To the Moon

It’s not every day we play a game that truly talks about real life. I said ‘truly’ because this game actually does, but not in a way in which you’re a veteran soldier and you survive wave after wave of enemy attacks, or someone who leads a nut cracking, life scavenging journey through a wasteland, or hired to kill dragons. Freebird Games’ To the Moon talks about the passion of a dying old man, focusing on his deepest desires hidden within his lost memories. To the Moon is a delicate tale of one person’s very last wish of his life, discovered though a 16-bit style atmosphere and one that has never been told before.

As the gamer, you play the role of two young scientists, whose job is to explore a person’s memory. With the help of the technology introduced in the game, they can either alter or recreate memories to change the course of one’s life. This change doesn’t necessarily need to construct any actual outcome in a person’s real life, whereas the recreated memory consequences still end with his unconscious mind resulting in a new memory of experience. It might be a debatable subject to deal with when you first start playing the game, but throughout each section you conclude, you start to believe the reasoning behind this hollow concept.

During the game Dr. Wyatt and Dr. Rosaleane are the two scientists you manage and your task is to fulfill the wish of a dying old man named John, whose last wish is to visit the moon. It’s not as effortless as it sounds though. You simply don’t enter into John’s mind and create a memory of him visiting to the moon. As the scientists, you must know how to access the memory that controls the desire of any wish. However, John isn’t just any case they are dealing with. He doesn’t have any clue whatsoever that why he wants to visit the moon, nor he can provide any clue that can lead you towards the desire. Though he does provide a trace; soon you’ll discover that it requires unveiling a certain number of his memory layers. Yet, it’s uncertain whether you can reach the actual memory that controls his very deepest desire.

You don’t have to guess that money can be a complicated thing to deal with. When you are to unveil hidden memories in this game, you must perform certain tasks to reach layer after layer. In each layer you must collect five special objects that can guide you towards the closest of the current memory you’ve unveiled. These objects have to be something that directly or indirectly had interaction with John. For example, it can be a jar of olive oil, as it was one of his favorite beverages, or the cover page of his wife’s favorite novel. These objects from his memories can only be found by exploring. The more objects you discover, the deeper you travel through his memory banks. Throughout this journey you come to know that not all his memories are pleasant, much like every other person living around us. Sometimes you see a frustrated John because of financial responsibilities, and sometimes you’ll experience him spending happy time with his lovely wife, River or even confused with something important but unknown missing in his marital life. John surely doesn’t lead the most attractive life to keep you attached with his past memories, but what matters most is you really start to care about him the more you dig into his memories.

Beside this extraordinary story, what takes the game to a better level is the depth of its character design. No, I’m not talking about the visuals (as you can’t expect to have much from a 16-bit type game in this day and age), but the sensible ways they are presented. All the characters including the ones you control blend so well with the story; it’s as if you feel this couldn’t have been gone better. Each and every character’s conversation is lively and carries accurate weight. They converse generally as how we do in our regular life. They share their dedication towards each other even with small dialogues or sometimes with only just the sign of silence. A child or a teenager converses exactly how they would do in real life. And why not? Because you’re actually dealing with someone’s real life experience. This game has done extremely well to portray how a real life scenario should stand out. Even though the game’s music is exceptionally suitable with its type, it might’ve been even better if there were voice-over where as you only get to read the conversations and move on by clicking pointers.

Having said so, the gameplay isn’t very appealing compared to the story. Although you control two major characters of the game, you hardly do anything but observe. There is a small element of puzzle that you solve in each phase of John’s memory while connecting important objects as you place them together for unveiling another leads. There isn’t, however, any decision making; something that could’ve been considered as a gameplay ingredient. There are a few times though, when you control one character for evading traps, mashing buttons to perform an act.

There are certainly rooms of improvement for more gameplay features, but perhaps those weren’t utilized because the developers wanted to mainly keep the focus on the narrative. And believe me, at the end of the game, no one is going to complain about it. You might grow a little tired with repetitive sequences throughout several chapters, but the story will always keep you going forward. At some stage you realize that even when you are bored with the gameplay, you are so attached with the story and are motivated to help John fulfill his last wish. The developers had done such an amazing job emotionally connecting with the gamer that even a high end RPG could fail in comparison. It might not be a game to be played over and over again, but its engaging narrative, great character design, and a reasonable $12 price is very much worth spending.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed