This is a game I've owned for over a decade now (I checked! XD), after buying it ages and ages ago after hearing it was great, but then just never getting around to playing it. However, my wife recently played through the latest entry in this wider series, as it so happens, and we decided it'd make a fun date night for her to watch me finally play through this first entry myself (and it was~ ^w^). It took me about 4-ish hours to play through the main game, and then the two post-game mini-episodes took about half an hour or so each. I played the game in English with an Xbone controller on my PC.

To The Moon is a story about Niel and Eva, two doctors who work for a company that specializes in helping near-death patients greatest wish come true. They go into the memories of the individual, and they basically give them new memories that result in fulfilling that greatest wish. This particular story, as the title suggests, involves fulfilling a dying man's wish to go to the moon. The two post-game mini-episodes are just little glimpses into the larger world that they live in, and the main game is where the really meaty storytelling lies.

To The Moon may be just an RPG Maker game made in 2011 (and it sure looks like it too), but it's an incredibly well told and heartfelt story about grief, regret, and the complicated, flawed people that tragedy and trauma can nonetheless turn into people you'd never guess have a thing abnormal about them at all. This is the sort of game you could easily write an essay about the greater and smaller themes of, which I'm not going to do here, but I will conclude this section by saying that this game is a masterclass of drama in a limited medium. It accomplishes what it sets out to do spectacularly, and I'm honestly glad I waited this long to play it, because I don't think I would've had the perspective (or narrative analysis ability <w>) to really appreciate everything this game goes for had I played through it right when I bought it at age 17.

Gameplay-wise, there's honestly not a ton to talk about. There are some very light puzzle mechanics here and there, and there's a joke battle relatively early on, but despite being an RPG Maker game, this is much more a straightforward adventure game than anything else. That's fine, and honestly the game uses its medium very well to give you just enough interactivity in what's going on to help you get that much more invested in the story, but this is much closer to a visual novel in actual content than it is to another notable RPG Maker game like Lisa: The Painful is.

Aesthetically, this game obviously oozes the whole RPG Maker style if you even so much as glance at it, but it's a deceptively meticulously put together experience regardless. There are some nicely done CGs, the music is excellent (particularly the vocal track), and I found so many little subtleties in the original character designs that I just loved. How a character moves their hands, looks their eyes to the side, tons of little things that inform about the people these characters are with all the deft you used to see in old SquareSoft 16-bit games. It's all excellently done, and it compliments the storytelling beautifully.

Verdict: Highly Recommended. If you're a fan of narrative-focused games, you've honestly probably at least already heard of this series, if you've not played it yourself already. Regardless, if this has somehow slipped your notice, you owe it to yourself to be like me and finally get off your butt and play it. Despite what the very RPG Maker graphics may suggest otherwise, this is an incredibly well told and constructed story, and easily one of the best bite-sized narrative experiences I've played.

Are you ever in the mood to cry and feel sad? I like an emotional sad story just as much sometimes as good horror movie for the scares. To the Moon is always a title that many people bring up for it's sheer emotional impact. It's been on my wishlist for years, waiting for a playstation vita port or a steep discount on steam. Finally broke down and bought it on switch because I was in the mood for this style of game. I was pretty pumped by the sheer number of positive praise I've heard. After playing To the Moon I am left scratching my head at what anybody sees in it. Let me assure you, this isn't a mentality of pride that this reviewer is so tough he can't cry and since he didn't the game sucks. Far from it. It's one of the most clunky story based games I've ever played. In terms of story and gameplay.

To the Moon is a game that was created in RPG maker so by default it's not a looker or smooth to play. In fact i found it to be very frustrating to play. For a game where you just move small 2D sprites and just click on things it should not feel this irratating. Barely any animations in the characters at all. Walking to and from places is slow and stiff. Then at times I felt like my characters would continue walking way after I've stopped holding the button. Constatly was stuck on items in the background and sometimes turning to face an object to examine it I would have to walk backwards and turn to that direction to get a prompt rather than just being able to press left or right on the Dpad when pressed up against an object. Normally I would not complain so much about controls in a visual novel style adventure game but you spend half the time walking around and collecting random "memories" before being forced into a dull sliding puzzle to trigger the next story theme.

