To the Moon (Steam Version) - Completed

Overview

This is a game recommended by a friend, praised for its music and story.

Here’s a summary and my thoughts. Spoilers ahead, so please play the game first. It takes about 4-5 hours to complete.

Twins Johnny and Joey live a peaceful life.
Johnny meets River in the countryside, and they talk under a starry sky with the moon and rabbit constellations, promising, "Let’s meet here next year. If not, let’s meet on the moon."
Joey dies in a car accident, and their mother’s mental state deteriorates. Johnny loses his memories due to an overdose of beta-blockers.
Johnny encounters River again in high school, drawn to her quirky personality, and they start dating.
Johnny confides in River about why he was drawn to her, and River realizes that he has forgotten their first meeting. However, due to her pervasive developmental disorder, River struggles to communicate this effectively.
To remind Johnny of their promise, River starts folding origami rabbits, which Johnny finds unsettling.
River, feeling alienated from society, identifies with the stars and an abandoned lighthouse. She becomes obsessed with building a house near the lighthouse.
River is diagnosed with an illness, and Johnny plans to use the house-building budget for her treatment. However, River refuses, insisting they build the house near the lighthouse.
After River’s death, Johnny is haunted by his failure to connect with her but retains a mysterious longing to "go to the moon."
Sigmund Life Generation Agency, which investigates a person’s memories to fulfill their dying wishes, sends Dr. Neil Watts and Dr. Eva Rosalene to uncover Johnny’s life story and grant his wish…

This game was deeply moving—here’s why:

While the story leans heavily on convenient memory loss and developmental disorders, it doesn’t matter. It’s heartbreakingly poignant! Several elements resonated with my own experiences, making it almost too much to bear. A friend’s recommendation about the great narrative drew me in, and I was hooked, like watching a gripping movie.
"Just because they can’t express their feelings well doesn’t mean they don’t feel anything." "That kid cares about you. You just have to believe that."
The eerie origami rabbits and the mysterious platypus plushie transform into symbols of love as we delve into the memories. That transformation is beautiful.
"That kid cares about you." This line hits hard. While we, as players, understand the love behind River’s actions, River fails to convey it, and Johnny fails to grasp it. It’s heartbreaking. In a way, their lives are a failure.
Reviving that "failed" life is the job of the two protagonists. That story structure was brilliant.
"And then?" Did River hope that Johnny would recall his memories every time she asked that? …Or is that too romanticized? Maybe she just had a habit of saying, "And then?"

The promise tying them together is tragic, as mentioned above. But each has their unique desires. Johnny longs to be "special," while River empathizes with stars and the lighthouse due to her different way of thinking. They love each other but also pursue their own forms of happiness. This individuality colors their story vividly.
Their expectations of each other differ. Johnny seeks a more straightforward expression of love from River, while River wants Johnny to remember their past promise and cherish the lighthouse she identifies with.
As the story unfolds, Johnny seems somewhat selfish. Even his friend Nicholas criticizes him: "So you don’t love her—you love what she represents? …Isn’t that wrong as a person?" Even Dr. Watts remarks, "So he used someone else to make himself feel special…?" But isn’t that normal? People value others for what they bring into their lives.
That said, Johnny does fulfill River’s straightforward wishes. Ultimately, he prioritizes building the house near the lighthouse over her medical treatment, honoring her deepest desire. "I don’t fully understand your reasons, but I fulfilled your wish." He’s honest with himself and others, which I respect.
While Johnny admires the extraordinary, he struggles to embrace it fully.
I get it. I, too, prefer clarity in things. If I could, I’d communicate everything in Markdown.

Pervasive developmental disorder includes:
- Autism (qualitative impairments in social interactions)
- Asperger’s syndrome (unusual communication or interests)
- Rett syndrome (affects girls; severe delays in intelligence, speech, and movement)
- Childhood disintegrative disorder (autism developing in childhood)
- PDD-NOS (not otherwise specified)
Tony Attwood, mentioned in passing in the game, is a real psychologist.
Beta-blockers, used for hypertension or arrhythmias, block β1 receptors in the sympathetic nervous system. I’m unsure if they actually cause memory issues.

Structurally, the story might be a nod to the film "Memento." The presence of "mementos" and the backwards journey through memories are strikingly similar.
At one point, Eva whispers, "…Déjà vu?" Does this suggest even the "real world" depicted in the game might be someone’s memory? I read into it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
As a completionist gamer, I wondered if clearing the "memento" mini-games perfectly or acing the "whack-a-mole" game would unlock something. But there seem to be no trophies, so I didn’t pursue it.
There’s a menu bug: "Notes" is listed under the "Items" tab instead of "Notes."
During the ending movie, the game crashed with a NoMethodError. What’s up with that?

To the Moon

Script 'Interpreter 3' line 263:
NoMethodError occurred.

undefined method 'callback_received'
for Achievements:Module

This error message comes from Ruby, likely because RPG Maker uses the Ruby Game Scripting System. Here’s how I resolved it:

Right-click the game in Steam > Properties
- Verify integrity of game files under Installed Files.
- Change the language under General > Language to English.
Navigate to the game’s local files via Steam, then install the ttf files (fonts) located here (on Mac):

~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/To the Moon/ToTheMoon.app/Contents/Resources/Fonts

From the error message, verifying game file integrity seems to have fixed it.