Cross the Moon

Genre: Visual Novel

Players: 1

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Review:

Cross the Moon is a Visual Novel released on PC in 2020 and ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2021. This game’s story is set in a contemporary world where humans and vampires coexist mostly peacefully, although not without some amount of friction caused by justifiable fear mixed with bigotry. Set in a territory roughly analogous to modern-day France, Cross the Moon’s story is told from the perspective of three characters – Lux, a teenage black vampire, his sister Aurore (also a vampire), and police inspector Otsuki, recently transferred from Japan. The three of them are each pulled into events surrounding a central mystery, the gruesome murder of a young man.

Before going on, I should say that while some Visual Novels have branching story paths or different dialogue options, Cross the Moon does not – this is a linear story without any real interaction.

The presentation here makes use of monochrome photos with color filters, with line art of characters superimposed in front of it. The art is good, and there are even some fun little touches in the backgrounds, such as the presence of a moon that has been mysteriously shattered. These visuals are backed by a subdued instrumental soundtrack that’s not very memorable, but does a good job of setting the tone for the story.

As for that story, what’s here is pretty good – Cross the Moon features interesting, well-crafted characters, a compelling world, and an intriguing story. While the mystery behind the murder that sets the story in motion is what propels the plot, it’s almost as fascinating to see how this game’s fictional world functions, get a feel for what its history could be, how that has affected politics and society, and how that in turn affects the everyday lives of its characters.

Having said that, this game does have a few flaws. Namely, it suffers from having a slow, confusing introduction. At times it seems just a tad pretentious. And it’s not always clear what’s motivating its characters, even those characters whose perspective we’re seeing the story from.

Still, even with these issues, this is an interesting contemporary alternate-world vampire story, and the compelling plot and characters should keep you interested to see more. As long as that sounds interesting to you, and as long as you don’t mind a Visual Novel devoid of choice or player input, Cross the Moon should definitely be worth a look.

tl;dr – Cross the Moon is a Visual Novel about a murder mystery in a contemporary alternate reality where humans and vampires coexist mostly peacefully. The world, story, and characters are all excellent, though the story can take a bit of time to get going and it can be a tad pretentious at times. This is a Visual Novel that doesn’t give the player any choice in its story, but if the story premise sounds interesting to you, you’ll likely find this to be an interesting read.

Grade: B

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