56| To the Moon

Released: November 1st, 2011

Available on: PC ( All major OSes)

RPG Maker has come quite a long way as a game making tool. For years the software was laughed at and scrutinized. The tool didn't demand basic coding and didn't even require users to create their own assets. What resulted was a community that was filled with very broken and unplayable games. In its sea of shit however, there were a few gems. This most notably began to happen in 2008 where three quality titles were released. The first was the infamous Barkley, Shut up and Jam, Gaiden. This was a post-apocalyptic parody JRPG where players played as basketball legend Charles Barkley who many years ago performed a dunk in a basketball game so powerful that it became a  bomb killing most in attendance. As a result basketball was outlawed. Unfortunately, recently another unknown person performed another dunk that was so powerful that its resulting shockwave turned into a nuclear bomb which killed millions and turning its pinpoint of New York City into a wasteland, and Barkley is blamed for it. The next game was an episodic series called The Way. This was a standard storybased JRPG with very short but satisfying episodes of the player following the path of a hero. The third game was a French title called Off which the player plays as a character who fights with a baseball bat as they journey through a world that is, in reference to the title, feels very off. However, no title managed to completely shatter the stigma attached to RPG Maker than To the Moon.

Rather than being a JRPG, like most RPG Maker games, To the Moon is instead a narrative based adventure game with some puzzle elements. The player primarily controls two characters as they interact with the environment in order to progress the story. Throughout the game there are also these strange puzzle-like events that have to be completed. This all seems very basic and stale, but this is truly a game that is carried by its story and writing.

The game was released in 2011, putting it into the era where there was a lot of media about people venturing into other's minds and altering their dreams/memories. The film Inception is obviously the most well known of these. To the Moon takes from this premise as the player controls two employees of a company that is known to grant wishes. Essentially it involves people going into the minds of others and altering their memories so that they achieve their dreams. The player controls either a cool headed and professional employee named Dr. Eva Rosalene or the slight goofball Dr. Neil Watts. They walk into the mansion of aged Johnny Wyles who is on his deathbed. He has one wish he wants to be granted, he wants to go to the moon. The rest of the game primarily revolves around the doctors traveling through Mr. Wyles' mind as they try to alter history and have him achieve his life long dream of space travel.

As said before, the meat of this game is in the story. It is very engaging and emotional. There will be times where the player's heart will sink and others when they will jump for joy. This is primarily due to the fact that the characters in the game are written very well.It is actually some of the best writing I've seen in a game. Each textbox has depth and weight that carries on to it, thus each event that happens feels very significant. In all honesty, playing this game feels much like watching a movie. The game will have the player travel back and forth through "time" as they engage with the butterfly effect with Mr. Wyles' childhood, youth, adult, middle aged, and elder years. Each time period revolves around triggering a major event to be changed just so that Mr. Wyles dream is achieved. It's very interesting seeing everything being played out.

Despite being on the primitive and restrictive RPG Maker tileset, the game actually looks very good. The art style is very appealing with a dreamy looking palette and well done lighting. The only complaint is that the game features a fair amount of screen tearing, especially when the camera goes through long pans. The game also has a soundtrack that is unique to the videogame space. It is mostly composed of piano pieces, and once in a while switching things out with an acoustic guitar. It's a simplistic soundtrack that does well to complement the game's classy presentation.

The major fault with the game however, is that it is a bit too short. I clocked in roughly three hours into the game, so it is only a bit longer than your average drama film. Regardless, the game is still cheap and its ten dollar price tag is more than fair. The game has won many awards, including story of the year from a big named publication, proving that it isn't the tools that make the game, but the one using them.