To The Moon Review – New Moon, Same Cycle

Publisher: X.D. Network

Developer: Freebird Games

Rating: Everyone

Reviewed on: Switch

Also on: PC

On an isolated stretch of road near a lonely lighthouse, two doctors march toward a cliffside mansion. They have been hired to rewrite the memories of an old man named Johnny Wyles in order to fulfill his dying wish of going to the moon. This isn’t a simple process, and as the doctors dive into Johnny’s mind and revisit several of his most important memories, they effectively relive his life in reverse. To the Moon may be light on gameplay, but it is a storytelling powerhouse that explores the themes of love and regret, and by the end, I felt encouraged to reflect on some of the most important relationships in my own life.

In 2011, designer Kan Gao released To the Moon onto PC. For Gao, its development was a way to work through several existential questions he'd encountered when he learned about a life-threatening condition facing his grandfather. That original 2011 release used the RPG Maker XP toolkit, which gave To the Moon an old-school charm, but Gao’s heartbreaking story was the real reason To the Moon stood out in a pack of pixelated indie darlings. Almost a decade later, To the Moon is on Switch, and the entire game has been rebuilt in Unity. The visual overhaul is slight, but it retains the old school charm of the original release.

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Fortunately, the narrative has been completely untouched, because it remains incredibly powerful even a decade after release. As players explore Johnny’s sometimes mundane and often heartbreaking life, they encounter several strange mysteries. For example, why is his house full of origami rabbits? Why does his wife seem obsessed with lighthouses? And why does Johnny’s mother call him Joey? The revelations to these miniature mysteries are often as surprising as they are heartbreaking. You spend most of the game reading and clicking through text boxes, but the dialogue feels natural, and I was genuinely interested to see how Johnny’s big life events would play out. Overall, To the Moon’s narrative is well-paced and kept me glued to my Switch’s screen until I rolled credits.

While this experience is largely a narrative-based, it has a few gameplay moments. As you jump from one memory to the next, you collect a series of mementos of Johnny’s life. You do this by inspecting significant objects within the environment of each memory. These mementos aren’t hard to find, but collecting them sometimes feels like a chore since the process is so simple. Once you collect all five mementos in a given space, you complete a simple puzzle before jumping to the next memory. During these picture puzzles, you flip columns or rows of tiles until all the tiles are flipped over and you complete a picture. I got hung up on one of these puzzles, but for the most part, they are shallow experiences that don’t add much to the overall package.

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Fortunately, To the Moon’s narrative is so heartfelt and touching that its superficial puzzles didn’t diminish the adventure. To the Moon forced me to think about my own life and my own regrets and asked me what I would change if I could. I may not have a machine that can rewrite my memories, but if I did, I wouldn’t want to forget this game.

Score: 8.25

Summary: To the Moon may be light on gameplay, but it is a storytelling powerhouse that explores the themes of love and regret.

Concept: Two doctors attempt to fulfill a dying man’s last wish by reconfiguring his memories

Graphics: Inspired by 16-bit RPGs, To the Moon looks like an old SNES game

Sound: The soundtrack is a bit repetitive, but the main piano-driven theme is moving

Playability: You spend most of the game reading dialogue boxes, but a few simple puzzles interrupt the narrative

Entertainment: To the Moon is incredibly story-focused. Fortunately, that tale is powerful and heartfelt

Replay: Moderately low

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Lego Builder's Journey Review – Peaceful Pieces

Publisher: Lego Games

Developer: Light Brick

Rating: Everyone

Reviewed on: iOS

Playing with Legos is often about building a particular set step by step, but in Lego Builder’s Journey, you have no instruction booklet. That being said, it’s not a blank canvas sandbox, either. It’s a puzzler that gives you some freedom in how you assemble the pieces you’re given so you can create a path for your character through its small-scale stages. The result is a title that has its challenges and eureka moments, but which is also notable for its relaxed mood that makes placing your next piece surprisingly peaceful.

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Lego Builder’s stages mainly take place outdoors (like a beach, the woods, and rocky trails), tasking you with placing the Lego pieces you’re given to move your character so they can be reunited with their parent. Build a bridge across a ravine, rollerskate across a river, and build a fort to raise its flag high. Only a handful of specific pieces are at your disposal at any one time, but the game does a good job both making you understand what is and is not possible with these pieces while still creating situations that can stump you as you try and get from point A to B. Some stages have multiple configurations of bricks that can lead to success, which keeps frustration relatively low.

The touch controls are simple, letting you rotate, place, and discard pieces. However, the one small gripe I have on this front is that while the camera can be rotated around the stage to a degree, it automatically adjusts back to the default view, not giving you full control to inspect the landscape as you like. Otherwise, the interface is up to the task, even on time-sensitive puzzles like having to place bricks before they sink.

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The puzzles themselves range in difficulty, build off of each other, and introduce new concepts such as matching colors and levels obscured in darkness except for a lone flashlight brick. I was stumped on a few, but they never get too complex; you’re always a handful of steps from completing them. The upside to this is that the puzzle-solving and gameplay language is reliable and consistent. The downside is that the game is limited in what it can do and it isn’t until near the end – as it’s winding down – that it really takes off. Although some stages feel like filler, my favorite ones involve figuring out how to first manipulate the level itself to manufacture specific Lego pieces which then contribute to solving the rest of the stage.

Lego Builder’s Journey doesn’t give you the total freedom to build what you want, but it taps into strong feelings – problem solving and the satisfaction that comes with it. The game is a good start to what I hope is an evolving franchise.

