Before The Green Moon

The Green Moon is kind of an anti-game, it has no goal or meaning, your actions don't matter but there's a lot of mechanics you can just do if you want to. You can grow crops, you can fish, you can gather stuff that is just lying around, you can buy some accessories that barely do anything, you can talk to dwellers, you can clear weed from everywhere, you can pick up litter. None of this is needed to win. Well, you can't even "win", actually. But what I mean is the game doesn't have any achievements or even no hidden stuff that rewards you for doing things. Nobody will bring you "the best farmer award". No one will ever mention that you keep the city clean. You just... do it to do it. I could say "like in real life", but even in real life you do stuff for money or for social strokes. Here its just for the sake of it, for your own sanity or insanity. And all that while trying to dissolve in your routine enough to make you forget about your ambitions. This is the point of the game, by the way. Your life sucks, but it's comforting and mind-numbing enough to stop trying to follow your dream. Instead of rushing towards your goal (going to the Green Moon), you start distracting yourself with useless stuff: buying a baseball bat and a baseball ball, bringing an army of chicken to your coop, spending money on TV or an art piece you won't be able to bring with yourself. This is a very scary game in this regard. If you actually proceed with your goal and decide to go to the moon -- congrats, you've lost the game and missed what it tried to show you. If you decide to stay in your comfortable useless routine in a dying town -- congrats, you've just lost in real life. Day runs too fast, you don't get enough power to complete everything you want, people act cryptic or dull, all interesting characters in your life eventually go away, and eventually you start to feel pointlessness of it all. If most life simulators on the market are actually trying to make the life too bright and fun, 10x the real life, this game tones it down. It's a life simulator of a severely depressed life. Well, it excels in that.

it looks awkward, but the characters and the little slow moments are much better than most other games in the farm sim genre. It's unsettling, it's strange, the colors are ugly, the models are uncanny, but it is deeply human

Wonderfully atmospheric game that really captured the awkwardness of transitional stages while also really feeling like you get to connect with the funny little community. I'm generally a huge fan of farming sims, which has often meant making my peace with enjoying a genre that's often quite idyllic and escapist in some, at times, troubling ways; Before the Green Moon absolutely rose up to existing in this genre in a way that is neither overwhelmingly bleak nor all sunshine and rainbows. The farmer has to do labor. It's difficult to maintain a farm through different seasons. Yet it's less about time management (Dandori?) and achieving your full capitalist potential, and more about reaching the smaller goals you set. Made me feel the impact of my choices and how I spend my time in such a way I still haven't been able to bring myself to technically finish the game.

Day 1: Wish I'd known there were so many stairs here. My knees aren't what they used to be. Day 2: Maybe I should start a snail farm. Plenty of snails. Company seems to buy 'em for some reason. Day 3: Planted more rice. Guess people here eat mainly rice. And possibly snails. Day 4: Found a quiet spot by the river. Neighbours around, but seem harmless. Day 5: Bloody moon kids dumping trash all over the town. No respect! Moon seems less appealing now.

good game but I just realized I need to get silksong sorrrry

I thought the setting was about how capitalism sucks and found community is all that matters, changing your priorities, etc. Then I realized you can change the rate you give money above 100% or below 0% in order to take out all the money you want as an interest free loan or buy the ticket to leave this hellhole immediately and I realized the morale instead was money isn't real, get paid, go to space.

+ Personnages attachant + World building discret + Juste assez de contenu + Plein de secrets à découvrir - Manque de QoL 7/10 Bien!