Indie tear jerker 'To the Moon' to get HD treatment for Android, iOS

Story-driven adventure game To the Moon is having its pixels retouched and repackaged for mobile devices. The HD mobile port of the critically acclaimed  PC title is slated to arrive on Android and iOS later this year.

To the Moon, a non-violent mix of adventure and RPG elements, follows a pair of doctors who specialize in fulfilling the dying wishes of their patients. They do this by traveling into a patients’ mind and manipulating memories so the patient remembers living that special dream life they had hoped for. The doctors’ wish fulfillment service is actually a form of euthanasia, which is why this story may irritate your tear ducts. Anyone who signs up to have their memories rewritten will die shortly after the procedure has been done, so the service is only offered to individuals who are on their deathbeds.

Taking a hint from the game’s title, you might have guessed that the doctors’ mission, this time around, will be to send a patient to the moon. So the doctors meticulously reconstruct memories of the patient traveling there.

This touching tale first launched on PC back in 2011, and then later on OS X and Linux. The HD mobile port is being handed off from developer Freebird Games to X.D. network, which is smoothing over the game’s pixels to give it a painterly presentation. There have been two “minisodes,” released in 2013 and 2014, and a prequel, A Bird Story, that launched in 2014. So there’s plenty more content awaiting you, should you hunger for more after spending roughly six hours playing through the game.

And if you wanting more after all of that, Freebird Games is hoping to wrap up a sequel, Finding Paradise, for next year.

To the Moon holds an aggregate score on Metacritic of 81/100, and has been lauded with praise and award nominations. In 2011, it won game of the year honors from IndieDB and RPG Fan. And it won honors from GameSpot and was a finalist at the Independent Games Festival.