Better Late Than Never Review - To the Moon

To the Moon is a brilliantly told and emotionally charged story that deserves attention. But does its lack of gameplay make it any less of a game? And can the story alone make up for it?

     Truth be told, I'm having a somewhat difficult time reviewing To the Moon as a game. While it is certainly qualified as a game, the title holds more aspects of a visual novel than it does the adventure or RPG genres it is often classified as. It's interesting to note this specifically because one of the most surprising things about To the Moon is that it was actually created using the RPG Maker XP engine, and it was successfully used to its full potential. More or less, To the Moon is a visual novel in the style of a traditional RPG with player interaction being limited to moving around the environment and completing very simple grid based puzzles to advance further in the story.

     In the near future, Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts are sent by Sigmund Corporation, a company specializing in memory alteration and reconstruction, to fulfill  the dying wish of Johnny, a man on his deathbed with very little time left. As you can imagine, Johnny's wish is to go to the moon, only he doesn't know why. In order realize his dream, Eva and Neil must enter his memories with the help of a special machine and work backwards through his past to a point in time where they can successfully influence his desires Inception-style. Once Johnny's past memories are influenced, he should begin creating new memories that work toward his dream as a sort of alternate reality within his mind. 

     As players start out with memories at the end of Johnny's time and slowly regress through past events, unveiling answers to questions and curiosities that pop up along the way, we come to learn that Johnny's story is, first and foremost, a tale of love. Throughout the story, as Eva and Neil uncover the secrets of Johnny's past, they also learn more about the puzzling tale of River, Johnny's wife, and how much of a role and influence she was on his growth and being. 

"But when I'm gone..."

"Who is going to watch over us?"

     In order to travel further back in time, Eva and Neil need to explore each memory for clues and important objects that were previously important in Johnny's past and then jump further back by finding 'leaping mementos'. Once each memory has been properly investigated, Eva and Neil will use the leaping memento to move on. When activated, players will need to complete a short and simple grid puzzle by flipping tiles to complete an image. Aside from exploring memories, this is about the only aspect of gameplay the game has going for it, aside from one or two small mini-games towards the end.

     Eva and Neil bear witness to many events in Johnny's life, and the more that things become clear, the more complicated the situation becomes. Johnny's health begins quickly deteriorating and time begins running out for our heroes. It's hard to say much more without getting into spoiler territory, so I won't go any further, but the story does touch on many thought provoking subjects. Morality, philosophy, and most of all Existentialism are all touched on or discussed in depth, leaving you questioning whether the nature of Eva's and Neil's actions throughout the course can be justified or not, and what it truly means to live.

     All of this aside, the writing is top notch and clearly took careful thought to being developed. Writing any story when timeline shenanigans are abound is not an easy task, but designer Kan Gao did a good job nonetheless. The concept of the game is a very interesting and quite unusual one, and telling the tale of a mans life working backwards from the end to the beginning actually worked surprisingly well, a very interesting method of character development. While many people might not like "deep" stories, To the Moon isn't necessarily something that needs to be looked at as such. It truly does have something for everyone, and if you wish to read in between the lines or deeper into the plot, the game encourages you to do so, but it isn't a requirement to be able to enjoy it.

     The soundtrack is perfect. Kan Gao also produced the game's soundtrack, and the mood he was looking to set was done so perfectly by the tone of the piano-based score. Singer-songwriter Laura Shigihara also contributed her own track to the game, a piece beautiful in its own right. Kan's music is truly exceptional for what the game is trying to convey to the player in emotion and atmosphere, and I couldn't think of any ways that it could have been better.

"When this world is no more 

The moon is all we'll see  

I'll ask you to fly away with me  

Until the stars all fall down  

They empty from the sky  

But I don't mind If you're with me, 

then everything's alright."

     At the end of the day, To the Moon is a story that would probably have worked better in the form of a movie, but an absolutely incredible one worth your time and money nonetheless. The love story of Johnny and River Wyles is one I won't be forgetting any time soon. Even now I am still left reflecting on the development and outcome, as well as some of the more spoilery concerns of mine that only became clear once the story was finished, and the soundtrack is something I am sure I will find myself listening to for a while to come. And of course, I am very much looking forward to Freebird Games' followup sequel with a fresh story and the return of the lovable duo that is Eva Roselene and Neil Watts.

9/10 

Verdict: BUY


(This review of Freebird Games' To the Moon was based off of the Steam version of the game played on a Windows 7 based PC The game was completed in about four hours. To the Moon is available now on PC for $9.99.)


Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for reviews of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Tomb Raider, and Fire Emblem: Awakening.