Moonlighter, so good and so bad at the same time.
An expression a took from Bruna Lanzillotta on her review from Vampyr, which I think you should also check it out.
Hey everyone, my name is Wash and I’m here for the first time to talk about games! Especifically, Moonlighter.
The game was created from a spanish indie studio called, Digital Sun and it was release this year on 29 May. Through crowdfounding on Kickstarter, the studio got the support from 5,229 backers (the name used for supporters on the platform) and gathered $134,276 USD, being $40,000 their main goal for the project. This was their first game and it was a success on Steam, having on the first day more than 1,800 people playing the game simultaneously. Receiving praising from Kotaku, PC Gamer, Hardcore Gamer and from it’s own publisher supporter, Square Enix Collective.
About the game,
You play as Will, the grandson of a great explorer from Rynoka, the town where the game take place. At day, you are in charge to manage a Shop called Moonlighter, that you happen to inherit from your grandpa. And by night, you can explore several dungeons called Portals by the residents of the small town. Your main goal is to make profit on whatever you find in the Dungeons and bring home to sell and make your Shop grow more and more.
How it works.
Moonlighter is a rogue-lite game where you can attack, dash, defend and use a couple set of weapons present on the game to change and improve your playstyle throughout the game. The game also possses a LOT of items that you can keep track on your notebook, but most of them are collectables to sell on your shop. Having an Blacksmith and a Witch on the city to help you surpass more and more challenges, in exchange for money of course, making upgrade and enchantments on your weapons and also selling you potions to help you take on big challenges present on the game.
The lack of content.
One thing that I can’t deny is that the game have such and a AMAZING soundtrack. It seems to me that the developers from the game work more on the artstyle and soundtrack instead on the plot and history for the game. One of many games that inspire the creation of this game was The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. And every Zelda fan knows that one thing that Zelda games always has is a good soundtrack and a beatiful story. About story, this game lacks, A LOT.
But yeah, I mean, the game has it’s good sides but OH GOD how the story sucks. The game doesn’t have a lot of dialog since the protagonist Will, is like Link, total silent. So you have to stop a little bit and read some items, books and notes that you get exploring the dungeons of the game. But in the end of the game, I was like asking myself this, Why I’m doing this? Why I’m here? This is it? THE END? I felt like, asking a Playstation 4 for Chrismas and getting a pair of socks instead.
I think it all started when I first brought the game. I was excited for the first couple of hours but, my will (see what I did there? hihihi) to play the game was vanishing over and over time.
The progression troughout the game.
So that you can get the whole picture, on the game you sell items that you collect on the Portals. About the selling price, you can put any price you what but the game put on a mechanic that I thought was really really cool.
The game uses reactions from the buyers to set your mind to work something like, “Oh no, that villager showed me and an angry face seeing the price of that thing, I should change it” and it is REALLY cool! I was like super preoccupied with reactions and pleasing all the people that come to my shop until I realize, there is NO point on doing so. No praise from the village, no bonus stats for being the Friend of the Neighbourhood. It’s just reactions. Period.
Using the money you get from selling stuff found at the dungeons, you can upgrade and enchant your weapons and armor on the Blacksmith and the on Witch in Rynoka. Now, on this part some people don’t like and others do, I personally think it was really cool. The upgrade mechanic of the Blacksmith are so simple that even an child could know how upgrade a weapon and from the view of this gamer, this is good. Crafting and Upgrading is not suppose to be difficult or complicated. They’re suppose to help you, not making you go crazy. This were the few things that the game got it right, in my opinion.
The game is SO repetitive.
I mean, almost every RPG-like game are practically repetitive some time or other, especially if you like grinding to level up your character. But this game is REPETITIVE the whole time.
I mean, the game let you know that you’ll be doing this the whole game but it never tells you that is so boring. You’ll face different enemies on different environments but they’re always the SAME in a way. There is always a little glob, an spider-like enemy, a really strong one and a enemy that attacks from far away. Their attacks and mechanics change, yes, but their carry the same pattern.
Positive sides.
At the same time we are here to point and criticize some things in the game, we’re here to also praise. Moonlighter have the best art-style I’ve ever seen.
It really resemble The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap in so much ways. The dodging mechanic, the colorful scenarios, and specially the soundtrack. One thing that I love the most in this game is that every time you talk to an NPC, the ambient music change to the theme of that especific NPC but the song keep on the same rhythm but with a different beat.
The same goes for the dungeon soundtrack. Every single one have an especific theme and one better than the previous one. My favorite theme is from the 4th portal, the Tech Dungeon. The soundtrack is made by David Fenn, who did the soundtrack for Titan Souls, also a rogue-like game. Here, I’ll put the intro song of the Titan Souls so you can get the idea of how talented this guy is.
Final thoughts.
Well, for the most part…it works. I had fun with it but I don’t know if I can recommend to someone. For those who don’t care about story in a game and want a rogue-lite game with a good soundtrack and a simple system of upgrading and progress, this game is for YOU. But if you do care about story progress and character development throughout the game like me, I really think you’ll have fun but, you’re gonna end up like me on the end, disappointed.
The End.
If you stayed with me till the very end I want to thank you so much for reading my first Review! ❤ This is the first time I do this and is also my first time here on Medium. I would love a feedback so, let me know what you think of the review or if you played the game, let me know what you thought of it!
