Review: To The Moon

For anybody out there who has ever held a deep longing to see me in tears I have some frustrating news. I'm afraid that in the early hours past midnight you just missed a golden opportunity to peer in through my window and see the swollen man-tears that cascaded down the contours of my face, illuminated by the gentle blue glow of my computer monitor, as I played the hauntingly beautiful To The Moon.

If you take anything away from this review, or even this whole blog, it should be this. Go out and play To The Moon! I cannot emphasize the value of this experience enough. It's only $10 on Steam. If you can't buy it for whatever reason find a YouTube video of someone playing through it and watch the whole thing. It's only about 3-4 hours long and well worth every second you dedicate to it. Just do whatever it takes to experience this story. Your level of gaming experience is irrelevant. Your feelings about video games as a form of entertainment is irrelevant. This goes beyond such worthless boundaries. Fuck target audiences, the target audience is anyone capable of feeling.

So yeah I like this game. And now that I'm all done with my grand romantic gestures it's time to talk about why I recommend it so highly. I think it's pretty safe to say you'll discover extremely quickly whether or not you'll like To The Moon. The game opens with a delicately beautiful piano piece playing as the camera pans away from the scenery of a cliff-side lighthouse overlooking the ocean with a full, yellow moon hanging overhead; to a scene of two children playing the song in a large house just a short walk away. This tranquil moment is then suddenly ruined by a sudden smashing noise. The camera cuts away to introduce the player characters Dr. Rosaline and Dr. Watts, a bickering odd couple who work for an agency that is hired to help grant the wishes of dying people by making minor alterations to their memory via advanced simulation technology. Or some shit like that. Like an episode of Doctor Who the details only matter if you're ignoring the bigger, more important picture. What's interesting to note is that although you play the game and drive the plot as these characters they are by no means the main characters. It's an interesting and effective story telling device in a game to be essentially playing the role that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern play in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The real stars of the show are Johnny, the man who hired the agency to have his wish fulfilled of visiting the moon (although he can't explain why), and River, Johnny's recently deceased wife who's life is explored through Johnny's memories.

The soundtrack is also supreme and plays a vital role in the narrative

Actually it's worth mentioning at this point that much of the games story is told by traversing back through Johnny's memories of key moments in his life as the player characters try to figure out how best to alter Johnny's memories in order for him to die thinking he's lived out his dream. It sounds very complicated when explained like this but rest assured the game is gentle in taking players by the hand and guiding them along this journey. The game presents many intriguing mysteries quite early on in the plot. Many things are introduced that you know are eerily significant puzzle pieces and it is a pleasure to gradually watch them come together and be explained. Little throw away things from early in the game will take on a whole new level of significance by the games end, and it's these moments in particular that choked me up. The story is expertly told and none of the elements feel overdone or heavy handed. The dialogue moves from reflective, moving and mournful to genuinely charming and funny to strike this excellent balance in tone throughout the story. Nothing is ever jarring or sudden and writer/director Kan Gao should be applauded for taking the time to carefully develop his characters and narrative in ways that are natural, subtle and respectful. So much of this could have been easily mishandled, pushing the tone into melodrama territory as we so often see in video game narration. But by the standards of any media format this story is superbly told and well worth anybody's time.

In fact it's ironic that it will perhaps be video game players who may find the game most lacking. This is because the gameplay is almost none-existent to the point in which the game basically plays itself. A simple point and click interface is used for controlling your characters and navigating them around what is essentially one big, easy treasure hunt. There's probably a fairly strong argument that could be made that this barely qualifies as a game at all and is instead more of an interactive story. But honestly who gives a fuck what it is? From the outset I was so captivated and emotionally invested in the story I barely noticed the gameplay was so scant, and then when I did I didn't care. I'm actually inclined to applaud the gameplay for being so simple and allowing anyone capable of navigating a DVD menu the opportunity to fully engage with what To The Moon offers. I honestly love video games as a medium for both entertainment and expression but when something like this offers up 3-4 hours of genuine human moments then as long as the gameplay isn't broken or detractive I don't give a shit how I move the story along. I'd burn myself to move a story like this along.

So as I've by now made perfectly clear, To The Moon is a brilliant experience for anyone regardless of how you choose to specifically classify it. It's cheap, it's a relatively short investment and it's easy for anyone to experience to completion. If there exists any such creature parading under the guise of a human being who isn't even slightly moved by the experience offered here then I honestly pity them and would rather they were sent somewhere far away from me. Preferably the moon.