Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode

• Reviews by Johnny Nys
• Published:

A fabulous day out is more than mere fun in the sun for this emotional powerhouse series

Not many games have succeeded in making me cry, but Freebird Games’ To the Moon, released in 2011, was one of them. It was followed by Finding Paradise (2017) and Impostor Factory (2021), as well as A Bird Story (2014), which is set in the same universe though not fully connected to the overarching story. While these sequels never quite reach the same emotional high of the original, they are all very good narrative games that charm with their simplicity and are truly touching with their human writing and amazing soundtrack. The latest installment, Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode, does exactly the same, but be forewarned that it builds on everything that has happened earlier. Knowledge of the other games is necessary to grasp the full meaning of its revelations, so if you haven’t played them before, please do so now! (They’re so worth it.) I’ll wait…

Ready? Good! Now you will understand why I was so thrilled to play Beach Episode. I have to admit I wasn’t familiar with this term since I’m not into anime, but apparently it’s become something of a tradition to make “lighter” franchise episodes in which the characters literally go to the beach. While it is indeed more silly – and more playful fun – than the other titles in this series, this particular beach episode is still so much more, combining elements from the other games while also elaborating on the larger picture and even giving some explanations to questions dating back to the original To the Moon. 

At the core of this series is a special technology that alters human memories. People on their deathbeds can acquire the services of Sigmund Corp. to not only relive their lives within their own minds, but to live their best lives, making different decisions this time around so they end up with the fantasy life they always wished they’d had. In Beach Episode, you play as Dr. Eva Rosalene, the colleague of Dr. Neil Watts, whose parents were the focus of Impostor Factory, and with whom Eva granted their clients’ last wishes in To the Moon and Finding Paradise, respectively.

This time around, SigCorp management is organizing a staff vacation at a beach resort. Eva and Neil are joined by their fellow colleagues Roxanne and Robert; the former a very spontaneous – bordering on ditzy – young woman, the latter more of a philosophical gentleman focusing on mindfulness and often found meditating. You travel to the hotel by plane, then explore the grounds before retiring to your room. The next day after receiving a weather forecast, you get to choose between a couple of options best suited for different times of day. Roxie has a special indoor activity planned at the hotel, you can go to an X-Treme Beach sporting event, or you can visit a lighthouse. At lunchtime, you will eat at a local restaurant. When the day comes to an end, you return to the hotel to enjoy the sunset at its private beach.

But Beach Episode isn’t just about having fun with a couple of characters we’ve come to know and love. Something has been bothering Eva, which is hinted at throughout the game and ultimately revealed in the end. But while in the previous titles you always had an obvious story objective to pursue, here it’s slowly told through dialogue and cutscenes. You’re not actively “questing” towards a certain goal, and in that regard all the gameplay perfectly suits the “beach episode” moniker.

The look and feel of Beach Episode are exactly the same as in the previous games in the series. You get a slightly top-down view in a 16-bit pixel art SNES-like roleplaying game style. (These games are created in RPG Maker, after all.) But its simplistic appearance gives the characters a cute and endearing look. It’s amazing how just a couple of skillfully designed pixels can strike an emotional chord far better than even photorealistic characters in lesser 3D games – a wink, a peek, a grin; it’s all done so subtly but conveys so much more than words ever can.

But words are still very important. Beach Episode’s world is filled with non-playable characters you can talk to or just listen in on, and it’s these short dialogues – so recognizable because they seem to be taken straight out of real life – that really carry this narrative adventure and give it body and flavor. The script combines humor, sadness, love, responsibility, the curiosity of a child and the reminiscences of the elderly, and so much more. These are the sorts of conversations you might hear if you really took a walk on a beach.

What I also greatly appreciated were a couple of artfully done hand-painted frames, very subtly animated, at the start, middle and end of the game, which serve as cutscenes and provide some clues as to what is going on exactly story-wise. At one point you can also admire a drawing one of the other hotel guests has made of a third party as a piece of hidden artwork just waiting to be discovered. I was actually disappointed there weren’t more of these gems to be found (or maybe there are and I just missed them).

