Estimated reading time: 16 minutes
The long awaited sequel to Moonlighter is finally here after many years in development as well as a slight delay from the original release date. Digital Sun launched Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault into early access and I'm loving what I'm seeing so far. It is a roguelike action adventure game that improved on gameplay from its predecessor with more strategy regarding loot, upgrades, and builds. It has a ton of RNG aspects that make Moonlighter 2 interesting or perhaps frustrating depending on how you look at it. The game has some added quality of life features that allow for a better enjoyment of the game. And overall, this sequel, while it has some shortcomings, is on track to knock it out of the park like the first one did. So, let's go over why that is.
Gameplay
You begin your journey being kicked off a ledge by Ms. Scratch - a business woman who is angry at you because you haven't made a dime since you arrived in the town of Tresna. For Will, the legendary merchant, this is unacceptable. Ms. Scratch tells you to take your broom and fight in the dungeon to get relics that you can sell. After all, this is a capitalist society and money makes the money go money.
This introduction to Moonlighter 2 really sets the tone for the perils you will be facing as you will have to fight your way through the endless vault to make as much money as you can. As the slogan says, loot, sell, sleep, repeat. So off you go with your trusty broom to take on some enemies and hope for relics that will fetch a good price at your shop. You are quickly contacted by a mysterious entity in the center of Tresna who tells you that you have to give it money. At first, the total it wants is 7,000 but each time you complete the monetary goal, the price increases - hence the endless vault. This is part of the reason you need to make a lot of money - to feed the vault as well as your wallet. It all makes sense now, doesn't it?
This leads us to the core gameplay loop which is the adventure in the dungeons. So let's talk about them.
Dungeons and Inventory Management
There are three different dungeons that you can pillage relics from. The first one you get access to is the day realm. When you open the portal, you will see there is another area that has not been activated yet. This would be the night dungeon which is only accessible after you make it to the end of the day realm dungeon. Entering the dungeon will bring up a map that has a couple of different pathways which lead to the final boss. The stages will grant artifacts of a certain type depending on the icon, mini bosses, challenges, and recipes. You will get to choose which path you take before you get to the final boss of the dungeon. Most of the paths will be relatively even in terms of rewards but you can strategize based on the perks you can get from certain stages. The further you get, the better the relics you receive.
The levels that allow you to pick certain perks will always be indicated on the map and in the legend. Certain levels will grant foam perks or wound perks. Other times you will get levels with thunder or burn perks. Each of these levels will give you a batch of relics that have these perks which can be used to your advantage but they might also pose a big problem. See, burn perks will often destroy a relic unless you have put down another relic to give it armor. At the beginning, this can cause you to lose more than gain, but only if you fail at inventory management. (More on this soon.)
Sometimes you will get into mystery levels that offer limited time challenges. These challenges require you to become hindered in some way until you complete it (whether successfully or not). Once the condition has been met, you will gain a reward for succeeding. An example of a challenge you can choose is avoiding damage for the next two encounters and if successful, you gain a higher critical attack chance. On the flipside, if you fail the challenge, you get nothing, but the detriment to your character also subsides.
The further you progress in the dungeon, the harder the creatures become. Sometimes that comes in the form of larger quantities of enemies, and other times they are more frequent attackers or harder hitting. And along the way you will run into mini bosses that will give you more valuable relics to sell in your shop. The longer you go through the dungeon, the more you will need to consider if you should go back to town or risk losing your loot.
If you chose to stay in the dungeon, then you will need to manage your loot as best as possible. You're only given ten slots to begin with and that means you will have to do a lot of 'Tetris-ing' to boost as many of those relics as possible. Sometimes this means you will have to willingly burn relics in order to make space for better ones. There are relics that will increase in value each time you burn relics in your backpack, so you will have to put a lot of thought into how you move them around. The good news is that relic placement is not permanent, meaning you can strategically put a relic where it can't burn anything until the time is right.
Aside from the combat, half the fun of the game IS the inventory management because you never know what you're going to get and each day can net your thousands of coins where other days you will strike out with little to show for it. Appeasing the first monetary goal of 7,000 may seem like a lot until you unlock the next tier... Thankfully, the backpack can be upgraded to give you fifteen slots, so you'll have an easier time holding more relics but a harder time playing Tetris. True story.
Upgrades
Outside of the dungeon levels, there are other considerations to be made like upgrading your shop. You can do so by purchasing furniture pieces with tokens from another merchant in the city, or you can boost your shop by getting upgrades through you robotic chest named K33p3r. It will hold a few relics for you in case you strike out one day and it can decorate your shop with colorful flooring options or furniture pieces. K33p3r also has a skill tree that can give you additional perks related to your shop. How cool is that?
These aren't the only upgrades you can get either. You can go to Eris to get potions and extra health. She also has a perk that will spawn additional healing before a boss fight, which may come in handy. And Andrei the blacksmith handles all things related to your weapons and armor. Additionally, you will be able to unlock another merchant who sells patches. These patches add passive buffs that will make life easier in the long run, so be sure to unlock that merchant as quickly as possible. All of this to say that you will be needing to make as much money as you can!
