moon: Remix RPG Adventure

one of my favourite games of all time. it does take patience and it doesn't spell things out for you, but that's all part of it. don't be ashamed about using a walkthrough if you need it. it's a beautiful little world.

this game is very good the ending is a plot twist and i would honestly play this game again. amazing and i love the clay aesthetic

theres this game called moon (still playing gimme a few days to finish the game) so far its really good i dont know why but theres this feeling of compassionate love when talking to the characters

"What are you doing on computer? Go outside, so beautiful!" --Tommy Wiseau Moon is a really beautiful game unlike anything else I've ever experienced. It seems like it came out during the RPG Maker craze of the 2010s that spawned a ton of unique and artistic experiences like Undertale and LISA the Painful, because it feels like an indie game with a thought-provoking metanarrative... But it's actually a PS1 game from 1997. It's a game that isn't afraid to be weird and is full of that staple Japanese absurdist humor that you see in EarthBound, the side quests in Yakuza and tons of anime and manga. At the same time, it is very much a game of its time in that it has a lot of very archaic game design choices that plagued point-and-click and adventure games of the era that can be pretty tough to enjoy for the modern gamer. It's a hurdle that is absolutely worth getting over, even if you have to forcibly kick it over because it's an experience that stands up to gaming's greatest artistic achievements. It's a game about reintroducing a weird and unique fantasy world to the long-forgotten concept of love. You do this by exploring the world, helping the weird and at times eccentric characters out with their problems and showing them compassion, and saving the souls of animals killed for the XP by a supposed hero who is on a false quest to save the world, all while under a time limit that is very strict at first. Helping characters and capturing souls are essentially puzzles in themselves, and thus the game is less RPG and more point-and-click like Monkey Island or Grim Fandango. In fact, it has all the staples of the genre: amazing art direction and music, an immersive and atmospheric game world, unforgettable characters and dialogue and a very strong central theme and message that will no doubt stick with you for a long time. But that also means that like most other point-and-clicks, it has brutally vague and frustrating puzzles that often feel like they're only there so that the experience can actually qualify as a game. What sets Moon apart from the rest of the pack though is the time mechanic. Time marches on as you play the game and NPCs all have their own schedules. For example, the castle guard Bilby spends his afternoons guarding the castle gate and complaining about his co-worker Fred, some of his evenings drinking at the local bar, and his Sunday afternoons on the balcony perfecting his paper airplane design as a gift for his estranged son. Yes, it really is that specific in many cases, and you will often find yourself not knowing where the person you want is, literally stalking them on occasion and talking to them over and over to obtain hints as to their daily habits. It can be daunting, but this level of detail is also what gives so many of the characters their charm and makes them so memorable. On top of that, your character only has so much energy to expend in a given day, and if you don't make it back to your home and bed within the time limit you will pass out, resulting in a game over and forcing you to do it all over again. It's unforgiving and overwhelming at first, but as you get a lay of the land and a feel for the townspeople, you begin planning out how you're going to spend your day to maximize progress and successfully pulling it off can be very satisfying. As you help the inhabitants of Moon you can gain what is called "love", which extends your time limit. Soon enough, you'll be able to stay awake for a whole day, then a day and a half, then two, then three, etc! Eventually you aren't worrying about the time limit at all and you're able to relax. One thing you'll notice early on in your travels is that there's hardly any in-game music anywhere, and instead you just hear the ambience that fits whatever location you're in: the chirping of birds and rustling of trees against the wind while in a forest, the echo-y dripping of water off of stalactites in caves and the harsh winds of the desert. It's definitely a vibe and is a massive contrast to the JRPGs of the time which all have catchy, memorable tracks around every corner. Eventually you realize why this is though, as you find a quirky music-loving nerd that perfectly embodies the record store employee stereotype selling records out of a dank cave. You can purchase any of them from a very wide variety of genres, from basic rock and pop to experimental ambient and Japanese folk music. You can play them at any time during the game and even program a playlist that plays on a loop. There are 36 tracks in total to collect, and they will definitely help keep you occupied while you wait for an animal's soul to materialize or an NPC to show up somewhere. Unfortunately that leads to the game's weakest aspect: the puzzles in the latter half of the game. The problem isn't that these puzzles are particularly difficult; it's that they often don't require you to solve anything at all. They require you to wait -- sometimes up to fifteen minutes! Whether you're waiting for a firework to launch at a specific time of a day, or your grandma's dog to sneak out to his secret hideout in the middle of the night -- you're gonna wait. It's pretty interesting that the early game requires you to spend every second effectively, while the late game has you wasting it instead. I feel as though I'm a pretty patient guy when it comes to media: I don't get bored while watching the slow-burn film Stalker and can get through a 500+ page book without issue, but even this game started to drive me a bit crazy. I think playing this game back in 1997 would've been a pretty miserable time, but thankfully I wouldn't be born for 2 more years and it wasn't released outside of Japan quite yet anyway. Thankfully we live in an era where most information is right at your fingertips, including guides for old ass games like this. The torture isn't worth what is otherwise an extraordinary game. My advice is to get through as much of the game as you can without help and then start using a guide once you feel the frustration start creeping in. I found that googling hints as opposed to outright solutions was more than enough to keep me going 'til the end. Despite the few moments of frustration, I had a hard time putting Moon down and there's no doubt it will stay with me for a long time. And this game taught me to love everyone... except the guy who designed the Fishing Contest. I hate you dude. And to the 7% of people who got extremely lucky and were able to get the 100% completion achievement -- I hate you too.

The game is really good but certainly not for everyone. The pace is the slowest of any game I have personally played and you will have to wait a lot. At first, it seems a bit more fast paced because of the timer but don't be fooled because eventually the timer will not matter anymore and it will turn extremely chill and very quiet. It's all about the atmosphere, weird characters, and humor. Some of the puzzles are ridiculous and basically impossible without a guide, and I don't consider myself terrible at puzzles. However, if you will sit down with it, this game will be worth it. It is amazing in its own way that is hard to describe. The art style, the atmosphere, the weird, scary moments and the heartwarming ones. It is a game where it resonates with few but with the ones it resonates, it resonates a lot.

Very unique with charm and a great soundtrack