Early Access Impressions:

"How disappointing... Even your own history rejects you"

Happy to report Moon Studios follow up to the fantastic Ori games makes a strong first impression in what might just end up being their most valiant and ambitious effort to date. An isometric ARPG Soulslike with elements of life sims like Stardew and Animal Crossing in the beautifully strikingly dark and oppressive world that is Isola Sacra. There's a long road ahead before 1.0 but I've already put in 37 hours of playtime and can't get enough of the world and gameplay loop after already finishing the main story content that's available at the moment. I rarely jump in and gamble on early access releases and even right now I'm not sure if I could recommend this in the state its in as its only really a foundation and the performance issues that have plagued it for me. But the team at Moon has done a great job with player feedback and a number of things I had issue with on the first day have been improved or fixed. I really can't wait to see what's next for the characters of Sacrament and challenges that await me. Rarely do you see a studio take this much of a swing into new territory and still retain a lot of their identity. I can only hope from here on out that Moon delivers on their promise as this could end up being one for the ages.