Just A To the Moon Series Beach Episode

Genre:	Drama, Science Fiction
Presentation:	2D or 2.5D, Overhead
Theme:	Psychological
Perspective:	Third-Person
Graphic Style:	Pixel art
Gameplay:	Quest, Minigames
Control:	Direct Control, Point-and-click
Game Length:	Short (1-5 hours)
Difficulty:	Low

Perhaps the most masterful element in this series is the soundtrack, and it is again here. Kan Gao, the writer and developer, has composed all the music as well. The score ranges from playful pieces filled with lots of different instruments that accentuate the humor in the game, to slower piano arrangements that even invite you to try your hand at the keys yourself. No earworms like “River’s Song” from To the Moon, but it’s all very much in the same category and comes close to the genius of Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy fame.

You can control the main character Eva by simply clicking the mouse where you want her to walk, or by using the directional keys. Her movement can be a little frustrating at times, though, since she can’t walk diagonally. Holding down the SHIFT button does make her walk faster (double-clicking the mouse doesn’t work), but I never used it since I enjoyed the scenery too much and didn’t want to rush. The cursor will automatically change depending on what’s possible with a certain hotspot when you hover over it; a magnifying glass, a hand, a text balloon, or footprints. Left-clicking interacts; you can examine or use objects, talk to other characters, or move through doorways and exits. You may need to move your cursor a little to the side of the object to trigger its interaction, but very rarely and it isn’t as much of an issue here as it was in Impostor Factory. Right-clicking brings up the menu, where you can save your game using one of five available manual save slots next to an autosave file, which is more than enough, since I finished the game in just under two and a half hours.

I really enjoyed how Beach Episode includes more actual gameplay than its immediate predecessor. Impostor Factory felt more like a visual novel in which you never do much more than clicking your way through a highly linear story without any choices or puzzle solving. There’s still nothing really in the way of “puzzles” in Beach Episode, but it offers some nonlinearity in the order of locations you can visit, plus a couple of mini-games to keep you entertained a bit longer if you so wish.

There’s a section of the beach where you can use a metal detector to locate hidden messages from Kickstarter backers. In one location you will have to avoid an unknown pursuer, who will eventually catch you. I didn’t last long because I forgot to use SHIFT-to-run out of habit, immediately triggering the cutscene showing what happens next. At one point a bird will fly away with a key item, and you will have to parasail through oncoming seagulls in order to catch it. The winged kleptomaniac can never fully escape and will endlessly continue its flight on the right side of the screen until you succeed in avoiding enough gulls and get close enough to catch it.

But the best of these mini-games – unsurprisingly the only one you can replay as often as you want – is a side-scrolling electric surfboard battle. The goal here is to catch as many golden lobsters the accompanying instructor is dangling from a fishing pole at the back of the boat in front of you, all while kicking the other contenders off their boards. You can choose between all four SigCorp employees, each with their own skills but also handicaps. Neil, for instance, lying flat on his board, can take far more hits than Roxie who is standing upright, but he can only kick sideways, while the others can either hit in all directions or even throw stuff at each other. It was great fun trying to win every battle with each available character. Even the tutorial for this mini-game is enjoyable, explaining the controls in a short one-on-one battle, before things get real and you have to take on all three opponents all at once.

Throughout this vacation, you’ll encounter familiar faces and other elements from the previous games. And that’s where things get funny again, the way we’re used to from this series. Sometimes the screen will “glitch,” indicating once more that the “reality” you’re playing through isn’t what it appears to be. This was first hinted at in the original To the Moon game, and was further elaborated on in Impostor Factory. The truth is finally unveiled in this Beach Episode, but without an in-depth explanation of how it all fits together. I think it’s a good move, because the ending will stir a desire to binge through the entire series in an attempt to connect the dots.

Final Verdict

A series’ “beach episode” is generally just a whimsical aside where familiar and favorite fictional characters leave their comfort zones to engage in far different activities than their everyday routines, literally by going swimming, surfing and playing tourist. Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode might start off like that, but it soon adds other elements to keep you on your toes: there is more going on here, but the question is, will you find out exactly what? In my view, this elevates the game above a simple yet fun diversion. It is still fun, as the mini-games and some free choices ensure, but the overarching storyline for these characters takes a huge turn as well, making it an important addition to the series. We don’t yet know where this particular story will end, since there is still one more episode to come, but for series fans this is a wonderful day out with the SigCorp team and dramatically sets the stage for what lies ahead.

Johnny played Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode on PC using a review code provided by the game’s publisher.

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