Join Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts as they enter a patient named Johnny’s mind on his death bed to grant his final request. Watch, interact, and change the past as Johnny’s life unfolds before you and takes you on a magical journey inside one’s head that asks the greatest question of all: “What if…?”
If you had the chance to relive your life, would you change things? Would you try to achieve some grand goal? Could you find love? Fame? Fortune? Or would you realize that sometimes the past is meant to stay the same. Join Dr. Rosalene and Watts on their journey and travel To The Moon.
Sigmund Corp. uses a technology that can create artificial memories. They offer this as a "wish fulfillment" service to people on their death beds. Since these artificial memories conflict with the patient's real memories, the procedure is only legal to do on people without much time left to live.
Sigmund Corp. employees Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts are tasked with fulfilling the lifelong dream of the dying Johnny Wyles. Johnny wants to go to the moon, although he doesn't know why. The doctors insert themselves into an interactive compilation of his memories and traverse backwards through his life via mementos. With each leap to an important moment in Johnny's memories, they learn more about him and what brought him to his current position in life, including his largely unhappy marriage to his childhood sweetheart, River. Upon reaching his childhood, the doctors attempt to insert his desire to go to the moon. Supposedly, Johnny's mind would create new memories based on that desire, and Johnny would die believing he lived without any regrets.
However, Johnny's mind does not create the new memories as planned. Dr. Watts and Dr. Rosalene must solve the problem to fulfill Johnny's dying wish of going to the moon.
Eventually, it is revealed that Johnny and River met as children at a carnival. They looked at the night sky and made up a constellation: a rabbit with the moon as its belly. The two agreed to meet at the same place the following year, with Johnny promising that should he forget or get lost, the two would "regroup on the moon". That night, Johnny gives River a toy platypus which River treasures for the rest of her life. Shortly after, Johnny's twin brother Joey was killed in an accident. Johnny's mother gave him beta blockers to induce memory loss of the tragic event, also causing him to forget his first encounter with River. He later happened to meet her again, and eventually marry her, and River only realized later on that he had forgot their meeting at the carnival. (Johnny confessed that he approached her in school because she was different, and revealed that he thought that was their first meeting) River, diagnosed as an adult with Asperger syndrome (although never directly stated, the game references Tony Attwood, who wrote numerous books about Aspergers), did not tell Johnny directly about their first meeting; instead, she tried to indirectly jostle his memories by cutting her hair and crafting paper bunnies, including a dual-colored one representing the constellation they made up during their first encounter, combined with the blue-and-yellow dress she wore on their wedding. River was unable to make Johnny remember before she died, and Johnny was left with lingering guilt and an inexplicable desire to go to the Moon.
In the present, Rosalene and Watts eventually implant a memory sequence in which Joey did not die, and lived on to become a popular author, and Johnny did not meet River again until they started working together at NASA. As the comatose real-life Johnny begins to die, he imagines going on a moon mission with River. During the launch, River holds out a hand to him. The moon appears through a window on the ship, and Johnny takes her hand as his heart monitor flatlines.
In the epilogue, Johnny and River eventually get married, and build and retire to the same house where the real-life Johnny and River lived. Back in the real world, Rosalene and Watts look to Johnny's grave, which is placed adjacent to River’s. They reveal to the audience that Johnny willed the house to his caregiver, Lily. Rosalene receives a phone call, and the two move on to their next patient. While Watts is leaving, he stops and the screen briefly flashes red, the same way it did when Johnny felt pain. Watts takes some painkillers, then continues onward.
