Before the Green Moon is a farming / life simulation game set in a unique science fiction world. Explore a small community at the base of a space elevator during the days and seasons leading up to your departure for the moon.
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What a nice farming simulator game! Typically I do not go for farming type games, but knowing this was from the folks who made Wide Ocean Big Jacket I was willing to try it out.
I think having an end goal is one of the smartest decisions they made with this game. You start out wholly focused on that decision, but as time goes on that decision becomes murky. Excellent writing and interesting characters pulls you into staying in this strange little area.
One little detail I want to highlight, just to show the care Turnfollow put into the game. Whenever people come back from the elevator and fill the town area, they bring so much litter with them. I found myself caring much more for this little town as I did my best to clean up after these punks.
I think having an end goal is one of the smartest decisions they made with this game. You start out wholly focused on that decision, but as time goes on that decision becomes murky. Excellent writing and interesting characters pulls you into staying in this strange little area.
One little detail I want to highlight, just to show the care Turnfollow put into the game. Whenever people come back from the elevator and fill the town area, they bring so much litter with them. I found myself caring much more for this little town as I did my best to clean up after these punks.
This review contains spoilers
As I went to buy my ticket, I decided to stop by Pony's house. It was her birthday.
Before the Green Moon starts off in a pretty unassuming way. Sure, the beautiful music and visual style hits you from the very first frame - but outside of that, the opening hour or so seems pretty typical for a game within the genre. Take the seeds, plant the seeds, water the seeds, harvest the plants, sell the plants, take the money and buy a ticket for your destination.
And then you meet the characters. Marie and Marshall serve as the game's only couple, sharing stories of their past home, and their distant daughter - whose time before the Green Moon has already passed. Carol's the one in charge of the operation, deciding to ignore past aspirations to help others reach theirs. Int is clearly the youngest in town, mysteriously wanting to build a machine with no clear purpose. Elvis, who's in his second town after getting run out of his home, serves as the cook, often encouraging the player to slow down for just a second. And finally, Pony is the character that has the most in common with our protagonist, a fact that quickly leads to a deeper relationship.
Each of these 5 have mountains of charming dialogue, both with the player and each other, nearly immediately making this town feel more like a family. Especially the ladder 3, who form a close knit circle with our protagonist, leading to these ultra-endearing campfires, where some of the most memorable moments of the game take place.
However, unlike our protagonist, these characters aren't Before the Green Moon - they're staying here.
This idea, that going to the Green Moon means losing everything you've built down on Earth, isn't just a thematic masterpiece - as it also serves the basis for the unnecessarily well-designed gameplay. Besides the little stuff, like the brilliance of the seasons, the most prevalent and impressive piece of this game's loop is the juxtaposition between talking to your friends, and earning the money required to leave them. It's such a well-done push-and-pull that looms over the player the entire time, putting every single action under a microscope. Once you get into a rhythm, if you decide to completely focus on the farm, you can likely earn your entire goal in a matter of weeks - but why would you want to do that?
Because you have to.
You aren't going to play this game forever. Even if you don't actually board the ship, eventually you are going to leave this town. This meta-narrative is something that fully kicked in as I earned enough money for my ticket to my goal - and yet I had no desire to leave. Even disregarding the perfectly comforting gameplay and beautiful vistas to enjoy, there were so many more dates with Pony, weird conversations with Int, and meals with Elvis that I wanted to have.
But I had to go.
Once I had gotten even closer to Pony, she began to beg me to reconsider my plans. Throughout this process, she promised me that life on the planet, although mundane, was ultimately fulfilling; although she did admit that she had nothing new to give me.
Her dialogue soon began to loop.
10/10
Game #46 of 2024, July 25th
Before the Green Moon starts off in a pretty unassuming way. Sure, the beautiful music and visual style hits you from the very first frame - but outside of that, the opening hour or so seems pretty typical for a game within the genre. Take the seeds, plant the seeds, water the seeds, harvest the plants, sell the plants, take the money and buy a ticket for your destination.
And then you meet the characters. Marie and Marshall serve as the game's only couple, sharing stories of their past home, and their distant daughter - whose time before the Green Moon has already passed. Carol's the one in charge of the operation, deciding to ignore past aspirations to help others reach theirs. Int is clearly the youngest in town, mysteriously wanting to build a machine with no clear purpose. Elvis, who's in his second town after getting run out of his home, serves as the cook, often encouraging the player to slow down for just a second. And finally, Pony is the character that has the most in common with our protagonist, a fact that quickly leads to a deeper relationship.
Each of these 5 have mountains of charming dialogue, both with the player and each other, nearly immediately making this town feel more like a family. Especially the ladder 3, who form a close knit circle with our protagonist, leading to these ultra-endearing campfires, where some of the most memorable moments of the game take place.
However, unlike our protagonist, these characters aren't Before the Green Moon - they're staying here.
This idea, that going to the Green Moon means losing everything you've built down on Earth, isn't just a thematic masterpiece - as it also serves the basis for the unnecessarily well-designed gameplay. Besides the little stuff, like the brilliance of the seasons, the most prevalent and impressive piece of this game's loop is the juxtaposition between talking to your friends, and earning the money required to leave them. It's such a well-done push-and-pull that looms over the player the entire time, putting every single action under a microscope. Once you get into a rhythm, if you decide to completely focus on the farm, you can likely earn your entire goal in a matter of weeks - but why would you want to do that?
Because you have to.
