Moonless Moon Reviews

Kahoca my beloved

A pensive, introspective, contemplative jaunt. This is effectively a story about hyperrealities and odd human connections. It could be allegorical for many different things, depending on your mood, but that is at least the core. It's definitely an interesting thing, if a bit abstract. Moonless Moon does have a lot of style though. It has a very quizzical and philosophical vibe, detailing the odd experiences of the protagonist in her ability to move between worlds, and the small connections so made along the way. It broaches these topics more like a puzzling curiosity rather than a true story or philosophical discussion. Almost like the story itself, you're dipping your toe into this world however briefly, and it feels almost fleeting by design. The actual design of the VN is also quite stylish backgrounds feature a bit of camera wobble and blur effects. The music is also quite nice, slow, contemplative, and chill, great for some proper mulling. There are even a few animated music videos, and while they're generally simple, they're fun to see, and give a nice book-ending to each arc of the story. That being said, there are problems. Firstly, let's be blunt, the story is almost too vague. While I appreciated my time with it, because the story is so aloof and uncaring, it can seem a bit distant. Usually when a story covers abstract concepts - hyperrealities being at the top of that list - it usually grounds the imagery and allegories in concrete fundamentals so that the reader can understand them. But the protagonist themself doesn't truly understand this concept, and it seems like the game is disinterested in elaborating. Because of this, much of the story can feel obtuse, like it's broaching an interesting topic that ends right before you gather the point. It can leave you feeling wanting, almost as if the game had no point. Maybe that is the point: that our experiences are fleeting and that it's fine not to linger or think too deeply. But that seems a bit crass, and I don't like that interpretation, so for me, I was left wishing for something a little more. There's also the "side-stories." The core story is between the main girls on the cover art, but there are a couple stories off to the side in different scenes. But the characters in these scenes aren't really relevant to the plot, and the ideas explored in the scene are generally extraneous to the main points the story is trying to get at, beyond sharing philosophies. That can make these portions feel like padding. While I don't think they are in themselves bad, I don't feel like they add much to the experience. Then there's the design choices. All the characters only have one art-piece. They don't have reaction images and don't change design at all. What you see is what you get! And while the character designs are good, it's hard to take away the thought that you're just staring at some non-reactive PNGs. There's also the "riddle" segments. These segments have you looking for keywords in presented sentences, and then filling in the blanks of a sentence the game has provided you for solving. However, this doesn't really add anything to the experience. It was a nice change of pace from reading, but the mechanics of the riddles are very simple, and it doesn't feel like these were needed or relevant. All in all, for something melancholic and meditative, this isn't so bad. It has a lot going for it. But just as this game alludes to fleeting worlds, this feels like a world I won't think on for too long. I was glad to explore it for the time it offered, but I have little reason to linger, preferring to visit other more complex, more interesting worlds elsewhere.