Inspired by the limited word count of social media and the quick-fire, unfiltered conversations that take place inside of them, Revved-Views is where I will attempt to review a game as concisely and as informal as possible. We’re all friends here, so rev your engines and come on this journey with me. I promise you, it’ll be a short one.
Moonlighter perfectly marries the dungeon crawler with the shopping simulator by tasking players to sell magical treasures looted from bread-and-butter RPG thematic dungeons. With the money you earn you can upgrade your shop, your weapons and your armour, and the feedback loop is nothing short from addictive.
Although addictive, at times the gameplay feels limited. You will find yourself grinding through the same dungeons, running into the same enemies, just to sell bits of junk you’ve seen a hundred times already. Then, when you find yourself fighting for your life against new enemies in a new dungeon, finding artefacts you’ve never seen before, the adrenaline and challenge comes flooding back.
Moonlighter had me hooked from beginning to, well, let’s say six-eighths of the way. Once I had run out of upgrades to chase and ran out of new items to discover it quickly became stale, and as I had already sunk so many hours into it I felt comfortable departing when I did. Curiosity killed the cat though, because when I watched the ending on YouTube it left me feeling slightly disappointed. I won’t ruin what limited story there is to Moonlighter, but to say I was unimpressed is an understatement.
There’s room for a Moonlighter 2 and I already have a list in my head of the changes and additions I would love to see in a sequel. Moonlighter has received an update recently that added mid-level bosses and ‘pets’ that can assist you in battle but if you’ve already reached the penultimate dungeon it won’t be enough to lengthen your time with the game.
I’m a hard guy to impress because I’m a cynical man who sees the glass as half empty but I would wake up early before work just to spend time in the world of Moonlighter. It’s not the perfect game but I loved it (mostly). If you’re looking for a pick-up-and-play experience where you’ll lose hours of your life without realising it, I suggest buying Moonlighter. I played it on PlayStation 4 but Moonlighter’s style is built for long commutes, so I recommend buying it on Switch and playing it on your long travels.
QUICK VERDICT
Should you play it? Yes
Why… Simply put, it’s a brilliant game with an addictive feedback loop that will trap you for hours.
But… Its repetitive nature will become boring once you’ve reached the penultimate dungeon, and once you’ve maxed out your shop and your gear there’s little Moonlighter can do to bring you back.
Quickly Reviewed on PlayStation 4. Review code supplied by Digital Sun Games.
