To the Moon 3 is a tentacled time loop murder mystery, releases this month

After being announced back in Ye Olde 2019, To the Moon 3 finally has a release date. The third game in the cult hit adventure series releases on September 30, 2021.

The first To the Moon, released in 2011, was a weirdly touching narrative adventure following two doctors who Inception their way into a dying patient's memories with the goal of rewriting them to fulfill his last wish. We got a sequel called Finding Paradise in 2017 that followed the same doctors with a new patient. To the Moon 3, dubbed "Impostor Factory," is evidently quite darker in tone. It still follows the good Drs. Watts and Rosalene, but this time they're dealing with a man named Quincy as he lives through a time-looping murder mystery in a mysterious mansion.

(Image credit: Freebird Games)

Judging from the trailer, things will get even weirder when Lovecraftian tentacles reach through a portal and approach Earth. The game's Steam page says that's just one-third of what Impostor Factory is about, but I'm already intrigued if Cthulhu detective work can make me cry like the original. Thankfully, Freebird says that you don't have to play the previous games to appreciate this one.

to the moon

(Image credit: Freebird Games)

If it's been a hot minute since you thought about developer Freebird Games' stories, they've previously released comics following Dr. Watts and Rosalene, and plan to release another comic alongside Impostor Factory's launch. You can wishlist Impostor Factory on Steam now.

If you're a fan of narrative adventures, I really recommend playing the whole series. The PC Gamer crew even considers it one of the finest video game narratives out there. Considering the original came out literally a decade ago, it was part of the first wave of indies that really dared to explore very different kinds of stories in very different ways, two years before games like Gone Home or Dear Esther established certain genre tropes. The bones of the game were built in RPG Maker, but that never holds it back from eliciting some genuine emotion from its pixel art characters, and I guarantee you won't be able to tell where the story is going from moment to moment. I've yet to play Finding Paradise, but apparently, it's been sitting in my Steam library for some years, so I know what I'm doing this week.

Joseph Knoop

Joseph Knoop is a freelance writer specializing in all things Fortnite at PC Gamer. Master of Creative Codes and Fortnite's weekly missions, Joe's always ready with a scoop on Boba Fett or John Wick or whoever the hell is coming to Fortnite this week. It's with a mix of relief and disappointment that he hasn't yet become a Fortnite skin himself. There's always next season...

Read more
Pathologic 3 screenshot
Get ready to get weird in Pathologic 3: Quarantine, a free 'prologue chapter' about a young doctor looking for immortality in the world's most miserable town
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Dead in Antares screenshot
The tough luck continues in Dead in Antares, the newest addition to the long-running series about people trying not to lose their heads in bad situations
Shodan, the villainous AI from System Shock
Nightdive's spent 6 years on its update of System Shock 2, so it's now the '25th Anniversary Remaster' and will finally announce its release date on March 20
New RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's team of protagonists, including Gustave, Lune, and Maelle
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the surreal debut RPG from Sandfall Interactive, is out this April and I can't wait to hang out with my inscrutable balloon comrade
Inzoi character studio - A Zoi designed to look like Billie Eilish
18 games the PC Gamer team can't wait to play in 2025
Latest in Adventure
Inside
Limbo and Inside studio demands compensation from co-founder Dino Patti for alleged 'unauthorized use of Playdead's trademarks and copyrighted works'
Two characters sitting on a bench talking
Wanderstop review
Zoe showing off in front of Mio
Split Fiction review
Rusty Rabbit chomping a carrot like a cigar
Rusty Rabbit turns Yakuza's Kazuma Kiryu into a fluffy bunny
Pathologic 3 screenshot
Get ready to get weird in Pathologic 3: Quarantine, a free 'prologue chapter' about a young doctor looking for immortality in the world's most miserable town
A young woman's face bathed in light
Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 review
Latest in News
Man facing camera
The Day Before studio reportedly sues Russian website for calling infamous disaster-game a 'scam'
Will Poulter holding a CD ROM
'What are most games about? Killing': Black Mirror Season 7 includes a follow-up to 2018 interactive film Bandersnatch
Casper Van Dien in Starship Troopers
Sony, which is making a Helldivers 2 movie, is also making a new Starship Troopers movie, but it's not based on the Starship Troopers movie we already have
Assassin's Creed meets PUBG
Ubisoft is reportedly talking to Tencent about creating a new business entity to manage Assassin's Creed and other big games
Resident Evil Village - Lady Dimitrescu
'It really truly changed my life in every possible way': Lady Dimitrescu actor says her Resident Evil Village role was just as transformative for her as it was for roughly half the internet in 2021
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam