This is a very underappreciated game that deserves to be relauched by a renowed publisher, as happened to its sibbling sci-fi horror RPG Cold and Dark (now published by Modiphius). I've read a couple of nasty reviews on RPG.net about a previous edition of Noctum, and, although I never had access to older editions, I felt that there was nothing wrong with those either, the reviewe probably had a problem with mature horror. And this IS mature horror, for people who like, for example, Kult. Noctum is, in fact, a very nice substitute for the now extremely dated Kult (despite having a new edition on the way, it has been postponed for so long that I couldn't care less about that anymore). In some ways Noctum is even better than Kult - for example, the mental stability and fear rules surpass the mental balance rules of Kult. And the detailed description of mental traumas and illness is much better than the one found in the older classic swedish role playing Kult. The mythos, on the other hand, is less interesting than the Kultish cosmology, and deserved to be rethinked in an hypotethical future re-realease. Stilll, as this is a game prepared to be played either with or without supernatural - pure thriller or horror - it doesn't blemish the product per se. The supernatural can be used in it's totality, or only in part, so the flexibility of it makes it a good choice for someone who likes varied styles. As for the rules, they are simple and as flexible as the setting itself. The art is varied, some of it is not so good, but some of it is quite nice. There are some typos, but, as far as I noticed, nothing that really matters.

This game has been, apparently, a victim of lack of marketing, and it's sad because it's an unpolished gem that might get much better with future supplements. The setting offers exactly what it promisses, a fertile ground for a space thriller campaign inspired by movies such as the Alien franchise or John Carpenter's The Thing (or videogames like Dead Space), a more military approach to the alien fighting trope (in the vein of Starship Troopers), or something a little more bizarre, almost supernatural, like Event Horizon, or even a more space-faring adventurous type of thing, like Firefly. All these options are obvious (and all these films and games are advised as inspiration by the author). but the game is flexible enough to take other roads: political intrigue in the new homeworlds of the human race, corporate espionage, hunting down humans crazed by the effects of the Black Ressonance, plain exploration... Granted, the setting as it is lacks something. There's little information on everyday life, futuristic sports, the media and entertainment, the "who's who" of showbiz be it music, movies or other arts, but most science fiction games lack all that stuff and it's not that difficult to add it - for the quite few like me that really like that kind of info. In general, it's mostly gritty, with a heavy industrial feeling, which is quite alright, specially when there's no official Alien game. The rules are mostrly simple and very flexible (customizing the multi-task-armour-thing called the "COG" takes a bit more time than it should, but it feels a lot like customizing armours in cRPGs like the Mass Effect trilogy, so for those who like those games maybe it's a plus, not a down side). All in all it's quite an intereseting game, with a nice price tag, if you buy the pdf, but it does seem to have been neglected. And that's a pitty, because I for one would like to see more from this game - more information, maybe adventures ou guides on stuff that's lacking on the core book. Oh, and the artwork is excellent, really, really a mood setter (don't judge it by the cover alone, the interior art is much better).