To the Moon

By: Derek Yu

On: November 24th, 2011

To the Moon has been out for a while now, and has drawn some extremely positive reviews for its touching story and music (with a few reviewers saying that they were brought to tears!). The game revolves around Johnny, an old man looking to have his memories altered so that his dying wish may be fulfilled. As the player works their way backward through Johnny’s life, they’ll eventually discover why his wish is what it is.

I haven’t tried To the Moon myself, but I wanted to give fans of good storytelling a chance to try out a game that seems to be superb in that regard. Just don’t expect much in terms of interaction.

TIGdb: Entry for To the Moon

Posted in Adventure, RPG, Windows | Tags: FreebirdGames

http://twitter.com/celluloseman Evan Balster

The first electronic game I’ve ever played that’s made me genuinely cry. A few others have made my eyes glisten a bit; this one was the real deal.
A triumph of storytelling in games and very worthwhile to anyone interested in that subject.
Theon

Wat.
Are you fucking kidding me?
An RPG-maker game with stock graphics and all…made you so moved you cried?
I have a VERY hard time believing this, yet I guess I’ll have to give it a go.
Draken

Yeah, I’ve read several reviews, and apparently this game is able to do just that! Only wish it was playable on OSX. Guess I’ll have to fire up Windows7 for this.
Matteo Soleri

Looks like Chrono Trigger and story sounds like Planescape Torment, but let’s try it.
Guest

I’m really confused, I swear I saw this on steam 2 days ago and now there’s no trace of it?

Blunder release or am I seeing things?
http://twitter.com/celluloseman Evan Balster

Yeah, no, I was pretty critical of the look too, honestly. My initial expectations were low.
http://project-cas.blogspot.com Ryan Huggins

…These aren’t the RPG-Maker stock graphics.
http://project-cas.blogspot.com Ryan Huggins

I haven’t played the game yet, but if I’m basing it off of the reviews and Reives’ other games, then this game will probably be fantastic!
http://www.facebook.com/mercury.dev Mercury Dev

It was really emotional, really. I bet that w/ some impressive graphics it would have made me cry as well. The music gave the enviromental feeling the strength it was lacking from the graphics. Just give it a try, it was really, really good.

You’ve never played anything like this before.
Arucard

Not really seeing the connection between graphics and emotion? You can’t feel emotional over a letter unless they send you a picture too?

Anyway, I planned on getting this since the teaser trailer, it looks great.
Anonymous

To be perfectly honest: if the pictures don’t describe the characters really well (being so stylised and small) it’s probably even worse for me: I project my own high-def portrait of the characters on them and find it even easier to empathise with them. I guess it depends on the person – I’m certainly planning to buy this and play it over the week-end… whenever I have a free week-end from work.
Anonymous

To be perfectly honest: if the pictures don’t describe the characters really well (being so stylised and small) it’s probably even worse for me: I project my own high-def portrait of the characters on them and find it even easier to empathise with them. I guess it depends on the person – I’m certainly planning to buy this and play it over the week-end… whenever I have a free week-end from work.
jay

This is a good one. Some minor criticism first:
There is not much gameplay-wise. You just have to trigger all events in each scene.
The good stuff:
This is more about watching the story unfold and the characters.
The writing is pretty good… there are some minor comedy elements, but the main mood is more melancholic. The musical score is also great. ( Too much Piano for my personal teste, but really sets the mood).
So this is more of an “interactive Story” or reading a book.
But if you are into this kind of stuff i recommend it.

cheers
http://www.facebook.com/mercury.dev Mercury Dev

When you are reading a book, there is no picture or music, so your mind is a little more free to portrait the story to your liking. If there was an absence of sound, your brain would make up some sounds that finds them to be fitting to the image that you are watching and you would find it to be okay because the story and feeling you are getting doesn’t feel incomplete in your head. This is exactly the same with the visuals in a game. The presentation in a video game plays a huge part in transferring a particular feeling to the audience, that doesn’t leave much space for differentiation and that’s why I find it to be a great medium.
Vania

The question is: would it work better as a book or a movie?
or it being interactive really adds something?
Mc kitten

Im going to shut up about graphics and just try it.
Guest

Does it matter? Not everything is min/maxing human responses.
phubans

I don’t think I can justify paying over $10 for something that uses stock RPG-Maker tiles.

