Hunter's Moon - The Return (PC)

Hunter's Moon: The Return was originally developed as a Freeware title in 2008. As part of our efforts to preserve legacy titles from Thalamus' past, the game has been updated to support Windows 10 & 11. If you wish to purchase the original C64 version, click here.

FAR FROM HOME...

Memlog Hunter.10/thmw1: ‘Lost in space. Surrounded. Strange structures that build themselves – hive-like. And at their core, alien starcells... Must get home. Back to Hunter’s Moon. Must... survive! Am attacking now – full thrust – cannons locked in – FIRE!’ Little do you know what you face: over 180 levels of galactic mayhem. Hope you are a CLEVER psychoblaster – or else...'

INTRODUCTION

Originally released in 1987, Hunter's Moon is a strategic shoot 'em up set in deep space. Beautifully presented and thoughtfully designed, the game became an instant classic thanks to its measured balance of strategic planning and psychotic blasting. 

Boasting one of the earliest uses of procedurally-generated content in a computer game, Hunter's Moon pushed the boundaries of the genre and helped redefine what a shoot 'em up could be.

Hunter’s Moon - The Return is a PC remake of the seminal C64 shoot ‘em up, boasting all-new graphics and audio, as well as a password system to help novice players get deeper into the game.

GAMEPLAY

After flying your trusty ship Hunter too close to a black hole, you find yourself lost in space on the wrong side of the galaxy, surrounded by sprawling, hive-like cities. At the core of each city lie mysterious alien Starcells – these contain valuable navigational data and must be collected to plot a course back home.

The aim of each level is to blast through the hive and grab the Starcells, a task made more challenging by the invincible Worker cells which patrol the cities repairing any damage inflicted. These Workers also bring the hive's defenses to life, causing them to spew deadly spores that can only be resisted by using your ship's trusty Perma-Shields.

The game features 128 levels spread across 16 star systems. When all the Starcells on a level have been collected you'll enter the Bonus Game where you can earn a Perma-Shield and an extra life. You must complete every level within each star system to advance to the next; however, should you manage to collect four flashing Starcells you'll automatically jump to the next system.

As you progress through the different star systems you'll encounter an array of diverse and challenging hive types, including Attackers that throw out deadly spores, Darkcells which are only visible on radar, Switchers that change direction without warning, Jumpgates which jump to random locations, and Blackouts which plunge the hives into darkness.

Do you have the dexterity, precision timing and psychopathic blasting skills to find your way home to Hunter's Moon...?

KEY FEATURES

• 128 levels spread across 16 Star Systems
• Password system to save your progress as you play

CREDITS & ACKNOWLDGEMENTS

MARTIN WALKER
Original C64 Game

STU COLLIER
Programming & Level Design

TREV "SMILA" STOREY
Graphics & Level Design

INFAMOUS
Music & SFX

MARTIN WALKER
Original SFX

MATT GRAY
Original Music

RUNNING THE GAME

The Hunter's Moon ZIP file contains the following files:

• Hunter's Moon: The Return (the game)
• ReadMe (the documentation)

COMPATIBILITY

Hunter's Moon: The Return is presented as a standalone executable for PCs running Windows 10 or 11.

© 1987-2026 Thalamus Digital Publishing, Ltd.