Zarya – 1: Mystery on the Moon

Zarya – 1: Mystery on the Moon is currently 91% off on Fanatical — down to $0.35 from $3.99.

At 91% off, this is one of the deepest discounts Zarya – 1: Mystery on the Moon reaches on Fanatical — near its typical floor.

That works out to $3.64 off the Fanatical list price of $3.99.

This deal is for the PC version. Click View Deal to open the official Fanatical page — prices and regional availability are confirmed at checkout, not by GamesCreed.

Before you buy, read our buying guide or compare more fanatical deals on GamesCreed.

What is Zarya – 1: Mystery on the Moon

Zarya – 1: Mystery on the Moon is a text-driven adventure from Your Story Interactive that puts you on the other end of a radio, not in a spacesuit. In 2021, so the setup goes, a distress signal comes in from the far side of the Moon, and four astronauts get sent to check it out. You’re the one back at mission control, reading their messages, seeing what they see, and deciding what happens next. It leans hard into that slow-burn sci-fi horror mood, the kind where every calm message from the crew feels like it’s building to something bad.

How it plays

This isn’t a game you control with a joystick or WASD. You read incoming messages from the astronauts and respond with choices, guiding the mission in something close to real time. Photos sent back from the lunar surface accompany the text, which gives the whole thing a found-footage quality that a lot of choice-based fiction skips. Every decision nudges the story somewhere, toward answers or toward disaster, and the game tracks multiple paths to different endings. If a choice gets your crew killed or the mission falls apart, you can rewind and try a different route rather than starting over from scratch. It’s less about reflexes and more about reading between the lines of what the astronauts are telling you, and guessing what they’re not.

Who it’s for

If you’re into slow-burn sci-fi horror, the kind that draws from Alien and Prometheus rather than jump-scare games, this scratches that itch without asking for a controller. Fans of interactive fiction like Lifeline will feel right at home with the format, and the photos give it an edge those games didn’t have. It’s also a good pick if you want something you can play in short bursts, since text and choices lend themselves to picking up and putting down. If you need real-time action, exploration, or voice acting to stay engaged, this will feel thin. And if branching text with the occasional grim outcome isn’t your thing, there’s no combat or puzzle-solving here to fall back on.

Is it worth it?

For what it is, a narrative experience built around choices, replays, and mood rather than production scale, it’s the kind of game that delivers most of its value in a single sitting or two. That makes it a natural fit for a sale purchase rather than a full-price impulse buy. Text-based adventures like this tend to be short, so you’re paying for the atmosphere and the branching story rather than dozens of hours of content. If you catch it discounted, it’s a low-risk way to spend an evening. Going in expecting a compact, mood-first experience rather than a sprawling one will keep expectations lined up with what you actually get.

Quick facts

Genre: Adventure, Indie. Developer and publisher: Your Story Interactive. Platform: PC (Steam). Released: May 30, 2017.