"Boy, you put yourself in such unnecessary danger."
- Zenon

If you look at the main Steam Store page, you will see a slew of titles in the roguelite category, many of which offer similar concepts while hiding behind cute pixelated scenery and vibrant colors. Imagine my surprise, then, when I came across Moonlighter, Digital Sun Games' roguelite kickstarter, a relatively new project with lovely visuals and intriguing mechanics that sparked some hope during its initial release. To say that I was thrilled would be an understatement.

Since early childhood, Will, the protagonist, has always shown interest in becoming a hero; however, being the only child of a well-known family of merchants, he was forced to abandon this dream and settle in the center of Rynoka Village, where the renown titular shop, Moonlighter, is located. To earn a living, he must enter dungeons near his town, defeat strange enemies, and loot items to sell at his shop. As his successful forays yield profit, he finally makes the decision to pursue his long-held desire to become a legend, and thus the journey begins.

The plot as well as its characters commence with solid groundwork, where our humble merchant tastes firsthand the perils of the dungeons. We are familiarized with his tragic background, the purpose of the Moonlighter, and, of course, the village itself. After finishing with the introduction, the pace of the story falls stale. You can only find lore pieces through exploration that not only provide vague descriptions but, on the contrary, pose more questions than answers. For me, the biggest regret could be found in the characters themselves. At some point, more and more people are flocking inside the town’s premises as both its reputation and value gain strength. As a result, new visitors are walking mindlessly around the town, sprinkled with distinctive clothing and hairstyles without any role or purpose, which makes me wonder why there is so much emphasis on making them look unique but no effort to turn their presence into something relevant and, thus, more engaging.

Moonlighter presents itself as a hybrid between two fan favourite genres: management sims and dungeon crawlers. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the various mechanics introduced provide a unique spark that could essentially evolve into a charming experience, the sense of challenge feels lacking, not only due to the short-lived engagement but also because of the combat's buggy nature.

Comparing the beginning and final stages of a playthrough, you can find that everything seems to be rushed out. In the beginning sessions, when you are trying to grasp the fundamentals, you really feel a sense of awe as every room is filled with surprises. The noticeable plethora of enemies, for instance, in coordination with their specific vulnerabilities, makes you embrace the role of a true hero who is carefully looking for an opportunity to strike at the exact time and place. As you progress further through the game, however, more and more foes are being integrated; this time, instead of expanding the diverse mix, they introduce ridiculous abilities and long HP bars that turn them into hit sponges. Therefore, you are indirectly encouraged to rush some encounters since incoming damage is extremely unpredictable, unintentionally busting even through hard cover. Fortunately, I was really surprised with the boss fights, perfectly fitting the theme of each dungeon. Each boss is equipped with a unique set of attacks and terraforming patterns that encourage active swapping between close and ranged playstyles.
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As previously hinted, another messy design is the controls and, most importantly, the combat, considering that it allows four-way movement in a buggy eight-way format. Imagine how frustrating it can be to align yourself perfectly with your enemy while they are facing you from behind, only to find out that their projectiles will head towards you regardless of your position. Personally, I would have learned my lesson if this was an intentional feature, but in this instance, that’s far from the truth. To add insult to injury, the ledges themselves are finnicky, making you fall with the slightest push or a miscalculated roll. There were instances, for example, where all the enemies died instantly the moment I entered a new room due to them spawning close to the ledge, thus losing all the potential loot. Lastly, despite the noticeable variety of weapon and armor options, I find It is a shame that the elemental builds force them to stick to a specific element at any given upgrade tier, consequently downgrading the enhanced system’s potential.
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To give credit where credit is due, shopkeeping and item management are some of Moonlighter’s greatest points. You are given a limited amount of space in your bag with the purpose of collecting loot and materials. The items in your pocket that account for five slots will stay, even if you are defeated inside the dungeon, while all the others are lost upon death. However, there is a catch. Certain items are cursed, forcing you to place them on the side of or at the top or bottom of your inventory, respectively, while others are fragile and will be destroyed if you take too many hits. Another brilliant surprise is the shop system. In parallel to his dungeon crawling achievements, you need to run your shop. Depending on the price that you've set for your item, you will get a reaction from your customers. This creates a rather engaging task of trial and error, where you need to play with the demands of the market and, of course, the depth of your own wallet.
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In contrast to its sloppy gameplay backbone, the pixelated artstyle and all the details that revolve around it are outstanding. Smooth graphics, vibrant colors, cute characters, and beautiful UI designs are the blood and bones of the whole experience. In fact, I would argue that a large part of Moonlighter's appeal comes from the visuals, which serve as a cunning front that sweeps the game’s many flaws under the rug.

David Fenn is a renown composer and sound designer whose music has made a strong impact in the Indie community ever since the Titan Souls days. The mix of strong melodies combined with detailed instrumentation makes each run less painful to endure. All the tracks have excellent replayability value, and on top of that, they blend masterfully with Rynoka’s aesthetic.

After having spent more than forty hours in this game, I can confidently say that my expectations fell short by a long margin. Despite its attempts to scratch that itch, Moonlighter shoots itself in the foot either through the numerous bug encounters or the tedious grinding loop. It is by no means a bad game, but the lack of complexity really sticks out, earning it a spot in the long-forgotten backlog.

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