Game Review: To the Moon

To the Moon is a name I’ve heard in passing mention ever since my teenage years. I remember it being one of the early pinnacles of narrative driven experiences in the 2010 era. It’s interesting in this case, that I’ve never actually picked up and played the title until just recently. I think it was mainly due to the title being limited to PC at the time of it’s original release and additionally I wasn’t all that interested in these styles of games in my naive youth. I’m glad I didn’t play the game in my younger days however, as I doubt, I would have had the mature outlook to appreciate the concepts and themes being presented here. The version of the game I am playing is the one designed and ported onto the Nintendo Switch series of consoles. 

Developed by Freebird Games, To the Moon is a 16-bit, narrative adventure video which was released originally way back in 2011 on PC. You play as a set of scientists who have the unique job of exploring the memories of their patients in hopes of reconfiguring them based on the patients wishes. This premise is presented through a collection of segmented sequences which focus primarily on narrative with small elements of interaction layered throughout the course of the game to help keep the player engaged. Eventually ports of the game would be made for mobile devices and finally the Nintendo Switch line of consoles. 

The premise of To the Moon follows Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts, two scientists who specialize in artificial memory configuration for an organization called Sigmund Corp. The nature of the artificial memory configuration is still very risky as it often interferes with patients’ real memories, so by law the practice is only allowed for individuals on their deathbeds. In this case, the duo is hired to help a dying old man by the name of Johnny Wyles, who’s final wish is to go to the moon. With little to no context behind his reasoning, Dr Rosalene and Watts delve into Mr Wyles subconscious and begin exploring the memories of his entire life in hopes they can find a relevant anchor point to deploy their artificial reconstruction. What the pair of scientists soon learn however, is Mr Wyles lived a life filled with emotional entanglements which are less than easy to untangle; especially when a lot of them linked closely to his wife River. The further they venture into his life, the clearer it becomes how much of difficult situation they have on their hands and with Mr Wyles barely hanging on to his life, time is against them as they try to figure a way to get him to the moon before it’s too late.

The emotional core of this narrative is absolutely gut wrenching in all the best ways. The idea of exploring one man’s life from the end right to the beginning is something I’ve never really seen done before. The life Johnny Wyles lived is one filled with so much tragedy yet for all the sadness he suffered, he had one shining bright spot and that was the time he got to share with his wife River. I’m a sucker for stories which try to explore what love means on a fundamentally human level, whether it be a movie, book or even a video game. The idea that this man’s dying wish is to simply go to the moon comes off as confusing initially but as you follow along with the pace of the story you soon witness the relevancy of this wish come into fruition in such a fantastic fashion. The balance of tone is really well done here too, as it applies some nice moments of levity and humour alongside the heavier scenes to give the player a nice balance of emotions to soak up as they play. I was a bit concerned with how the thematic weight of the story would be able to be successfully translated in a retro-inspired art style in which expression and nuance would be harder to catch. That concern is easily dismayed by the quality of the dialogue though, as the complexities are written up in some brilliantly formatted wording and exchanges. All of these strengths work in unison to make the story of To the Moon one of the best stories I’ve experienced in any video game in recent memory.

While its narrative is beyond exceptional, I cannot help but take fault with what limited gameplay functionality is present in this game. In more modern narrative games, I find the lack of gameplay is easier to get away with when you can use dynamic cinematics and graphics to carry a lot of the player interaction with the support of prompts and dialogue choices. In To the Moon’s case there is no such benefit due to the format in which the game is presented. Your main form of interaction comes from exploring the memories as one of scientists and simply clicking on items to obtain their memory cores. Once you collect enough memory cores you can then use them on an item within the sequences called mementos. These items serve great significance towards Johnny and link to a past memory you can bridge across to. You do this through a rather trivial minigame in which you have to patch panels up to form a picture of the image.  There’s not much else in regards to interaction besides that core functionality. You have a binder in which you can store notes from your time in these memories but they serve more as narrative dressing than anything else. I get there’s an argument to be made about how this is a narrative driven game and so gameplay isn’t relevant in the critique of it; but I just feel that if that was the case then the use of the mementos system feels unnecessary. Let the games narrative be the main driving force, don’t stagger it incessantly with gameplay elements which just feel so menial and boring. 

What I found really supported the games narrative core though was through it’s visuals and audio. It’s clear Kan Gao wasn’t just content being the director, designer, artist and writer of this game, he also wanted to add composer to his many lists of credited titles of the game. Despite juggling to many roles, it’s impressive how none of that impacted his ability to deliver a wonderful collection of musical tracks which support the games tone and writing perfectly. There’s a lot of melancholic beauty layered all throughout the games musical numbers which just fit in with the tone of the game so well. Despite the game utilizing a 16-bit retro art style as well, there’s so much visual beauty layered in the landscapes and sprites littered all throughout the game. Every memory and location within them are crafted to reflect the key details the narrative is trying to outline. The way colour and detail are able to come out in a format which can at times struggle to present these things is another testament for how well this game delivers so much on it’s thematic potential.

While To the Moon’s gameplay functionality leaves a lot to be desired, that flaw pales in comparison to the game’s overall positives. This game utilizes every bit of storytelling potential at its disposal to convey a narrative driven experience I won’t be forgetting any time soon. I love how this team of developers were able to utilize the gaming medium to explore the idea of life and love in tandem with one another. It’s a game which defines itself with such clear conviction and it’s hard not to recommend you pick up and play this game just on the merits of the story itself. If narrative driven experiences are your kind of thing, then you will have truly memorable time with To the Moon, that’s a promise.