This bit of writing contains general spoilers about MOON. (1997) i recommend completing the game first before reading.

MOON. (1997) is a visual novel/text heavy adventure game by TACTICS. The game was made by a group of people who would later end up forming Visual Arts/Key. Original Game releasing on the 21st of november 1997.

I decided to read this game because I had the idea that it would be a fruitful experience to read the Visual Arts/Key games in order, to see a kind of progression of sorts. This isn’t my first project by them though. But you can expect more posts about the other titles too!

I had this kind of expectation of how Key games would be given my previous experiences such as Planetarian, Clannad’s anime, Kanon’s visual novel and its adaptations. Though I must say that MOON. Really blows away what you might have expected from what Key is in particular known for. Moon. is a very dark horror/ero game that ends up expressing some very meaningful themes and ideas while also being very thrilling and crushing to read.

On a thematic level MOON. is about uncovering and pulling apart our pasts and finding ways to deal with them so through that we can find peace and move forward with our lives. To come to terms with the things we’ve done. To accept the wholes of ourselves. Most elements of the game heavily feed into these thematic ideas and can be grasped by most readers. It’s also the kind of themeing I feel particularly emotionally resonating. So I could feel myself get really close to Ikumi, Yui, Haruka, Youko’s stories. Dealing with your own past and coming to terms with the wrong things you might have done is something very powerful. But it’s not easy, not easy at all. The game ends up being a very hollistic experience with how all the elements end up colliding with eachothers.

MOON.’s setting mostly takes place in the FARGO building which is completely cut off from any light or outside interference besides new members and supplies coming in through its singular entry/exit path. This setting ends up defining the tone very well. Its a kind of claustrophibic sensation. The same grayish walls everywhere, the same grunts with the exact same outfits. It’s a really sensation deprived place. The actual map and “movement” mechanic we move through ends up evoking this same kind of dreadful, claustrophobic feeling as we click through its many similar halls. I’v seen writers say that this “movement” mechanic is something that is just used for “time padding” which I think is quite wrong. I think the option to move around is really there to provoke this deeper immersion in the atmosphere. I am willing to admit however that the system could have used some more bite. Some more things to check out. But again maybe that would clash with the sensory deprevation element. The way the break-out from this enclosed space is handled at the end is super cool too. Because of the long time we spent inside the building, with just these gay walls and the memories we inspect, the actual end of the game feels so gratifying. To finally touch that beautiful air again..

Of course the atmosphere is not just defined by its art direction and movement mechanic… its also really heavily defined by its music. MOON. Features a mixed soundtrack that ranges from pure piano instrumentals to heavy electronical mixes with a kind of mechanical sound to it. I feel like I really enjoyed the music and it’s so good in fact that I like listening to it outside of the game as well. Its groovy and its incredibly tense and mysterious.

A lot of the scenes have really high quality direction. A staple of that high quality direction has to be the day 12 bad end, where Ikumi is mind broken into forever staying a young child. Forever locked to that memory. In this scene there is a switch over to a kind of pastel, color pencil like image. A cg that kind of has the feel of those old postcard memories. Its soft tender and painful in that way. Many really memorable VA performances such as the doppel ikumi scenes by Ruru or the final fight with Youko scene by Kodama Satomi..

Just a wonderful game all around. I’d definitely call it one of my favourite visual novels. I had a stellar time.

This was originally posted here on my blog: https://unlimitedblogwork.wordpress.com/2023/06/26/scattered-thought-on-moon-1997-by-tactics/