Distributor provided a review copy
The first Moonlighter is one of my favorite games on the Switch. Featuring a smartly designed gameplay loop and a quirky sense of humor that toys with both established fantasy tropes as well as economic frustrations, it remains one of the biggest delights in indie gaming for me.
So to say that Moonlighter 2 has huge expectations heaped on it would be an understatement. Diving into the Early Access, I was expecting to come away, if not disappointed, at least underwhelmed. After all, even if I didn't intend to, I was comparing an unfinished sequel to a title I was already nostalgic about.
It's a happy surprise that while Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is a very different experience from the first one, it is a joyous and often immensely addictive roguelike even in its currently unfinished state.
The gameplay loop remains similar to the first one, though the emphasis leans even harder on the roguelike elements. Where Moonlighter felt closer to Link to the Past in terms of dungeons, the sequel is bigger, harder, and more varied in every aspect.
Granted, this is also the biggest change that is hardest to get used to. Moonlighter had a very specific type of pace, one that felt perfect in terms of challenge and length per run. Moonlighter 2, by comparison, demands more attention and engagement. Each run is longer and the boss battles are more difficult. Because of that the barrier of entry feels that much higher. It's no longer as cozy – or as cozy as any game of this type can be.
Combat has seen an overhaul as well, with new weapons, skills, and modifiers thrown into the mix. At the present, most of it is a blast, with enemies giving just enough of a challenge to feel dangerous while still playing into the power fantasy of a heroic clerk who can defeat evil with a broom. It's only in the boss battles that Moonlighter 2 falls apart. Even mini-bosses feel like a chore, and the dungeons are far too long to satisfy, especially as you're bound to be in tatters by the time you reach the boss level at the end.
Also, because we're still very much in Early Access, Moonlighter 2 is nowhere near its finished state. During my month of testing, the difficulty levels were in a constant state of flux. Sometimes they felt tremendously unfair, at others I kept getting overpowered gear and bonuses that made progression almost too easy. It will be fascinating to see where the level eventually settles, and how developer Digital Sun balances the final product.
Between dungeon crawls, Moonligher 2 returns to the store keeping mechanic of the first game, but with added depth and quirks. As you pick up items, each one comes with a value, multiplier, and even cursed or bonus aspects that effect other items in your inventory. Something might burn and destroy other items, but then reward specific ones with higher tier perks. Which in turn makes level rewards a mini-game of their own as you try to balance out your already small backpack to maximize profits.
At home, your shop has only limited space for display items, and you have to find a perfect price for each one to keep business going. Customers will react to prices by either stomping out of the store in a huff or giddily hopping to the register to snag a deal that's way too good to be true. Part of the fun is finding the right balance, but right now it feels more like guesswork than an actual science. At first, you just end up hiking the price up and down until someone buys it, and it's rare to ever change it again after that.
In the present state, much of the gameplay loop is limited to just gathering enough resources to satisfy a trickster god that demands more currency to allow our heroes to continue their way back home. It's a fun enough starting point, and the maps themselves are just engaging enough to keep me interested. At the same time, it feels like most of Moonlighter 2 is still a mystery.
After a month with the game, I can safely say that Moonlighter 2 still feels like something special. It isn't the same as the first game, and it won't ever take its place in my heart, but there's enough that is new and different to promise that Moonlighter 2 can be equally enticing down the line.
Combat is fun, the gameplay loop is addictive, and the mix of running a shop while battling dangerous monsters is just as charming as ever. Now it remains to be seen how much deeper the experience goes, and whether or not Moonlighter 2 can make a case for the huge changes to the original. I remain optimistic.
