10 Video Games MUCH Better Than We Thought They'd Be

6. To The Moon

It was easy for people to expect very little of the 2011 pixel-art adventure game, To The Moon.

For the uninitiated, it’s the first non-free game created by Freebird Games, a one-man studio with a particular talent for ripping your heart into a million pieces using only pixels.

To the Moon looks pretty unassuming from the outset with its telltale RPG Maker roots bleeding through and relatively rudimentary gameplay mechanics and systems. Don’t let that fool you, though, because this one has a brilliant story to tell and it is going to hurt. If you saw a screenshot from this game you’d be forgiven for letting it pass you by, but give it just an hour of time and it’ll have its claws in you and you’ll see why so many people claim it's in the top tier of video game storytelling. There’s a moderate dose of silliness and a couple of very basic puzzling elements in here but beyond that is an unforgettable narrative.

Not to mention a main theme so heart wrenching that it’s legitimately hard to go back and listen to without hurting. If you ignored this one because it seemed like a basic little indie game, it really does deserve your attention.