Probably the most ludonarratively cohesive game I’ve ever played. It’s inspiring how Moon loudly broadcasts its mechanics and themes and then sticks to them with such commitment.
Mechanically Moon is all about time. The game works around two concurrently running clocks: the limited time your character has left before passing out and triggering a game over, and the continuous passage of time as the game’s seven day week and the routines of the various NPCs loop. Let’s start by discussing the former.
Moon exists between periods of sleep, not unlike our own lives. Everything the player can accomplish within their time awake is saved and catalogued upon resting, but should one run out of gusto before reaching their bed, the game is over and the day’s progress is wiped. Especially early on when energy is in short supply this means you will be racing back to bed to bank your progress even after accomplishing the most minor of tasks.
The amount of time one can spend without resting is increased by leveling up, which is done by accumulating “love”, which in turn is done by doing things to help out the world’s denizens whether they be human or animal. It’s an incredibly wholesome arrangement; something as simple as listening to someone’s personal problems can get you a small amount of love. Other, larger acts, such as bringing together two lovebirds, accordingly give the player more love. It’s a game all about increasing the kindness in the world. By doing so you get stronger and that is channeled into more time to spend helping people.
What’s satisfying is how time is manifested in the game. Very few things pause the clock, so if someone needs you to wait for them, you will indeed be waiting for real world minutes. If a character needs you to show up on consecutive Sundays, you’ll spend the days between with the commitment hanging over your head. This is all to say that being kind, showing love, is not trivial, and nor should it be. If you want someone to love you then you’ll need to invest mental bandwidth into thinking of and remembering them. Don’t worry, they’ll reciprocate the gesture.
It would be easy to shortcut several elements of Moon in favor of a quality of life improvement, but a notion as selfish of QOL runs perpendicular to love as a concept. Moon asks you to engage in selflessness, and every facet of the design pushes towards that goal, even when it runs up against the notion of what is “fun”.
More openly Moon seems to be about subverting violent, “typical” RPGs of the time, what with its marauding knight-in-shining-armor “Hero” running amok across the world and massacring everything in the name of Exp, but I don’t think such a surface level, cynical reading is accurate.
No, Moon is more of a statement against thoughtlessness. Every puzzle in the game, every task there for you to conquer, is easily solved through just observing people, their routines, and the environment. It’s not a difficult game, the puzzles aren’t challenging, but they sure do become impossible brain teasers if the game is played with a self-centered approach that blinds the player to detail. If you just want to get through the game and “win”, the self-centered hero, you will surely struggle.
The second of the game’s clocks, the looping week, is where the most detail is to be gleaned. While a bit of a hackneyed idea now, Moon’s NPCs all have set schedules in accordance with the hour, day of the week, and events of the game, and this grants it a lot of depth. If you want to investigate a character, your best bet is to check on them on each of the game’s seven days. What do they do each night? Who are their friends and when do those characters tend to meet? If you want to help someone you’ll need to get to know them, even if doing so precludes your convenience or your ability to dote on others in parallel.
What’s brilliant is that one’s ability to explore this aspect of the game thoroughly waxes as the strategic depth of the other time mechanic wanes. There comes a point while leveling up where the main character’s remaining energy ceases to be a realistic concern. This could have become an incredible bore had Moon shown its hand too early, but instead it seamlessly transitions into a fascinating game of people watching that just wasn’t possible earlier in the game.
As such Moon works on a few levels. It’s time management and scheduling for some percentage of its run time, and a narratively focused puzzle solver for the test.
Other elements of Moon are worthy of praise. The soundtrack is great, the pre-rendered backgrounds are entrancing, and the story itself is relatively interesting. But this is a game, first and foremost, and games should always convey themselves through their mechanical systems. Moon is exemplary here, and deserves a visit for that quality alone.
Incredible game!
Mechanically Moon is all about time. The game works around two concurrently running clocks: the limited time your character has left before passing out and triggering a game over, and the continuous passage of time as the game’s seven day week and the routines of the various NPCs loop. Let’s start by discussing the former.
Moon exists between periods of sleep, not unlike our own lives. Everything the player can accomplish within their time awake is saved and catalogued upon resting, but should one run out of gusto before reaching their bed, the game is over and the day’s progress is wiped. Especially early on when energy is in short supply this means you will be racing back to bed to bank your progress even after accomplishing the most minor of tasks.
The amount of time one can spend without resting is increased by leveling up, which is done by accumulating “love”, which in turn is done by doing things to help out the world’s denizens whether they be human or animal. It’s an incredibly wholesome arrangement; something as simple as listening to someone’s personal problems can get you a small amount of love. Other, larger acts, such as bringing together two lovebirds, accordingly give the player more love. It’s a game all about increasing the kindness in the world. By doing so you get stronger and that is channeled into more time to spend helping people.
What’s satisfying is how time is manifested in the game. Very few things pause the clock, so if someone needs you to wait for them, you will indeed be waiting for real world minutes. If a character needs you to show up on consecutive Sundays, you’ll spend the days between with the commitment hanging over your head. This is all to say that being kind, showing love, is not trivial, and nor should it be. If you want someone to love you then you’ll need to invest mental bandwidth into thinking of and remembering them. Don’t worry, they’ll reciprocate the gesture.
It would be easy to shortcut several elements of Moon in favor of a quality of life improvement, but a notion as selfish of QOL runs perpendicular to love as a concept. Moon asks you to engage in selflessness, and every facet of the design pushes towards that goal, even when it runs up against the notion of what is “fun”.
More openly Moon seems to be about subverting violent, “typical” RPGs of the time, what with its marauding knight-in-shining-armor “Hero” running amok across the world and massacring everything in the name of Exp, but I don’t think such a surface level, cynical reading is accurate.
No, Moon is more of a statement against thoughtlessness. Every puzzle in the game, every task there for you to conquer, is easily solved through just observing people, their routines, and the environment. It’s not a difficult game, the puzzles aren’t challenging, but they sure do become impossible brain teasers if the game is played with a self-centered approach that blinds the player to detail. If you just want to get through the game and “win”, the self-centered hero, you will surely struggle.
The second of the game’s clocks, the looping week, is where the most detail is to be gleaned. While a bit of a hackneyed idea now, Moon’s NPCs all have set schedules in accordance with the hour, day of the week, and events of the game, and this grants it a lot of depth. If you want to investigate a character, your best bet is to check on them on each of the game’s seven days. What do they do each night? Who are their friends and when do those characters tend to meet? If you want to help someone you’ll need to get to know them, even if doing so precludes your convenience or your ability to dote on others in parallel.
What’s brilliant is that one’s ability to explore this aspect of the game thoroughly waxes as the strategic depth of the other time mechanic wanes. There comes a point while leveling up where the main character’s remaining energy ceases to be a realistic concern. This could have become an incredible bore had Moon shown its hand too early, but instead it seamlessly transitions into a fascinating game of people watching that just wasn’t possible earlier in the game.
As such Moon works on a few levels. It’s time management and scheduling for some percentage of its run time, and a narratively focused puzzle solver for the test.
Other elements of Moon are worthy of praise. The soundtrack is great, the pre-rendered backgrounds are entrancing, and the story itself is relatively interesting. But this is a game, first and foremost, and games should always convey themselves through their mechanical systems. Moon is exemplary here, and deserves a visit for that quality alone.
Incredible game!