You aren't going to play this game forever. Even if you don't actually board the ship, eventually you are going to leave this town. This meta-narrative is something that fully kicked in as I earned enough money for my ticket to my goal - and yet I had no desire to leave. Even disregarding the perfectly comforting gameplay and beautiful vistas to enjoy, there were so many more dates with Pony, weird conversations with Int, and meals with Elvis that I wanted to have.
But I had to go.
Once I had gotten even closer to Pony, she began to beg me to reconsider my plans. Throughout this process, she promised me that life on the planet, although mundane, was ultimately fulfilling; although she did admit that she had nothing new to give me.
Her dialogue soon began to loop.
10/10
Game #46 of 2024, July 25th
I don't really get it. I can see the appeal here. Quirky sci-fi setting, straightforward gameplay mixed with indirect storytelling, while encouraging exploration. That's kinda neat.
But it all feels obtuse and half-baked. It had some fun ideas, but didn't really know how to execute them, so the actual end product is just a bit bland. Navigating the town feels cumbersome, the farming seems a bit simple, the socializing seems a bit boring.
It also feels REALLY grindy. Part of the appeal to something like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley is that farming is a means to an end for earning more money, whereupon that money is invested into the farm. That happens here too, but also goes into paying your debt. There's a strange cognitive dissonance between "I'm investing in myself and my farm" and "I'm just making numbers go from big to small." It makes narrative sense, but it also makes the game seem like a job rather than a piece of entertainment.
The other thing both Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley have are a lot of charm. The characters are all instantly charming, people with fun personalities that you want to meet and get to know; the rustic worlds are always wholesome and quaint, with lots of neat little places to explore, and always something to do in those places. You're instantly intrigued by the people and the worlds, and you just want to interact with all of it. I didn't have that same pull in Before the Green Moon. All of the characters seemed dismissive, as if they didn't want to talk to me; none of the vista here were intriguing. I guess the one dock by the lake is kinda neat. But there's nothing to do there, so why go there?
Again, it feels like this game is still in the conceptual stage. It has lots of great ideas, but doesn't really do anything with them. If you like cozy farming sims, and just want a break from the norm, I suppose this is it. But if you told me, "I have a milk chocolate bar, except I took out all the milk and chocolate," I don't think I'd want that, and would in fact question: "What's the point?"
But it all feels obtuse and half-baked. It had some fun ideas, but didn't really know how to execute them, so the actual end product is just a bit bland. Navigating the town feels cumbersome, the farming seems a bit simple, the socializing seems a bit boring.
It also feels REALLY grindy. Part of the appeal to something like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley is that farming is a means to an end for earning more money, whereupon that money is invested into the farm. That happens here too, but also goes into paying your debt. There's a strange cognitive dissonance between "I'm investing in myself and my farm" and "I'm just making numbers go from big to small." It makes narrative sense, but it also makes the game seem like a job rather than a piece of entertainment.
The other thing both Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley have are a lot of charm. The characters are all instantly charming, people with fun personalities that you want to meet and get to know; the rustic worlds are always wholesome and quaint, with lots of neat little places to explore, and always something to do in those places. You're instantly intrigued by the people and the worlds, and you just want to interact with all of it. I didn't have that same pull in Before the Green Moon. All of the characters seemed dismissive, as if they didn't want to talk to me; none of the vista here were intriguing. I guess the one dock by the lake is kinda neat. But there's nothing to do there, so why go there?
Again, it feels like this game is still in the conceptual stage. It has lots of great ideas, but doesn't really do anything with them. If you like cozy farming sims, and just want a break from the norm, I suppose this is it. But if you told me, "I have a milk chocolate bar, except I took out all the milk and chocolate," I don't think I'd want that, and would in fact question: "What's the point?"
Stardew Valley never quite captured me, but this game did, so I'm calling this "the farming sim for people who don't like farming sims". Intentional streamlining and subtraction of farming sim norms makes this much more approachable than most other sims, and lets you focus on the world and characters. Everything about the game is so weird and unique and special, definitely recommend.
Cute and certainly a unique aesthetic, but a bit shallow on the sim side of things for my tastes.
The farming sim genre is a little stale with games that try to appeal to everyone that they lose a sense of originality. Before the Green Moon does not try to appeal to everyone. Its tone and atmosphere is far more melancholic and uneasy, but this actually enhances its focused gameplay. This game makes a statement about who we are, how we fit in with others, and how we find joy in the lives we create for ourselves. The cast is great, and your casual encounters give you a feeling that they're experiencing their own inner lives independently. The game also represents the emotional distance between people in a very interesting way. You too have your own motives, one that is driven by your own personal curiosity. The green moon itself casts its glow over all of your interactions.
Farming games can tend to bring out my Type A traits and I will add pressure to optimize my time management, but I found this game encouraged me to take my time a bit more. I never felt like I was missing anything or having to rush to get things done. I think it has the perfect amount of things to do for the scope they went for, and you're encouraged to take time to just be a human in this world, and visit people and learn more about them. It's ultimately a fairly short game but one that will definitely stick with me.
Farming games can tend to bring out my Type A traits and I will add pressure to optimize my time management, but I found this game encouraged me to take my time a bit more. I never felt like I was missing anything or having to rush to get things done. I think it has the perfect amount of things to do for the scope they went for, and you're encouraged to take time to just be a human in this world, and visit people and learn more about them. It's ultimately a fairly short game but one that will definitely stick with me.