Finding Paradise is an interactive storytelling and adventure game developed and published by Freebird Games. Serving as a sequel to To the Moon and A Bird Story, the story continues with doctors Eva Rosalene and Neil Watts as they help to fulfill a wish for Colin Reeds, who is now a bedridden old man. As with To the Moon, it features relatively few gameplay mechanics which center around puzzles, with the player controlling both doctors as they solve them in order to reconstruct the dying man's memories in order to fulfill his dying wish. The game was fully designed, written, and composed for by Canadian independent game designer Kan Gao using the RPG Maker XPgame engine. Development of the game began in 2015, and it was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux on December 14, 2017.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Finding Paradise is similar to that of the first game in the series, To the Moon, which was built on the RPG Maker XP engine. Like the previous game, it functions like a typical RPG, but without an inventory system, party system, nor battle system. Because the focus of the game is of a more story-driven game, most gameplay revolves around puzzle solving for Colin memories. This is done by interpreting information and experiencing his emotions and feelings, and finding ways to get deeper into his memories to find the truth of his wish. As with To the Moon, the game centers around exploring Colin's memories to find significant objects and collect energy from them to strengthen the memory and connect to a more distant one, from his childhood to modern day. Occasionally, players take a break from the machine and explore his house and the surrounding area for certain clues.
Plot
Sigmund Corp. employees Dr. Eva Rosalene and Dr. Neil Watts are again tasked with fulfilling the rather paradoxical dying wish of the dying Colin Reeds: to change something, yet change nothing at all.. The doctors insert themselves into an interactive compilation of his memories and traverse backwards through his life via 'mementos', items of great personal significance to Colin that act as a link between his various memories. While traversing through his memories, the doctors find out that while they initially traveled backwards in his memories in a normal chronological manner, soon they start to hop back and forth between old age and young age. Rosalene theorizes that this leap between memories actually follows the pattern of a decaying orbit around a "gravitational center" at about the middle of his life. In Colin's later years, the doctors learn of Colin's relatively happy life with his wife Sofia and son Asher. Colin had become an airline pilot, learned to like the cello, and even went to his dream vacation of Bora Bora. Despite this, Colin reveals that he feels he had not lived a fulfilling life, and is unhappy enough to go to Sigmund Corp. in order to get a second chance. This causes friction within the family, as Asher and especially Sofia feel offended that Colin would give up his memories with them in order to get new ones. In actuality, Colin had asked for Sigmund Corp. to change as little as possible regarding his family. Back in his youngest days, the doctors learn that although Colin's parents were often not at home, he soon meets Faye, a girl that lived in a nearby apartment, and talks with her across the balcony. Being mostly quiet and reserved, Colin seldom talked to anybody other than Faye, but they seem to get along very well as time passes, and she eventually convinces him to be a pilot. As Colin starts to become more acquainted with Sofia, a piano player in Colin's community orchestra, he begins to distance himself from Faye. When the doctors witness this memory, they become convinced that Colin regrets choosing Sofia over Faye, but his loyalty to his family prevents him from expressing his wish. While evaluating how to deal with the situation, Watts suggests that the only way to respect Colin's conditions is to erase Faye from his memories. In reality, Faye is an imaginary friend that Colin wrote about in his book as a way to cope with his loneliness, and manifested as an actual girl in the memories. Due to her nature as an extension of Colin's own mind, Faye overhears the doctors talking about erasing her and, believing that this would actually hurt Colin more, takes advantage of a momentary lapse in the system to separate Rosalene from Watts. She takes over the digital environment, locking Watts out of the memories, so he has to fight her in the machine with the help of Rosalene in the real world in order to regain control by sedating Colin. With the anomaly temporarily stopped, they are then able to access the last memory, in which Colin lets go of Faye and stops writing about her in his book. It's implied that Faye is Colin's interpretation of the bird from A Bird Story, as Faye states she said goodbye a long time ago, she is given wings, and Colin refers to her as his first real friend. However, as a result of the mental battle and the drugs used to weaken Faye, Colin's conditions rapidly deteriorates in the real world, and the doctors are running out of time to consider what they should do for him. Eventually, Watts realizes that what's preventing Colin from not having a fulfilling existence is the very knowledge of a machine that could create more fulfilling memories. Watts then convinces Rosalene that they should give full control to Faye, who has reappeared because of the sedatives fading, and they pass on to her Colin's wish as it is too dangerous for the doctors to remain in Colin's dying mind. Faye then erases the existence of Sigmund Corp. from Colin's memories, creating a life in which Colin never asked for a wish and there were never tensions between Sofia and him. Near the end of his new life, Colin looks across the balcony as he did as a child, where Faye shows herself for the last time to exchange their final farewells. Later, just before Colin's funeral, Rosalene calls Watts wondering why he isn't here, and it is revealed that he is working on a secret project with two other Sigmund Corp. employees. At the end what appears to be an image of Faye appears on Watts' computer terminal.
Development and release
Finding Paradise was developed and published by Freebird Games for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux by the independent Canadian game designer Kan Gao. Created using the RPG Maker XP engine, the development started in 2015, a year after A Bird Story was released. Originally meant to be released in mid-2017, the game was delayed due to issues in Gao's personal life. The game was released on December 14, 2017.
Music
Reception
Finding Paradise has received generally positive reception, with 81/100 Metacritic score based on 18 critic reviews. Bob Richardson from RPGFan praised the game for its storytelling, soundtrack and expressive pixel art.
Accolades
The game was nominated for the Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game at the New York Game Awards 2019.
