"Moonlighter"

"Moonlighter"

Reviewed By: Carless Yen

Developed by: Digital Sun

Published by: 11Bit Studios

Platforms: Xbox, Switch, PS4, PC

I spent hours with Moonlighter, and one thing I can say for it is that it is very addictive. You play as Will a shopkeeper in the town of Rynoka. During a archeological excavation some mysterious gates were discovered. Will is more than a shopkeeper , but also a adventurer. That is the whole idea of the game is you fight your way through randomly generated dungeons collecting loot. Unlike most games though all of the loot is not for yourself. Will sells the rare items back to the towns people for gold to use to upgrade his armour and weapons. Each Armour and weapon requires certain items you find along the way as well as gold, and there is plenty to be made off the townspeople.

The dungeons aspect is so addictive, you will work your way through them multiple times before putting together a hero capable of defeating the dungeon boss.That means you will find yourself running away a lot more than fighting at times,because if you die you leave all your loot behind. The game has serious depth as far as things you find on your journey, and the things you can buy for your store, character, and town.

The game reminds me of a blend few others. The Dungeons have an a "Legend of Zelda" feel mixed with the randomness of "A Binding Of Issac" while it looks and plays a lot like Stardew Valley. I really think if your a fan of any of those you will find yourself lost for hours in this title. There are different styles to play it as well, from sword and shield, to huge swords, to bows, daggers, and even punching. Would been cool to see some magic or items thrown in there as well like boomerangs, bombs, etc.

The visuals like I said look a lot like Stardew Valley, and the music is really really charming and melancholy. I now find myself doing this review with the game paused to enjoy it's sounds. It runs smooth never really had any issues with it. Just some light things like once had lady fall asleep in the store, and I couldn't get her to leave to advance in the game. I tried everything leaving shop, and going to bed after awhile I just reset the game and she was gone. Another minor issue I had was while hitting RT to look at items description the screen would go dark and I'd have to go in and out of menu a few times to get it back to normal. That seems more like a Xbox issue as I haven't read about it in any other reviews, so sure that will get ironed out.

I have to say I loved the game, and had a hard time turn it off at times. You just really want to see what you will find next, and how much it is worth to the people. You also want to see the next dungeon, and what the next boss will look like. All of the bosses were really cool designed fights. Everyone had unpredictable move sets that really tests your skill. In my opinion if your a fan of SNES titles from back in the day you are going to love this. This could have very well been a hit in the days of the 16 bit console. Would have fit really well along side some of those great RPGs on Sega and Nintendo.

Pros: Beautiful Music

Smooth controls and fighting

Tons of replay value, game is never the same

Addictive gameplay shop, and dungeons

Awesome Boss Battles

Cons: Few minor bugs along the way, almost never.

Overall: 8.2 Moonlighter is more than just a dungeon crawler, or retro game. It is a blend of the best of all of that, with wonderful shop running and storytelling blended perfectly into it. Moonlighter is one of those games that just entertains perfectly so much you don't notice the sun coming up, and realize you been exploring dungeons all night.