To the Moon --the kind of game I'd play over and over again.
Yesterday I downloaded, played and finished a game To the Moon. This game has the classy 1990s graphic, but this game proves that story often trumps graphic in deciding how good the game is.
I found this game because I watched PewDiePie's videos, and that's how. Usually I prefer to watch people playing games (usually my brothers) but this time is exception.
I had to put this jump break, because I'll be writing the whole story and ending... so yeah.
In the era where To the Moon is based on, there is a technology which allows the memory modification. Since these artificial memories are permanent, it sharply conflicts with the patient's real memories soon after the person awakens, which is why it is only done on those without much time left to live.
Our main characters, Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts are called to fulfill the wish of a dying old man, Johnny. [They unfortunately ran to a squirrel and had a little accident on the way to Johnny's house. Squirrel is killed and their crashed. Watts was the one driving. Quite important.] Johnny's wish is simple; to go to the moon. However, Johnny doesn't know why. To accomplish the tasks, Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts must travel through Johnny's earlier memories to find out why he wants to go to the moon.
Old Johnny has only a day or two left, so the doctors have to fulfill his wish fast before it's too late. In this game, there are two controllable character, Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts. Lily is Johnny's caretaker, and she lives in Johnny's big house in the hill with her two children, Sarah and Tommy. There's also an unnamed doctor who keeps on track on Johnny's condition.
We travel backward, from Johnny's most recent memories to his earlier ones. There's River, Johnny's late wife who died two years prior the story. River have a great role on Johnny's wish, but at first we doesn't know why.
[It's easier to cut to the chase, but I wrote this instead so you know how figure everything out. My writing below is based on the progress I played. Every details I put here are the important ones that has a role on the story.]
In Johnny's middle age (maybe around his 50s?) we figured that River is in her terminal stage of her illness. Her illness can be cured, but she doesn't want the money to go to her treatment. She told Johnny to finish building the big house so "Anya" wouldn't be alone anymore. Who is Anya is still questioned. Johnny played a very nice song (which is also the intro song of this game) titled 'For River'. Through late memories of Johnny, we also found that Johnny is a fan of pickles.
In Johnny's adult age, we figured that Anya is the name of a lighthouse located near the big house he later built. River seems to be very attracted to the lighthouse, we still don't know. There seems to be something wrong with River, probably somekind of autism, but never clearly stated. Johnny decided to tell River why he asked her out [not stated why though] and River seems disappointed. River starts making a bunch origami bunny, but she won't tell Johnny why she made those bunnies. There's one particular bunny with blue and yellow color, which River asks Johnny "What do you see?" but Johnny seems to see nothing special on the bunny. It's also stated that Johnny's mother gave him Animorph books as a wedding gift, but Johnny never read it because he said he grew bored.
On Johnny's wedding day, we figured that he got married on the lighthouse (seems like the lighthouse has a big role, too) and River wore a blue and yellow wedding dress. River seems to be particularly fond on these colors. On this day is when River named the lighthouse Anya. She seems to love the lighthouse very much. Johnny's mother calls him 'Joey', a name his best friend don't even know he had. Johnny said it was his grandfather's name but he preferred to be called Johnny.
On Johnny's young adult days, we see him taking River to the clinic and the doctor there explained River's condition [which... is also not clearly stated] and tells Johnny to read the book (of the disease). Johnny doesn't seem to like reading.
On Johnny's teenager days, we see him asking River out for the first time. Johnny told his best friend that he likes River because she seems different. [This is the reason he told River on their older days... and why River got disappointed and started making origami bunnies.] River is an odd girl, a different kind of child, her disease started to show here.
Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts couldn't deduce why Johnny wanted to go to the moon. Even when they created a lot of triggers (of the memory to show) the memories don't go nowhere near "going to the moon." Johnny had probably taken a kind of treatment that erases his earlier memories, but why?
On Johnny's younger days... we started to see the light.
(1) Dr. Rosalene stated that she saw a bunk bed on Johnny's room. (2) Our 'Johnny' was chasing his ball when his mother ran her car thru him.
