To the Moon | Review (Nintendo Switch)

To the Moon is a game released by Freebird games in 2011. The player controls two characters throughout the game who attempt to fulfill a dying man's wish to go to the moon. And despite that sounding like a spoiler, it's all revealed in the first ten minutes.

To the Moon was originally released for Windows, Mac, and Linux using RPG Maker as the engine. The game later received a port/remake for smartphones and the Nintendo Switch using the Unity engine.

One of the biggest strengths To the Moon has is the story. It can be complex at times, as it deals a fair bit with time travel and the consequences that come with it. Despite its complexity, the story is simple enough to follow, even if a lot of small details get lost along the way. And the story of To the Moon is one that's very much worth experiencing. I won't go too deep into it because it really is the selling point, and attempting to explain it is like watching a caveman explain Back to the Future.

Unfortunately To the Moon has a major flaw, the gameplay. It's a simple game where you walk around each small area and talk to people. There isn't a branching path, there isn't really any combat, it's mostly just dialogue and moving. Unfortunately the moving is where the gameplay becomes an issue. The game allows you to use a touch screen to select where you want to move to, which is a cool feature. But trying to move with the a regular controller makes the game not always move you correctly. The game wants you to move on a grid, but unlike games like Pokemon games before generation 7, it won't restrict your stopping position to the grid. It makes movement feel like a struggle at times. Interacting with objects can also be annoying, since the game sometimes struggles to know what object you're interacting with.

The last point worth mentioning is the music. The music does an excellent job of accenting the touching story that the game portrays. To the Moon without the soundtrack would still tell an excellent story, but with the music it's made much better.

Overall Opinion:

I enjoyed my time with To the Moon. Unfortunately I can't say the Switch version was the best way to experience the game, which is a massive shame. I wish they had spent more time making a new control system rather than just modifying the one used for the smartphone port. But if you can get through the controls, the game tells an excellent story with an excellent soundtrack. It's also not too long, which is perfect for a game like this one.