Impostor Factory

Impostor Factory is the newest entry in the To the Moon series, by Kan Gao. Its very much in the same vein as the previous entries, meaning RPG maker very linear story focused drama comedies. This time around the story only kind of reveals its clearly part of the same universe and story in the third act, so i wont spoil anything about that.

Its a hard game to review because of how story focused and linear it is. I must say that the story is more complex than it has ever been. It diminuished the emotional stakes of the story, but as it dwelves deeper into the consequences of the fictional technology explored in these games (effectively allowing people to live on virtual realities created out of other peoples memories) its better as a sci fi title. Thematically its the darkest the series has ever been, and its done so with maturity. There is still plenty of comedic moments in here, even if it has been toned down and there are less memes. It definitly feels the better written game of the series.

Visually its an RPG maker title, so its cute in its own away. Same for the soundtrack, composed of mostly emotive piano and string arrangements. Not mindblowing or increble, but they do their job well enough.

Gameplay interactions revolve around clicking dialogue to extremely basic exploration and light puzzles (calling them puzzles is a stretch). This game is more on rails than the typical visual novel, and thats ok for the story that they want to tell. I dont think it loses too much by being unflexible in this regard, though it makes the world a bit shallow.

Overal its another very solid entry in the series, the strongest in terms of writing as it dwelves into interesting scifi themes. It doesnt have the emotional payout of the original, but i dont think that will ever be surpassed because you already start shielding yourself emotionally when playing these games.