I’ll stick to watching Grave of Fireflies or Happiness of the Katukuris if I want to cry.
http://project-cas.blogspot.com Ryan Huggins

I’m going to say this again…These aren’t stock RPG Maker tiles.
Mitch Weaver

Another game with stock RPG Maker tiles? Augh.
Matteo Soleri

I have seen it, quality stuff but yeah… as a short (book) tale, it would be one in a million.
http://project-cas.blogspot.com Ryan Huggins

Now you guys are just messing with me. :I
Mitch Weaver

Yep! :)
JConaBike

First piece of media to follow through to tears for me. But then I laughed a lot more than I do in a 4 and a half hour period on any other game as well. This title is swell, well worth the £10, and I totally have to agree with Renmazuo’s view that you empathise so much more due to your own projections on the characters.
supershigi

Paul, they aren’t stock RPG Maker tiles… I’ve been following this project since Kan first started working on it, and he put an incredible amount of time and effort into it. Even though I knew all the story’s twists and secrets, the last scene still managed to hit me harder than any movie/anime I’ve seen in the last several years… So I think it’s definitely worth it :)
Anonymous

those darn stock rpgmaker tiles…

(j/k)
Anonymous

anyway in more seriousness, the comments about this game make me believe there’s something to this game, so i’ll try it out. of course i would probably try it out anyway because it has laura’s music in it, but that it may be something interesting is an added incentive.
Anonymous

this comment is too theoretical. maybe it would, but then it probably wouldn’t have reached as large of an audience, since it’s a lot harder to make and publish an indie movie or an indie novel than it is to make and publish an indie game (and get an equivalent sized audience). to say nothing of making money with such things.
Reives

Thank you for giving it a chance, folks! I really appreciate it.

But aye, I sure hope the expectations don’t inflate too much, heheh — it really is just a simple interactive story told in a, hopefully, charming way. Most of the payoff is at the end, so it’d be great if you could make it to there.
dub bud

This is actually a great interactive story. There are really few game elements per se but what is important and what stands out is the great story and how well it is told.
It manages to be humorous, thought provoking and moving.

This is usually not at all my type of game, but I really enjoyed the hours it took me to go through this. I can see how many people would be moved by the story too.

The music too is top notch.
Chris

What’s going on with everyone praising the music in this game? No one has any sense of style anymore? The piano theme was more cliche then kissing under fireworks in New Years Eve… I’m surprised that music gets so many mentions when there are games like Machinarium or Braid with excellent (and intellectually composed) music and you don’t see reviewers (or gamers) praising them… Probably because it didn’t “make them cry”…
http://twitter.com/muzboz Murray Lorden

Are you saying that “kissing under fireworks on New Years Eve” is something you wouldn’t enjoy? :) Hehe. Cliche can be very effective! And not always a bad thing.
I just played the hour demo, and thought it was pretty great. Nice to play something different, with an emphasis on storytelling. And I’m a bit of a sucker for piano and strings.
http://twitter.com/muzboz Murray Lorden

Excellent work Reives, it must have taken you forever! So much detail, and specific cases throughout.

I really enjoyed playing something different, and I’ve been especially enjoying these “interactive story” games, like Dear Esther, although I thought the story in yours is so much more engaging.

Here’s to the rise of arthouse games! :)

Murray
Indie Game Developer
http://www.muzboz.com
http://twitter.com/muzboz Murray Lorden

Yeah, the humor in it is great, too! I love how the characters bounce off each other. Good comic relief, while keeping the overall tone of the story consistent and focussed. Quite a skill to do that!
ur a faget

the graphics are phenomenal. you must have been born post-1995.
DhruvMC

The Light Engine Is what makes everything look better.. Looks like Kan Gao used one..