To the Moon is a 2011 adventure game developed and published by Freebird Games. It was originally released for Windows and was later ported to Linux, OS X, Android, iOS, and the Nintendo Switch. The story follows two doctors who offer to fulfill a dying man's last wish using artificial memories. The game features relatively few gameplay mechanics, with the player controlling the two doctors, exploring the narrative, and solving puzzles as they try to reconstruct the dying man's memories in order to fulfill his wish. The game was designed by Kan Gao using the RPG Maker XP toolkit. Development started in 2010, when Gao was struck by questions of mortality following his grandfather's life-threatening condition. To the Moon would become Freebird Games' first commercial product, following smaller, experimental games released for free on the studio website. The game was later updated to include two free downloadable content chapters called "minisodes" to give more context to the main characters. A sequel, Finding Paradise, was released in 2017, and a third entry, Impostor Factory, was released in 2021. To the Moon received praise for its narrative, music, thematic material, and emotional power. The game was nominated for several awards and considered by many to be a leading example of artistic expression in video games. An animated film adaptation is in development, partially scripted and supervised by Gao.
Gameplay To the Moon is built on the RPG Maker XP engine, which is used to create 16-bit 2D role-playing games in the style of Suikoden 1 and 2. However, unlike a typical RPG, To the Moon has no battle system (aside from a joke battle near the beginning), inventory system, or party system. As the game is mostly story-driven, the gameplay focuses on puzzle solving, interpreting information from the subject's (Johnny's) life, and finding ways to get deeper into his memories. The gameplay mostly consists of exploring Johnny's memories to find significant objects and collect energy from them to strengthen the memory and connect to a more distant one, from Johnny's old age leading back to his childhood. Occasionally, the player will have to explore Johnny's house and the surrounding area for certain clues, if they cannot gather enough energy from a certain memory, or don't know how to proceed to a further one. Once the items are all gathered and the player has seen every memory, they can connect certain objects that exist across two different memories to move freely between them. At this point, the player can begin manipulating the memories, by changing around characters, objects, and events, to make Johnny believe he had achieved his dream of going to the Moon.
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