This week I wanted to return to one of my favorite narrative-based games of all time, Freebird Games’ To The Moon, which is also an interesting discussion point from the perspective of presentation, gameplay and emotional engagement.

In To The Moon, you take on the role of Eva Rosalene and Neil Watts, two doctors with a super-cool if rather morbid job: granting dying patients’ final wishes. They do this by manipulating the memories of the patient so they feel like they have accomplished the thing they always wanted to achieve. Unfortunately, the nature of the procedure is such that the patient normally dies (happily) shortly after they have “achieved” their goal; consequently, it is only used on those who have no hope of recovery.

[Editor’s Note: To The Moon isn’t a Japanese-developed game, but it draws enough inspiration from JRPGs, visual novels and “hybrid” titles such as Corpse Party to still be well within MoeGamer’s field.]

This article was originally published on Games Are Evil in 2012 as part of the site’s regular READ.ME column on visual novels. It has been republished here due to Games Are Evil no longer existing in its original form.

Continue reading From the Archives: I Will Fly You to the Moon and Back →