Operation Backlog Completion 2025
Jan 152025
 

In all the excitement of starting a new year, I almost forgot to cover the last game I played in 2024, Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode.

This is the latest entry in the To the Moon series, following the strange and emotional Impostor Factory from 2021.

Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode came out in September, but I put off playing it for a while because I did not believe for a minute it was just a happy beach episode. At the end of the year, I decided to finally dive in.

It’s shorter than the others, taking me around two and a half hours instead of the roughly four hours main entries in the series have taken. It also notably doesn’t follow a new story with original characters like the main entries have. Instead, you play as Eva, going on a trip to the beach with her co-workers. It should be fun and lighthearted… and it is, except for the sense that something just isn’t quite right.

There’s humor and lighthearted antics and even a couple of mini-games, and of course it all culminated in an emotional scene that left me feeling sad even though I’d already had a good idea of what it was leading up to.

Now, I can’t really talk about too much without spoilers, so I’ll just finish by saying that if you’ve stuck with the To the Moon series all this time, it’s worth playing Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode to see this next piece in the overarching story.

It’s been implied that this is the ending of the series, but we also have The Last Hour of an Epic To the Moon RPG to look forward to. The director once said that the two games are both endings to the series, with one being the good ending and one being the bad ending. Which one was this? Well, I’m sure we’ll have a clearer view of that once the second game is out to compare it to.

Nov 032021
 

Among our long list of exciting games that came out this year is Impostor Factory, the third main entry in the To the Moon series.

I played Impostor Factory immediately after it came out, but since that was right ahead of October, its review got put off all this time!

Now, I honestly considered making it the first “spooky” game review of this October. Impostor Factory begins with a man named Quincy arriving at a mansion to attend a party, and it isn’t long before strange things start happening. Creepy things.

Yet despite the creepiness in certain parts of the game, I decided it was too much of a stretch to include it. So, it’s finally time to talk about Impostor Factory.

Unlike To the Moon and Finding Paradise, Impostor Factory doesn’t begin with Neil and Eva visiting someone’s memories to fulfill their wish. It feels unrelated at first, but don’t misunderstand, it is definitely a main entry in the series rather than a spin-off, and the reasons for that become clear as you play.

It soon becomes another emotional story through a character’s life. The format might be different, but the feelings are the same, and there’s a plot twist partway through that makes everything mean so much more.

I’m not sure I can give any specific details without brushing on spoilers, so I’ll just say that while you shouldn’t expect this to be a conclusion to the overarching story, I think you’ll enjoy Impostor Factory if you liked the previous two (although it seems like it’s a somewhat controversial one among fans). For me, I’d rank this second in the series – it didn’t quite hit the emotional highs of To the Moon for me, but I enjoyed it more than Finding Paradise.

So if you haven’t played Impostor Factory yet, be sure to get it. I just hope we won’t have to wait too long before getting a fourth main game in the series!

Sep 012021
 

Our wait for Impostor Factory, the third game in the To the Moon series, is almost over!

Today, Freebird Games announced that Impostor Factory will be out on September 30.

(Right on top of everything else, of course.)

A new comic is supposed to come out around the same time, with more information about that coming soon.

We still don’t know a lot about Impostor Factory, but To the Moon is one of my favorites and I also loved Finding Paradise, so I’m sure this game will be great. I also can’t wait to see if and how it advances the overarching series storyline. It is officially described on Steam as “bonkers time-loop tragicomedy murder mystery thriller,” so that should be interesting.

So the September 30 release date puts it just a few days after Lost Judgment, which is two weeks after Tales of Arise, which is less than two weeks away as I contend with The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, NEO: The World Ends With You, and Psychonauts 2. All the games I want to play keep coming out at once!

At this rate, I half-expect PlatinumGames to just shadow-drop Bayonetta 3 at the next Nintendo Direct. …Not that I would complain at all if that happened. But if the universe is listening, that would be right in line with the rest…

Anyway, are you looking forward to Impostor Factory? What do you think it will be like?