To The Moon gets free holiday "minisode", will soon have Mac and Linux versions

Seasonal specials are a long-standing tradition in television, from EastEnders' annual scowl-off, to Downton Abbey's historical snoot-'em-up, or Doctor Who's... whatever the hell that was.

Seasonal specials are a long-standing tradition in television, from EastEnders' annual scowl-off, to Downton Abbey's historical snoot-'em-up, or Doctor Who's... whatever the hell that was. Thanks to Freebird Games' To The Moon, games are getting in on the drama as well. The developer of the emotionally charged adventure has now released a free holiday special "minisode" focusing on its lead doctors Eva & Neil.

"The minisode is just about 20 minutes long," writes Freebird Games' Kan Gao in a blog update, "and is meant to be played front-to-end in a little marathon, as there is no save feature (or menus, for that matter). It takes place around the holiday season, at the local branch of Sigmund Corp where Eva & Neil are employed."

You can download the free chapter from here. The freebie was also released through Steam, via an update to To The Moon. To play it, you'll need to go to To The Moon's Steam folder, where you'll find the executable.

And what else? In an interview with Polygon, Gao revealed that Mac and Linux versions of To The Moon where "not too far off". There's no firm date for the ports, but, according to Gao, the studio has overcome legal problems surrounding the current game engine's EULA, and now progress is being made.

And what else? Gao also writes about A Bird Story, the developer's next release, saying it will be finished when it's ready. "It's not that long of a game at all, but there are things in it that I'm just still trying to figure out. It's also something that means a lot to me personally, and I don't want to compromise how it turns out." A Bird Story will be a prequel to the eventual second episode of To The Moon, featuring a younger version of what will be that game's patient.

In case you haven't played the main game, it's a narrative adventure about a couple of doctors who help grant the wishes of dying patients by travelling back through their memories. It's an excellent and moving story, which is just as well, because its title never fails to get that Savage Garden song stuck in my head. It's well worth checking out, especially at its super-cheap Steam sale price, or, if you use the service, the even cheaper UPlay sale price.