To The Moon regularly gets praise online for its story and seemingly everyone I've seen talk about this game cried at the end. Interestingly enough, 3 games made me teary-eyed over my lifetime, and I consider those to be the three best games I've ever played, so To The Moon would be in elite territory if it accomplished as much.
In all seriousness, the reviews set expectations for a short, walking simulator like, 2D indie pixel adventure game made with RPG Maker really high, almost unfairly so. I'm happy to say though that those expectations were met. I didn't cry, but the twists and revelations of the story did have an impact on me either way. Unfortunately, revealing nearly anything would rob you of the experience, so I'm going to refrain from doing so. The gist of it is that an old man has a dying wish: He wants to experience going to the moon. A special agency can dive into memories of their clients to grant them this wish by altering their actual memories into artifical memories, and two employees of this agency, Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts, must uncover the clients (Johnny Wyles) backstory to be able to make the right changes to his memories.
It starts slow but gets going quickly and never really lets up from there. It's a very short and linear experience at pretty much exactly 4 hours, and that's perfect for what this game is. The story includes little to no filler and is told really well, with the two employees Watts and Rosalene making for a pretty funny combo to balance out the otherwise emotional ride the game's story is.
If you're looking for gameplay, you won't find much of it here. Gameplay doesn't go beyond walking to your target locations and doing a few very simple puzzles. I'm not the biggest fan of walking simulators or visual novels but I do enjoy the occasional one. If you feel similarly or stronger about these genres, you gotta play To The Moon.
In all seriousness, the reviews set expectations for a short, walking simulator like, 2D indie pixel adventure game made with RPG Maker really high, almost unfairly so. I'm happy to say though that those expectations were met. I didn't cry, but the twists and revelations of the story did have an impact on me either way. Unfortunately, revealing nearly anything would rob you of the experience, so I'm going to refrain from doing so. The gist of it is that an old man has a dying wish: He wants to experience going to the moon. A special agency can dive into memories of their clients to grant them this wish by altering their actual memories into artifical memories, and two employees of this agency, Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts, must uncover the clients (Johnny Wyles) backstory to be able to make the right changes to his memories.
It starts slow but gets going quickly and never really lets up from there. It's a very short and linear experience at pretty much exactly 4 hours, and that's perfect for what this game is. The story includes little to no filler and is told really well, with the two employees Watts and Rosalene making for a pretty funny combo to balance out the otherwise emotional ride the game's story is.
If you're looking for gameplay, you won't find much of it here. Gameplay doesn't go beyond walking to your target locations and doing a few very simple puzzles. I'm not the biggest fan of walking simulators or visual novels but I do enjoy the occasional one. If you feel similarly or stronger about these genres, you gotta play To The Moon.