Moonlighter is a gorgeous-looking game with an unfortunate number of flaws that still do not change how much I love it.
Gameplay
The gameplay loop of Moonlighter involves you running a shop during the day and crawling dungeons at night. This is an excellent concept and both features are executed well but have the same issue of being a bit monotonous over time.
That being said, I still enjoy both aspects of the game, though I was ready for it to be over before it was.
The shopkeeping sees you running back and forth between keeping your shelves stocked and making sales, in addition to helping customers and stopping thieves. You have the option of setting your own prices on items which can be really in-depth if you want it to be. I personally didn't care to get too into the price adjustments so I just looked up the best pricing for the items. But if you want to you can do price testing by adjusting the price of items based on customers' feelings toward them.
The dungeons are weaker than the shopkeeping but still enjoyable. The enemies are fairly varied in each section, but the problem comes from how long you'll spend in each dungeon. When you beat one, the weapons you take into the next one aren't going to be up to snuff. So the start of the next dungeon is going to be tough and time-consuming, with enemies dealing a lot of damage and taking way too many hits to kill. And of course, you need the materials in that dungeon to buy the next best weapons and armor so you can't really do anything about it except grind. This is the major issue with the game and why I stopped playing for quite a while when I got to the 2nd-to-last dungeon.
The combat is also slow. Sword swings are deliberate and a bit difficult to chain together. If you've read some of my other reviews you know that I don't care for 3-hit combos as it is. The attacks and dodges all feel a bit heavier than I would like, but I can't fault them too much because this feels like a stylistic choice and, even if I would have preferred it to be a bit different, it still works and is fun.
As an additional aspect of the dungeon-crawling, there is also inventory management. You must manage your backpack to make sure that you bring back the best stuff or stuff that you need for upgrades. Fortunately, the game has a very good favorites system to make it very easy to tell what items you are looking for. Plus, there are some fun aspects to the inventory management, like cursed items that can only be placed in certain places, or items that teleport items next to them home right away. There are also secret areas including one that contains a chest that teleports back to your base, freeing up your backpack space.
Story
The story to Moonlighter is good, if a bit sparse. Your character lives on a world where they delve into these dungeons to recover technology beyond their means. As the story progresses you learn more about the origin of these dungeons, but I won't spoil it here. I'll admit that the ending is quite unexpected, and probably not in a great way.
Characters
Personality-wise, there isn't much to the characters. There isn't a whole lot of dialogue either. But the character designs are spectacular.
Art
Moonlighter has probably the most beautiful and detailed pixel art and animation I've ever seen. Everything is animated so smoothly and has a wonderful sense of movement. From the shop assistant putting up her hair to the enemy attack animations, you will never get tired of watching things happen in this game.
Music
The music in Moonlighter is by David Fenn who previously did Titan Souls and would go on to work on Death's Door. If you've played any of these three games you'll know that his music is beautifully atmospheric and matches the game's aesthetic perfectly. In Moonlighter, he focuses on simple melodies with clean rhythm and understated harmonies to make something that is not too complex but always a great listen. Even if you haven't played the game, I'd recommend checking him out on Spotify. I think he'll be going places after this and Death's Door.
btw, you can play this for free on mobile if you have a Netflix account (at least at the time of writing this). Definitely worth trying!
Gameplay
The gameplay loop of Moonlighter involves you running a shop during the day and crawling dungeons at night. This is an excellent concept and both features are executed well but have the same issue of being a bit monotonous over time.
That being said, I still enjoy both aspects of the game, though I was ready for it to be over before it was.
The shopkeeping sees you running back and forth between keeping your shelves stocked and making sales, in addition to helping customers and stopping thieves. You have the option of setting your own prices on items which can be really in-depth if you want it to be. I personally didn't care to get too into the price adjustments so I just looked up the best pricing for the items. But if you want to you can do price testing by adjusting the price of items based on customers' feelings toward them.
The dungeons are weaker than the shopkeeping but still enjoyable. The enemies are fairly varied in each section, but the problem comes from how long you'll spend in each dungeon. When you beat one, the weapons you take into the next one aren't going to be up to snuff. So the start of the next dungeon is going to be tough and time-consuming, with enemies dealing a lot of damage and taking way too many hits to kill. And of course, you need the materials in that dungeon to buy the next best weapons and armor so you can't really do anything about it except grind. This is the major issue with the game and why I stopped playing for quite a while when I got to the 2nd-to-last dungeon.
The combat is also slow. Sword swings are deliberate and a bit difficult to chain together. If you've read some of my other reviews you know that I don't care for 3-hit combos as it is. The attacks and dodges all feel a bit heavier than I would like, but I can't fault them too much because this feels like a stylistic choice and, even if I would have preferred it to be a bit different, it still works and is fun.
As an additional aspect of the dungeon-crawling, there is also inventory management. You must manage your backpack to make sure that you bring back the best stuff or stuff that you need for upgrades. Fortunately, the game has a very good favorites system to make it very easy to tell what items you are looking for. Plus, there are some fun aspects to the inventory management, like cursed items that can only be placed in certain places, or items that teleport items next to them home right away. There are also secret areas including one that contains a chest that teleports back to your base, freeing up your backpack space.
Story
The story to Moonlighter is good, if a bit sparse. Your character lives on a world where they delve into these dungeons to recover technology beyond their means. As the story progresses you learn more about the origin of these dungeons, but I won't spoil it here. I'll admit that the ending is quite unexpected, and probably not in a great way.
Characters
Personality-wise, there isn't much to the characters. There isn't a whole lot of dialogue either. But the character designs are spectacular.
Art
Moonlighter has probably the most beautiful and detailed pixel art and animation I've ever seen. Everything is animated so smoothly and has a wonderful sense of movement. From the shop assistant putting up her hair to the enemy attack animations, you will never get tired of watching things happen in this game.
Music
The music in Moonlighter is by David Fenn who previously did Titan Souls and would go on to work on Death's Door. If you've played any of these three games you'll know that his music is beautifully atmospheric and matches the game's aesthetic perfectly. In Moonlighter, he focuses on simple melodies with clean rhythm and understated harmonies to make something that is not too complex but always a great listen. Even if you haven't played the game, I'd recommend checking him out on Spotify. I think he'll be going places after this and Death's Door.
btw, you can play this for free on mobile if you have a Netflix account (at least at the time of writing this). Definitely worth trying!