Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (1997)

Moon reminds me of those older point and click adventure PC games. A lot of characters to meet, items to collect, and puzzles to solve. I feel like I gotta be halfway by now with about 10ish hours in.

Every time I seem to solve one problem, I stumble into another couple mysteries that leave me half-stumped. The quirky weirdness has a charm, but I could see this not being for some people. Definitely a more laidback experience.

Moon is an unrestrained artistitic project that defined as many careers as it ended. A wildly ambitious project, the Playstation game predicted many trends that coagulated into RPG standards. An open world populated by many unique characters and sidequests, a bizarre art style that bucks all design trends that came before it, and a detailed weekly time cycle on which all in-game events rely on.

It's hard for me to recommend Moon. It's a game that demands patience, curiosity, and more patience. It has a clunky interface, a slow moving protagonist, and aside from a mechanic where you catch the souls of slain monsters, there is not much "game" here. It's sort of like Harvest Moon minus the farming or Earthbound minus the random battles. What's left is a delightful and captivating world that the player has the privilege of existing in.

If this at all appeals to you, I recommend reading @Lyraxian 's twitter thread/tutorial. It will familiarize yourself with the world and mechanics in a way the actual game won't.

PROS

• Charming story and script with numerous laugh-out-loud moments
• Surreal visual style is alternatively off-putting and inviting
• Strange world is full of whimsy and surprises
• Excellent (and customizable!) soundtrack
• Highly restrictive beginning makes progression quite rewarding
• Narrative events unfold organically through player action
• Carries the overall feel of a passion project from a highly creative team

CONS

• Horrifically slow walking speed makes nearly all navigation a chore
• Obnoxious sound design really grates your nerves (shut up, you stupid birds!)
• Some puzzle solutions are obscure to the point of absurdity
• Poorly communicates some of its most important rules and mechanisms