| Minimum System Requirements | Recommended System Requirements | |
| CPU | Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon | Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz / AMD Athlon XP 3000+ |
| CPU SPEED | 800 MHz | |
| VRAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| RAM | 512 MB | 1 GB |
| OS | Windows 98 | Windows XP/Vista SP1/7 |
| Graphics Card | DX 9.0 compatible (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 or ATI Radeon 9500) | nVidia GeForce 6200 LE / AMD Radeon Xpress 1200 Series |
| Direct X | 9.0 | DX 9 |
| SOUND CARD | Yes | DirectX Compatible |
| HDD Space | 100 MB | 1 GB |
| Game Analysis | To The Moon is an Indie RPG/Adventure about two doctors traversing through the memories of a dying man to fulfill his last wish.There exists a technology that allows doctors to weave artificial memories, such that a patient can request attempts to alter their mind, and wake up with memories of things that didn't actually happen.However, since these new memories are permanent, the conflict between them and the existing authentic memories clash in such a way that it ceases the person's ability to properly function.Thus, the operation is only done to people on their deathbeds, to fulfill what they wish they had done with their lives. . . but didn't. | |
| High FPS | 200+ FPS ( GTX 1060 ) | |
| Optimization Score | 10 | |
| Minimum System Requirements | ||
| CPU | 1.8 GHz | |
| RAM | 512MB RAM (1 GB recommended) | |
| OS | OS X 10.6.8 | |
| Graphics Card | OpenGL 2.0 capable graphics card | |
| HDD Space | 500 MB available space |
| Minimum System Requirements | ||
| CPU | 1.8 GHz | |
| RAM | 512MB RAM (1 GB recommended) | |
| OS | Major Linux Distribution from 2010 | |
| Graphics Card | OpenGL 2.0 capable graphics card | |
| HDD Space | 500 MB available space |
moving story
entertaining dialogue
deep and likeable characters
repetitive gameplay
visually dull
This was a really moving short story. I loved the premise (two scientists altering a dying man’s memories so he can die happy). The story was really well done with entertaining dialogue and likeable characters. It also treated some important topics, such as end of life care and autism, with a lot of sensitivity intelligence. The only drawbacks I had for this game were the controls being a little clunky, some repetitive puzzles at the end of sections (although they dont take long and there arent that many) and at first I really hated the art style which looks very bland and to make it worse most of the game happens in memory sequences where a filter washes out the little colour it had to start with, though I got kinda used to it by the end and it didnt spoil a really moving story. All in all its just a fantastic moving story, of the quality you don’t often see in games.
The story is pretty great and full of interesting and bold themes and impressive twists and plot developments. Also the ending, though I found it to be too uplifting at first, is just the right amount of sweet-bittersweet when you think about it. However the writing is spotty and a bit inconsistent, while the game’s “game” nature is still in question in my mind. The small bits of interactivity are clearly shoe-horned in and the game only takes advantage of exploratory storytelling in a couple of instances. The fact that they’re making it into an animated film says a lot, though I’ll still be looking forward to it since this should’ve been an animated film to begin with IMO. Overall the lack of interactivity and the clear option of a different medium to better convey its story took away from my experience with it, but it’s worth playing nonetheless; a great story presented as a decent experience that falls just short of the story’s high standard.
* A very creative use of RPG Maker.
* One of the best "romantic" stories you will find.
* The engine is very limited.
* Some puzzles feel incoherent.
To the Moon is a very different kind of game made with RPG Maker. The main objective of the game is to create an emotional effect, and it is very successful in doing that. It is about finding your way to reconnect with a lost love, even when everything is broken. It is about healing by dealing with memories from the past, and about the sacrifices you do in the hope of staying together forever. It is about something that you said or heard that would determine your whole life from that point on. When you look at the sky and you see meaning in what could be just a set of lights, and you find someone that shares this meaning. It is about the lighthouses we build to find our way home, back to our first love. It is one of the most beautiful love stories I ever heard.
I like the way the game mixes humor and drama together, and gives you simple puzzles in between story scenes. Also, the game adds a lot of interface innovations to RPG Maker.
Conclusion: The game is very successful on enabling a emotional reaction, especially at the ending, because it builds momentum through interaction with “mementos” from various periods of a person’s life. There is a chance you will drop some tears.
Story 9/10
The concept of the game is interesting, it manages to tell a very emotional story based on memory, it knows how to be comical and dramatic when it should be. It also touches on very identifiable issues: that either one can interfere in the life of another person or the meaning of happiness, who would like to fulfill their dreams before dying, even if they were false? Very few games tell a romantic story.
There is also no direct exposition, one is watching the story through the scenes and without redundant dialogues.
Characters 9/10
Each and every one of the characters, not very complex but they are very human, with defined personality and very identifiable and queribles.
Narrative 5/10
The work would gain more by being a movie or an animation. The game uses a lot of in-game animations taking control of the character, plus a lot of dialogue. What’s more, gameplay and story are completely separate, unlike Half-Life or Outlast.
GamePlay 4/10
The gameplay is very limited, there are not many mechanics and it is often repetitive, so it is good to last only 4 to 5 hours.
Graphics 7/10
The game shows us a very good detailed Pixel-art, with realistic and beautiful backgrounds. It also gets a great atmosphere for the drama, but it usually goes a little bit, especially in comic scenes, where the sad tone of the game does not clear a bit. The design of characters is decent, besides the animations, although good, there is not much expression on their part for the scenes.
Music 9/10
The soundtrack is beautiful, many songs based on piano, that are perfect in the game and its emotional story. However it is not perfect, in the realm of how it is used, because there are comical moments where these songs sound and a little off.
Final Score 7.1 / 10
If they are people who look for fun and playability, it is not recommended, instead if they are looking for a good, emotional and identifiable story, yes.