My Belated Finding Paradise Review

This review is an unusual one, because I thought I already reviewed Finding Paradise.

I named it as one of the best games I played in 2017 (and mentioned that my review would be coming soon), and I didn’t realize I never actually reviewed it until I went to look for my review last weekend and it… wasn’t there.

My guess is that I intended to review it right when my site went down, and by the time it was restored, I forgot. Anyway, let’s talk about Finding Paradise!

Finding Paradise is the sequel to To the Moon. Once again, Neil and Eva enter a dying patient’s memories to alter them in order to fulfill his final wish. The patient is the protagonist from A Bird Story, the shorter game set in between the two.

He presents them with a tricky task: he’d like them to resolve his lingering regrets while leaving as many of his memories unchanged as possible. Like in To the Moon, traveling through his memories lets the story of his life unfold, although this time Neil and Eva are sent back and forth between recent memories and old memories instead of following a linear path backwards.

For me, it wasn’t quite as emotional as To the Moon, but it was still a solid story. I also loved how it played with the series’ premise, leading to a beautiful and thought-provoking conclusion. And of course, there was plenty of humor.

I also went into Finding Paradise hoping for more of the overarching story that was hinted at in To the Moon and expanded on in the free mini-episodes. While Finding Paradise only touches on it lightly, it has a few mysterious events and some intriguing developments that advance it a little further.

Finding Paradise also provides a list of the games in the series.

Since it lists To the Moon and Finding Paradise as the major episodes, with A Bird Story and the minisodes listed in between, I hope this means we’ll see more smaller entries before Episode 3.

Finding Paradise might not be as amazing as To the Moon, but it’s still an excellent game and I can’t wait to see where Freebird Games takes this series in the future. (It may or may not involve lots of murder?)

If you played Finding Paradise, what did you think of it? Where do you think the overarching story is headed?