Moonlighter is one of those titles that suffered a little because I played it as an early adopter. I enjoyed Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, and so I was immediately sold on that concept as a modern experience.
Moonlighter, for the most part, was a fun time in its early state. The weapons provided a nice variety of options, and the gameplay was simple but satisfying. It was a clever angle to have an upgrade tree that either focused on raw power or speciality weapons that inflicted status effects.
Finding secrets by falling into pits provided a nice additional angle to exploration, and the item curses gave item management a twist. The dungeons were varied with a specific theme; the forest frequently caused poison and the technology dungeon is heavy on enemies that shoot lightning. Although the dungeons are formulaic (written off in the story as being that way on purpose), they are just the right size to make an overwhelming number of items a blessing and curse.
But, whilst the earlier version of the game was fun, I thought it suffered from balancing issues. I quickly bought the upgrades and had no reason to keep the shop running. With things heavily money orientated, I could gather loot and get my shop assistant to sell what I didn’t need for upgrades. Maxing out the character and defeating the final boss made for an extremely short endgame. With the game finished and the remaining achievements feeling tedious, I felt that I had no reason to go back at the time.
With the Between Dimensions DLC giving me incentive to go back, I am glad that I did, because things feel much improved with costs being balanced with improvements. The DLC adds a much-needed endgame dungeon with a steep difficulty curve that requires plenty of funds to obtain the upgrades to survive. Prices feel adjusted accordingly, with the Banker offering more of a gamble, and I soon found myself running out of cash and having to run the shop. There is also a new haggling system, with villagers offering trades for rare items and giving more much needed incentive to occupy the store. Villager quests and materials needed for upgrades give more incentive to go back to earlier dungeons.
Although it is often simplistic, Moonlighter is a fun time. My only real gripe with the updated version is how confusing the DLC can appear to be sometimes. There are new wanderer dungeons in the regular dungeons, offering both an alternative route to the next floor, or an additional floor with chests. Cool? Yes. But it’s easy to assume that’s all the DLC is, as the real wanderer dungeon doesn’t appear until after the main story.
But considering how cheaply the whole experience can be picked up these days, I recommend it as a fun week-long RPG with a neat shop gimmick.
Moonlighter, for the most part, was a fun time in its early state. The weapons provided a nice variety of options, and the gameplay was simple but satisfying. It was a clever angle to have an upgrade tree that either focused on raw power or speciality weapons that inflicted status effects.
Finding secrets by falling into pits provided a nice additional angle to exploration, and the item curses gave item management a twist. The dungeons were varied with a specific theme; the forest frequently caused poison and the technology dungeon is heavy on enemies that shoot lightning. Although the dungeons are formulaic (written off in the story as being that way on purpose), they are just the right size to make an overwhelming number of items a blessing and curse.
But, whilst the earlier version of the game was fun, I thought it suffered from balancing issues. I quickly bought the upgrades and had no reason to keep the shop running. With things heavily money orientated, I could gather loot and get my shop assistant to sell what I didn’t need for upgrades. Maxing out the character and defeating the final boss made for an extremely short endgame. With the game finished and the remaining achievements feeling tedious, I felt that I had no reason to go back at the time.
With the Between Dimensions DLC giving me incentive to go back, I am glad that I did, because things feel much improved with costs being balanced with improvements. The DLC adds a much-needed endgame dungeon with a steep difficulty curve that requires plenty of funds to obtain the upgrades to survive. Prices feel adjusted accordingly, with the Banker offering more of a gamble, and I soon found myself running out of cash and having to run the shop. There is also a new haggling system, with villagers offering trades for rare items and giving more much needed incentive to occupy the store. Villager quests and materials needed for upgrades give more incentive to go back to earlier dungeons.
Although it is often simplistic, Moonlighter is a fun time. My only real gripe with the updated version is how confusing the DLC can appear to be sometimes. There are new wanderer dungeons in the regular dungeons, offering both an alternative route to the next floor, or an additional floor with chests. Cool? Yes. But it’s easy to assume that’s all the DLC is, as the real wanderer dungeon doesn’t appear until after the main story.
But considering how cheaply the whole experience can be picked up these days, I recommend it as a fun week-long RPG with a neat shop gimmick.