Oh, I moonlight as a hero.
Apart from Rogue Legacy, I am not a big fan of Rogue-like games. I’ve tried a lot of them in my day too. I guess the feeling of working so hard on something to only lose it due to one costly error really gets to me. That’s why Moonlighter is such an amazing game – it’s a Rogue-like that I absolutely love, and I think due to its addictive nature and upgrade mechanics, it will be one of the best out there.
Players take on the role of Will, the worker and sole proprietor of a small mercantile shop in Rynoka Village. Will dreams of being a hero, but knows that he has to put bread on the table, so by day he works in his shop selling goods, while by night he traverses dungeons killing monsters to gain more items to sell in his shop. Along the way, he can use the gold he earns to upgrade the town, his shop, and upgrade his equipment to dive further down into the dungeons for that better loot.
Platforms: XB1, PS4, PC
MSRP: $19.99
Price I’d pay: $19.99
In a nutshell, that is the entire game. Players go into dungeons to gather materials to sell and upgrade Will’s equipment. After obtaining materials, players will return to town to showcase his wares to the village in his shop. Here, they will open the shop and adjust the price of his merchandise to get the right amount of gold for his troubles. It’s almost a price gouging game. Each patron will show an expression when seeing the price of an item. If it’s too expensive, they won’t buy. At the same time, their eyes will light up when seeing a rare item at a cheap price. Lowering and raising the price to find that sweet spot for profit is key to success and let me tell you, it is addicting as hell.
Now, it’s not all about selling everything I found in dungeons. After making some bank, I was able to hire a few people to open up shop in town that could help me out. The blacksmith could use materials to make better gear for Will and the potion shop could both enhance the gear he already had as well as make nice potions for better stats as well as healing, all of which require both gold and materials that Will would usually sell in his shop.
While in dungeons, Moonlighter plays a lot like A Link to the Past. To start out, Will has a simple sword and shield that feels a lot like the Hero of Hyrule while hacking and slashing monsters up. Every time Will enters and leaves a dungeon the layout changes, with some constants. There is always a healing pool on each floor that usually leads to the next floor, each dungeon has three floors, and each floor has more difficult monsters. Where does the Rogue-like come in? Right here. Will has both pockets and a backpack. If Will is to die in a dungeon, everything in his backpack is dropped and lost while he keeps everything in his pockets. On top of that, items found can come with curses. Curses like “this item must be put in either the top or bottom of the backpack” or “this item will destroy the item directly next to it.” It adds another layer of strategy to the game where players must pick and choose not only what to pick up, but where to put it in their backpack.
To leave a dungeon, there are a couple of options. First is the simple teleport back to town, which requires a small amount of gold. If players find themselves low on gold while in a dungeon, they can take things out of their inventory and throw it into a device Will carries that will automatically convert the items into gold. The second way is a two way portal. Let’s say I make it to the boss door of a dungeon. If I have enough gold, I can create a two way portal that will allow me to return to that dungeon at that spot instead of having to traverse the first two floors again in a randomized dungeon. This is a much pricier option, but it can save a lot on trying to defeat the boss.
One of the best things about Moonlighter is the sense of progression, not only in a monetary sense, but also in power. When I finally saved up enough gold and materials to get a new weapon upgrade, it felt so satisfying. I was able to kill a monster that usually took three hits to take down with only one. Adding survivability to Will via armor felt just as good too.
The soundtrack is a nice standout as well. It has some very catchy tunes for each dungeon, and the alterations of the town theme depending on where Will is and who he is talking too shows me that time and effort was put into each track. The pixel art style is both well animated and vibrant, and really pops when things are happening on screen.
There were a couple of gripes I had with the game. The first being that while I understand the reasoning behind the randomized dungeons, and I don’t mind it, there were rooms that had some horrible layout like having a single monster surrounded by pitfalls and the only way to hurt them would be with either ranged weapons or rolling over to the platform to kill it while trying not to get killed by them in the process since I’m now only a small platform surrounded by pitfalls with the monster. The other issue was the controls at times. Many times, I was totally fine with them, but there were a few choice spots that I felt like Will would face the wrong way when attacking and end up getting hit, or completely missing the enemy. It’s difficult to explain, but it just felt off every once in a while.
Regardless of the faults that game may have, Moonlighter is a fantastic game, both in mechanics and in execution. The carrot-on-a-stick nature of the progression is superb, and the dungeon parts are both challenging and rewarding. That, along with the wonderful soundtrack and nice pixel art, make for a beautiful aesthetic that is both fun and nice to see in action. Any fan of action RPGs should pick this one up. It can last players a nice long time and never once get boring.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
