Review for Finding Paradise. Game for PC, Steam, Mac and Linux, the video game was released on 14/12/2017
It's been six years since To the Moon crossed the universe of indies available on PC via Steam like a glittering shooting star that many have turned their eyes to in ecstasy. Despite the harmless pixelated appearance, his story managed to condense an emotional charge into a few hours that we will hardly be able to forget.
After its great success, probably unexpected for the author Kan "Reives" Gao at the head of the development team Freebird Games, it must not have been easy to work on a sequel that does not disappoint the high expectations of the players that have risen since its announcement. Yet with Finding Paradise Gao has managed to create a perfect sequel, which remains faithful to the narrative formula already seen in the predecessor, but at the same time tweaks it and adapts it to a new story in several respects.
The story of Finding Paradise is preceded by a prologue chapter released three years ago entitled “A Bird Story”, a short one hour adventure in which the protagonist is introduced to us as a child. Both this background and To the Moon are not essential to understand the story, but they are certainly useful for having a complete perspective on the protagonists involved. And in general they are titles that we advise you to recover, even in the face of the more than affordable price at which they are offered.
Finding Paradise takes us back to the same setting as To the Moon and bases its concept on the same question: if you could change something in your life, what would you change? To explore this possibility we find once again doctors Neil Watts and Eva Rosalene, employees of Sigmund Corp., a company that has developed a technology that allows (a bit like in the movie Inception) to penetrate into people's subconscious, dig into their memories and make changes that can change their memories, convincing them that they have had different, better lives. The clients of Sigmund Corp. are essentially people who are close to abandoning their lives who want to leave in peace with the illusion of having no regrets.
The new patient for this unique therapy is an elder named Colin, a pilot who has apparently lived a fulfilling life. In fact, his request will not be immediately clear, but it will be discovered by Neil and Eva during the immersion in his mind. During their journey, the game will gradually put us in a position to reflect on various themes. In fact, the sentimental emotionality of To the Moon leaves room for less usual but incredibly current themes: the need for someone close to you, the essence and importance of regrets, the true face of happiness.
Through Colin's story, Kan Gao puts these themes to us with an efficacy and an extraordinary narrative power. The script that supports the adventure is this time more dynamic and full of situations, and will inevitably end up making you fond not only of Colin and his destiny, but also to bring you closer to the characters of Neil and Eva, whose personalities continue to grow in this new adventure. The irresistible duo acts as a glue and perspective for the events we are witnessing, but will also carry on their personal subplot, and in general they manage to balance the dramatic tones of the story with moments of student spirit and pop culture quotes. All the characters are painted effectively with their own imperfections, which make them plausible and above all human: it is through the specter of this imperfect humanity that the game tries to lead us towards its message, without trying to inculcate a single moral, but leaving us space. for a personal interpretation.
As in To the Moon, the gameplay component of the game is minimal and almost completely in function of the narrative; so if you can't do without a game that gives you a sense of challenge and active entertainment you may not find this title in your strings. Once again we will have to guide Neil and Eva through the various "stages" of their patient's mind, examining the objects of the environment to unlock particular memories that connect the memories of his life and thus continue our journey deeper and deeper. Between one connection and another we will have to solve short puzzles of increasing difficulty; nothing that does not resolve itself in more than a few minutes, or even seconds. Every now and then, especially towards the end of the adventure, the game will put us to grips with mini-parodies of other videogame genres, which we will not talk about so as not to spoil the surprise, but which will mostly be simple and nice diversions .
There are those who criticized To the Moon for this formula aimed almost exclusively at the narrative advancement at the expense of the playful side, but it must be said that the energy of the Freebird Games games comes from the great immersion in the story that they are capable of inducing in the player. Gameplay elements such as articulated puzzles or fighting would be a distraction that would break this exquisitely narrative rhythm they are endowed with.
Again Finding Paradise was created with RPG Maker, and those who have played the predecessor will recognize several elements from the assets. The particular retro aspect has the effect of stimulating our more childish side, reconnecting us to a simpler and purer emotionality. Taking into account the obvious limitations, we can say that the level of detail is good. The direction of some scenes, then, demonstrates some not indifferent touches of class. Thanks to the attention that the story arouses in the player, the character models are extraordinarily expressive, despite the small amount of pixels they are made of.
Kan Gao is also at his best in the soundtrack. Even if we do not find a piece of power equal to what was "For River" in the previous title, the sound accompaniment is still majestic and poignant, and contributes in an extraordinary way to captivate and involve us deeply.
Quite simply, if you've enjoyed To the Moon, there's no reason in the world why you won't like Finding Paradise too. In the frame of its particular formula there are no real defects, only good reasons to return in the role of Neil and Eva in this new adventure wisely written and full of humanity. The new title of Kan Gao will make you laugh, cry, but above all it will make you think and look inside yourself, and it will do it with an expressiveness that few titles can boast nowadays.
► Finding Paradise is a Graphic Adventure game developed and published by Freebird Games for PC, Steam, Mac and Linux, the video game was released on 14/12/2017