Score: 7.5

Summary: This puzzler largely puts its pieces in the right place.

Concept: Place pieces to solve puzzles and reunite a parent/child pair in over 35 stages

Graphics: The color palette goes hand-in-hand with the relaxed atmosphere and bucolic setting

Sound: A serene soundtrack creates a calming atmosphere for that next move

Playability: The simple controls occasionally get in the way of executing time-sensitive puzzles, but overall they are easy to understand and use

Entertainment: Lego Builder’s Journey puts the right pieces in place for a satisfying (but under-explored) experience

Replay: Low

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SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions Review – A Refreshing Yet Flawed Adventure

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Square Enix

Rating: Teen

Reviewed on: Switch

Also on: PlayStation 4, PC, iOS, Android

The SaGa series has built its reputation upon eschewing the RPG template; it’s not just about visiting towns, exploring dungeons, and leveling up. SaGa games take risks and experiment with different approaches to RPG design (with varying degrees of success). Scarlet Grace is one of the franchise’s best entries, with an engaging gameplay loop and an incredible battle system. It comes with its share of flaws, but the better elements narrowly win out over the unsavory aspects.

Scarlet Grace does not follow a typical RPG structure, since it lacks dungeons and explorable towns. Instead, a storybook-like map displays landmarks like mines, castles, and forests. Once you click on these destinations, you are either thrown into a battle or a brief dialogue sequence. While it sounds like a boring way to introduce the world, the map quickly turns into interesting little puzzles. Outside of going to certain locales via the main story path, other places on the map open up different quests that can alter the storyline. In one, I had to figure out how to make a volcano erupt. In another, I had to decide whether or not to help a witch. You’re always making decisions, seeing if they pay off, and feeling a sense of accomplishment when you finally unlock a solution. However, that excitement doesn’t last, because the loop gets repetitive as the adventure drags on. Jumping around the map to perform basic fetch quests and fight similar enemies takes the shine off Scarlet Grace’s unconventional structure and makes it feel routine and predictable over time.  

Those looking for an epic storyline with fully developed characters won’t find it here. You play as one of the four protagonists, and taking a small quiz at the beginning pairs you with one of them. The heroes all face their own personal issues while dealing with monsters and the aftermath of a fallen Empire. The boring characters and barebones story aren’t compelling, but Scarlet Grace funnels all of its interesting ideas into its gameplay mechanics.

The turn-based battle system has its intricacies, requiring skill and precision. Combat is my favorite part of Scarlet Grace, because it always provides options to weigh. What you do in battle affects how your combatants grow and their skill aptitudes. For instance, if you keep using a particular spear attack, it ranks up. Similarly, if you want characters to be more defensive, keep using protect/block skills to build them as impenetrable tanks. I had fun molding characters to my playstyle and unlocking skills that complement their roles. The more you use a character, the better the chance you open up new abilities, but this is only scratching the surface of things to consider.

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Every skill costs a certain amount of points each turn, and you only have so much in total that your party can use per round. I enjoyed this point-based skill system because it gives you the freedom to choose between low-cost weak attacks and high-cost strong attacks based on the situation. For instance, mages are vulnerable and have long cast times, but deal heavy damage, so I always started my first turn casting. I had one character who had an interrupt attack that could delay an enemy right before it could strike. If I played my cards right, this meant I could kill it before it reached its turn. To add to the fun, eliminating enemies between you and another party member in the turn order activates extremely powerful group attacks. These provide the nifty perk of using skills at a lesser cost, allowing you to string together a rude awakening of delightful damage. 

Scarlet Grace is challenging; most battles had me on the edge of my seat, thanks to the smart A.I. and the little room for error. Getting through a battle with all of your characters alive becomes a great achievement, especially considering the penalty for having any party member perish on the battlefield. Every character you recruit has a certain amount of times they can die before they must sit out for a while (usually five to eight battles). On the one hand, this forces you to use your other party members and boost their skills. On the other hand, when you get to a particularly vicious boss fight, you’re at a disadvantage not having your best and brightest

Losing a party member is especially frustrating when you feel like you have no power to stop it. Unfortunately, sometimes battles just boil down to luck; you can play all your cards right and still fail. Bosses have some ridiculous attacks that feel unfair, especially in the final battle. Expect baddies that can regen health, wipe out your entire party in a single attack, and times where your attacks won’t even do damage and you need to wait for an opening. And don’t get me started on clones that can copy your attacks. I enjoyed the challenge until it felt like the game was not even giving me a fair shot at winning. While earlier in the game overcoming tough opponents was rewarding, I ended Scarlet Grace feeling the opposite, like I just happened to stumble on a generous A.I. or was lucky it didn’t cast a certain spell early. 
 
I love so many of the ideas behind Scarlet Grace and its inventive nature, but it can’t assemble those elements into a consistent experience. Scarlet Grace has its flaws and frustrations, but it also colors outside the lines of the genre. Sometimes that’s good and exciting. Other times, it’s just scribbles. 

Score: 7.75

Summary: This unconventional RPG has great ideas, but some flaws hold it back.

Concept: Recruit and build a team to fight evil and make decisions about the future of the world

Graphics: The visuals are subpar, even considering their upgrade from the original Japanese Vita game. However, the gorgeous, storybook-like world maps are striking

Sound: Fantastic music accompanies your journey, while the minimal voice acting is adequate

Playability: Everything controls well, but with so little direction, the burden is on players to learn the ins and outs of the game’s complexities

Entertainment: Unconventional and risk-taking, Scarlet Grace houses a great battle system and interesting world, but its flaws get in the way

Replay: Moderate

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