Before I even talk about the story, the presentation of it is really off putting to me too. I don't even know if that the right way of wording it but I don't know how else to say it. All dialog is in small speech bubbles. Now that I think about it, it feels like a comic bubble. So bits of dialog is presented in small bits of a time by characters, which is kinda annoying to read in small text. It's not like a visual novel text box. Just have a few character portraits and text boxes would have helped so so much more. I don't know if it's an RPG maker limitation but either way, I hated it. Conversations never are very long or detailed. Everything is presented as a matter of fact in short bursts.

I was expecting a lot more to actually read in this game. I was expecting a lot more. Everything felt like the cliff notes version of the story and I was wanting more details and depth. I found it really hard to get attached to the characters becuase I feel like not much of anything actually happens to them. Everything about the story fell completly flat for me. There is no other way to say it. I was really expecting a big turn and some gut punches in the end but I was left saying "Wait it's over?" I don't need any M. Knight style of twists but I was expecting more weight given the high praise of people getting emotinal. I've cried over games before and game stories have made me sad but To the Moon was as one note as it gets. Once you see the direction in the first 45mins of the game it doesn't pivot or change from there.

I don't wanna be a contrarian compared to everyone else but I can not reccommened this game at all. I had RPG maker style mindset from the get go, so this is not a case of too high of realistic expectations. Everytime I have heard anybody talk about this game I never hear them say why they like it other than the fact it made them cry. Never any details or moments. I see that, that in and of itself is telling. There are much much better visual novel adventure style games that are worth your time than this title. Go play House of Fata Morgana instead if you wanna cry.

This is a widely praised game that I unfortunately just did not enjoy. The story sets itself up with an interesting premise. There are are two scientists who go back through peoples memories in order to alter them to make peoples wishes come true on their deathbeds. It's a very cool idea and I think there was lots of room to explore the ethics of this kind of technology. This never really happens though and the ending is played off as though it is supposed to be sweet, but really just comes off as kind of predatory and completely ignores the agency of one of the main characters without questioning it at all. It always feels like the narrative is just begging you to be moved and it never happened for me. The writing is god awful and the music is so overly-sentimental it is almost unbearable at times. The humor is cheesy and doesn't fit the rest of the narrative well, especially because it is corny AND poorly written.

Gameplay wise there isn't really anything. You just click on objects and people to gain orbs that allow you to travel back in time through the memories. There are also some incredibly dull puzzles that you need to complete in order to progress back through time and there is a pretty awful action section towards the end which is clunky and doesn't really add anything. Regardless this isn't really something I cared too much about as I was expecting the game to be mostly dialogue driven anyways. But when the dialogue isn't good it gets tedious fast with no actually gameplay being offered.

All in all this wasn't for me. Regardless, it is a grand achievement to make a game in and of itself. It is remarkable that this team made this small game that reached this large of an audience and connected with so many people. That is something to be celebrated.

Emotivo de principio a fin.

Cuando salió este juego y lei las críticas no quise jugarlo. Pasaron un par de años hasta que lo compré, y me dije que me iba a dar una oportunidad. Lo intente tres veces... como dice el dicho "la tercera es la vencida"
No es que no me gustara, sino que no le di la oportunidad y esta vez entré de lleno.

Es pocas palabras es una obra de arte. Arte, si, porque tal vez no tenga un reto constante y la participación activa del usuario es acompañar a la historia, pero ésta toca cada fibra de nuestro ser. Juega con la música, con el humor, el drama, la nostalgia, la moral y lo ético, con un resultado muy emotivo para el jugador.

Altamente recomendado, no se fíen de los gráficos... cumplen su cometido.