The light is... Johnny had a twin brother. His name was Joey. Joey is not his grandfather's name, it is his twin brother's. Joey is killed by the car accident, and Johnny seems to be deeply connected to his brother. He probably had a hard time after his brother died. Her mother had probably given him a medicine that erases memory, that's why our Johnny couldn't remember his earlier memories, and of course, why he wanted to go to the moon so much.
With the help of the dead squirrel which Dr. Watts previously ran over (as a trigger), Johnny's earlier memories can finally be accessed.
We found that Joey was their mother's favorite, not Johnny. Joey was the one who loves to read, and he's also the one who loves pickles. Young Johnny doesn't like pickles. On a carnival, Johnny met River for the actual first time (but he doesn't remember it because he got his memories erased), and they watched stars together. They started conversations about what stars actually are, and River said, "I've never told anyone, but… I’ve always thought they were lighthouses." River told Johnny that one day she wanted to befriend one of those lighthouses [explains why River is then deeply attached to Anya the lighthouse].
Johnny told River that her name is unique, and it makes her different than everybody else. River asks why, and Johnny said that nearly everyone in this world is named John, and it makes him feels very ordinary. River said that she wouldn't mind having a name that everyone has; 'It’s like those lights in the sky… They all look the same from here, but that doesn't make them any less pretty.'
River: Have you… ever made an Easter Bunny out of stars?
Johnny: Like a constellation?
River: Yes.
Johnny: Um, of other things… Never tried a rabbit though.
River: … Do you want to make one?
Johnny: Yeah, we’ll make the bestest constellation ever! Let’s see who makes one out first! Okay, we’ll start in three. Three, two, one and sta-
River: I see it.
Johnny: Er… Where?
River: In the sky.
Johnny: Um, but where in the sky?
River: Think big.
Johnny: Eh…
River: Bigger than all the others.
Johnny: … I don’t know. What a minute… Wait a minute!! … I SEE IT!!!
River: Tell me what you see.
Johnny: There, right?? There’re the two ears and head!
River: What else?
Johnny: And there… There’re its two feet!
River: Yes. What else?
Johnny: And… And the moon!! The moon is its big round belly!!
At this point I already cried a river. The song is also very nice. They promised to meet again next year, and when River asked, "What if you forget... or get lost?",
Johnny replied, "Then we can always regroup on the moon, silly!"
Let more tears strolls... this also explains why River keeps on making origami bunnies... and the particular blue and yellow one. Blue and yellow are the colors of the sky and the moon --as the little Johnny and River see the bunny constellation.
Dr. Rosalene said that in order to fulfill Johnny's last wish, she needs to remove River from his memory. Dr. Watts was like, "WHAT?" and Dr. Rosalene said something like, "He can has another River, but he will only have one brother."
We then see Johnny's memory without River, how he grow up with his best friend and his brother Joey is living safe and sound... how he wanted to be an astronaut while Joey, who likes to read, wanted to be a writer... We saw every modified memories with Joey but without River.
In Johnny young adult days, we saw him on NASA and Joey is a successful novel writer who writes about a man and his wish to go to the moon [undoubtedly this is about his brother Johnny!] and cut to the chase, Johnny met River. The same River. River applied at the same job at NASA, and they both reunited. River saw Johnny playing a very nice song, and the song is titled 'To the Moon' [which was the same song with 'For River', in this alternate memory he named it 'To the Moon'] and she said she liked it.
They finally go to the moon, and as the rocket is nearing the moon, River holds Johnny hands and they literally reunited... in the moon. Old Johnny heart monitor goes to beep, and he passed away.
Back in the real world, Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts look to Johnny's grave, which was placed adjacent to River’s. They reveal that Johnny willed the house to his caregiver Lily in his testament. After Dr. Rosalene receives a call, the two begin moving to their next patient; however while Watts is leaving, he freezes up and the screen briefly flashes red --in the same way it did when Johnny felt pain. Watts takes out some painkillers from his coat and swallows a dose before continuing onward.
THE END
