I almost passed on doing a review for this game, as watching it caused a swell of emotions in me -- or a case of "the feels" as "the kids" are calling it these "the days". Emotion, as everyone knows, is antithetical to objectivity, and clearly no one wants to base purchasing decisions on subjective things like "fun", "catharsis", or "enjoyment" when there are pure objective measures like framerate and the number of triangles in each moving object.
Nevertheless, I have chosen to provide a review with this stern advisement, so anyone reading will be aware:
WARNING: The reviewer enjoyed this game and thus their objectivity might be only 98% rather than the 100% expected. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.
So, Finding Paradise is a sequel to To The Moon, a game about a pair of memory technicians who enter the dreams of a dying person in order to build new memories, so they can die ensconced in a web of lies about their life. This is viewed as a Good Thing.
And it is?
In To The Moon, the dying wish was a simple one: he wanted to (spoilers) go to the moon. In Finding Paradise, the dying wish was less spoiled by the title. Both contained complications. Only one let you change your socks.
These games are arguably in the genre of Walking Simulator; you play by exploring the world, finding the Plot Breadcrumbs (in this case, almost literally), and then when enough plotpoints have been acquired roll credits. You cannot lose except by quitting, which is not altogether different from a movie, book, or other piece of non-interactive medium. (We will, for the purposes of this review, not consider "page turning" or "the pause button" as "interactivity.)
Nevertheless, the interactivity DOES add to the essential feel of the story. Aside from semi-frequent cutscenes, interacting with the story in the method you do -- as explorers seeking it out, trying to determine how each memory affects the dying wish -- makes for a completely different feel than just being told the story, or watching it would. I've argued that the strongest part of an interactive story is that it changes the pronoun from "they did" to "I did". Captain Swordguy didn't defeat the ninja mercenaries; *I* did, using Captain Swordguy as my pawn/avatar.
Also, the game has a retro-RPG style that will never get old ever it just won't la la la I can't hear you. 10/10.
