I really liked Moon on the DS (as you may recall), so when I heard that Renegade Kid was doing the equivalent of an HD remake for the 3DS, I was pretty stoked. I got a chance to play through the first episode at PAX East, and I walked away impressed and looking forward to its upcoming release.

The game’s premise is simple: in the future, astronauts have discovered a mysterious hatch on the moon’s surface. A team was sent down to investigate, but of course, they disappeared. Your character descends beneath the surface of the moon to figure out what happened. It turns out everyone’s fine, and they were totally on their way back when they got sidetracked by a cute puppy. Well, maybe not.

The underlying gameplay hasn’t changed at all—you’re still walking, shooting, not jumping, and using a little droid to scout areas, collect things, and deactivate force fields. The real difference is the presentation: the graphics have been overhauled. Everything looks sharp and seemingly more detailed. Textures have improved. The game is also silky smooth, running at a consistent 60 fps with or without the 3D on. I got through much of the first episode, killing the first boss and finding the Muon Pistol. I’d forgotten how large the levels are. I was eventually killed by a cadre of security droids, but I walked away impressed and looking forward to the first episode’s May release.

The episode release schedule will likely be stretched out over 2014; Renegade Kid hasn’t submitted the other episodes yet (but intend to submit them all at once).You’ll pay $9 for the first episode, and $2 for every episode after that, for a total of $15. That’s a damn fine price. What really piqued my interest was Director Jools Watsham’s comment, saying that if the first game does well, there could be a Season 2!