The feelings I was hit with during Before the Green Moon were truly overwhelming. I was consistently awash with not only joy and whimsy, but sorrow and regret, and many a contemplation about my own life during the game's quiet moments.

This is a farming game, though not in the same way that Stardew Valley is a farming game. The systems here are not complex; you place a crop in the ground, you water it every day and then you harvest it. Most crops function in this manner, while others can be harvested multiple times throughout the season they grow. You can find chickens too, though this again is a simple system where you place apples in their box to appease their hunger.

Where this game excels is in its setting. The look and feel of this world is distinctly Before the Green Moon. The game looks muddy, with grimy dilapidation visible on every low quality texture. This isn't at all a criticism though, as cleaner looking texture would take away from the vibe this game gives off. This place is new to you, and kinda ugly, but as you continue to explore and integrate into the town, it begins to feel like you belong. The individual textures are less apparent as you take in the bigger picture, appreciating the 'realness' of this landscape.

What enhances the believability is the writing, which is more human than any game I've experienced prior. Inititally, I found it a tad mundane. Characters often have little interesting to say, and the lore of the world unfolds very slowly, and never allows you a full view of what it looks like. Yet, I continued to play and started to buy into it. These conversations remind me of my own, some conversations are boring, and compartively I know very little about my world and the people inside it. I don't need to know these characters' entire backstory, I get bits and pieces the same way I do with my friends. These interactions come at usual intervals as you run around town, but you're able to become closer to any character you like by simply spending more time around time. I personally experienced a lowkey love story that wasn't excessively romantic or dramatic, but it was reflective of my own love life. It was sweet, and I was allowed to bask simply in the presence of my partner, through thick and thin.

There comes a point where progress on the story halts. You no longer see new cutscenes and continue to farm purely to make more money. There is an end goal; to reach the moon, a place abundant with opportunity. I knew I had to go there, until I found happiness in this digital world, deciding that I'd rather stay there forever.

But I reached this point of stagnation that I couldn't overcome. Life had become totally routine, and while there was still joy in that, I started to crave change. I feel this way about my own life, and again this game had me positioning myself in the protagonist's shoes. Could I live this way forever? Ultimately, the answer was no, and the parting was truly heartwrenching. There is no resolution, you say goodbye and the game ends in fairly open ended manner. It's the hardest decision a game has ever had me making, and well over a month later, I still don't know if I made the right choice.

To me, that is the mark of a masterpiece.