in-game encyclopedia. The player unlocks new entries in the encyclopedia which as he passes by the idols. At the beginning of the walkthrough the player is not given any information, but in the end the data from encyclopedia come together. The cutscenes in the game are voiced in Komi-Permyak language.

The moose god Yen, the creator of the world, hatched from an egg laid by the duck floating on a boundless ocean. From the shell of this egg the Middle World (the world of humans and spirits) was created, when Yen saw himself in reflection, from the two moose heads the Upper World (the abode of gods and souls) was created, and when Yen was born, the Lower World (the place where the cursed ones live) was formed in the depths of the ocean. One day Yen decided to find himself a wife, and found three sisters on Earth, mere mortals. To test them, Yen gave them his moose hide.

The game's developer is Vladimir Beletsky from the Perm, Russia. He was developing The Mooseman in his spare time, while at his main job he supervised the creation of another game, Tanki X. The development of the game began in May 2015, when Vladimir Beletsky drew the game logo in the Permian animal style and made a short document describing the general concept. Beletsky sent this document to his friend Mikhail Shvachko, who became the game's composer and sound designer, while Beletsky was an artist, writer, game designer, and programmer at the same time.

Initially the game was planned as an endless runner that would take one week to develop, but then Beletsky realized that the project was becoming something more than that, and the team wanted to make the game more in-depth. Locomalito's L'Abbaye des Morts game served as a reference point and source of inspiration. The visual style was inspired by the works of Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen and Hayao Miyazaki's anime films, and it was decided to draw characters and creatures in silhouettes, because it was easier and created the right atmosphere.

The game was well received by critics, who praised its successful art style, effective use of Finno-Ugric folklore, atmospheric music and sound design, as well as its educational value in terms of mythology. However, opinions were mixed regarding the game's short length and underdeveloped gameplay. The Mooseman was frequently compared to other games, such as Journey, Limbo, and Never Alone.

Riot Pixels praised the game's visually pleasing art direction, calling it a true work of art inspired by folk traditions, while its artistic minimalism was compared by the reviewer to Limbo. Yaroslav Gafner, a reviewer for StopGame.ru, also drew parallels with Limbo and noted similarities to Never Alone. He highlighted the game's informative portrayal of Finno-Ugric beliefs and its distinctive visuals as strengths, while criticizing its unpolished animations and short length.