The Shop
Obviously, one of the core features of the game is learning what price you can sell the relics at. Initially, you simply guess the value based on the quality of the item. Through the clients' reactions, you will be able to adjust accordingly. Ideally, the best practice in Moonlighter 2 is to get the second lowest or third lowest price because you will make more in tips. See, if you manage to find the lowest price then you're selling the item for too little and it's basically a steal for the customer. If you find the highest cost, customers will be displeased and walk away. The highest price gives you a benchmark of the total it should be. Thankfully, you are able to lower the price so that someone will buy it. And ultimately, you want to get higher quality relics to maximize profits because you have to pay the endless vault. Now, one of the quality of life changes that has been made is the ability to see the pricing you've set previously on the sidebar. This means you won't have to consult the grimoire on each item before changing the price!
During your regular hours of operation, you will have special customers or perks that you can use to your advantage as well. There are Known Customers who will pay handsomely for good quality relics so long as you were successful in obtaining some. You want to balance selling more common relics with more rare relics, particularly if there are special customers around. This is also a time where you can stack some special relics in K33p3r for such an occasion.
After selling relics at an ideal price point, you will be able to buy a one day boost from the terminal next to your cash register that can grant more tips from the sale of certain rarities or quality levels of relics. Pairing the tip bonus with the higher quality relics when a Known Customer is in your shop will net you a nice little sum of money. So bare that in mind during gameplay!
Another important element to take note of is the daily calendar in your menu. On some days relics collected from specific dungeons or regions may fetch a higher price, so it is best to plan ahead! There's no shortage of ways to increase your profit margins and it's all beneficial to you by paying the vault and gaining character upgrades. No amount of money will be wasted in Moonlighter 2, and that's a good thing.
Similarities and Differences From the First Game
If you are familiar with the first game, you will notice some of the differences between the two as much as you will notice the similarities. Notably, the gameplay loop of heroically charging into the dungeon to get sellable stock remains the same. You'll be familiar with upgrading your kit at a few merchants within the city. And speaking of the merchants, some of them are the same ones you encountered in the first game like Eris and Andrei.
Some of the differences are just as striking to fans of Moonlighter like the graphics style is much more stylized and feels a lot like the art style used in Wind Walker. Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault has a 3D feel to it whereas the first game was a charming pixelated masterpiece.
Another difference between the two games is what happens when you die. Death in the dungeons doesn't automatically rob you of your relics in Moonlighter 2 which is a nice change. Instead, the value of the relics collected get reduced by 50%. Even at that, a relic will only get destroyed if their quality level drops below zero. So while the game may be punishing in some ways, death isn't as heavy of a cost in the sequel. Admittedly, I appreciate this change because of how punishing death was in the original.
Combat
Let's talk about the combat in Moonlighter 2 as it is a main element of the game. Will gets the choice of multiple weapons like the short sword, big sword, gauntlets, and spears. Each weapon has different special abilities that you can use depending on your playstyle, but it is entirely possible to buy each weapon in case you feel like being different.
I chose the short sword because I wanted something that would do a decent level of damage but would be fast enough to engage in combat and then retreat as needed, which is frequent. Though, no matter the weapon chosen, you will also get the ability to use a gun for your ranged option.
Sadly the combat is where the game falls a little short. And I do mean a little short, and not a complete hurling off the cliff like some games. See, the game doesn't restrict your movement abilities by using a stamina bar for dodging. This is not a bad thing, especially for players like me who dodge frequently. However, it means that as you progress further into dungeons, it is really easy to try for one more quick hit which can get you killed. What I mean is, the game devs know that players are going to dodge a ton, and as a result, the difficulty is increased by having large groups of enemies attack at once. This means you are more likely to be hit even if you are being tactical. It also means that it is easier to dodge off ledges because you aren't paying attention. So, all in all, do the best that you can and try not to take too many chances. The game will exploit you. Trust me on this one.
Anyways, as for the gun, it doesn't do a lot of damage, which is to be expected. That said, the primary use of the gun is to knock a flier out of the sky. Unfortunately, the gun's aim is, well, terrible. Honestly, it's the part of combat that is frustrating. The number of times I hit the wrong target or hit one of the plants instead of the enemy is too high of a number to put here. It is also one of the things that I've complained about in other games as well. If there was a way to auto target enemies instead of the plants, that would be fabulous. Or even if it targeted flying enemies first, that'd be even better. I don't know, the gun bugged me at times, even though I used it frequently. I wish I could be more helpful, but honestly I used it to cause burn or foam effects and to knock them out of the sky. Otherwise, they got the blade. *smile*
All in all, the point is you will need a lot of patience to be successful in your runs. You will also want to use the environment to your advantage where possible. That is because there are level features that can block ranged attacks or there are traps you can use to kill your enemies with. But, if you go face first into combat, you will have a higher chance of failing the run.
There is good news though, if you die, you don't lose all of your relics like in the first Moonlighter. In the sequel, relics will take 50% damage and then you can start at the beginning of the dungeon or retreat back to Tresna. Though, if a relic will drop below 0, it will be destroyed. On the other hand, if you have a relic that is at 40, then you will drop to 20 and that is possibly more soul crushing. So, patience young padawans.
Graphics
Okay, so, hot take here. I love the updated graphics of Moonlighter 2. I had no issues whatsoever with the pixelated top down view of the first game, but the visual style is much cleaner and more accessible for a wider audience. Not being restricted to a single area makes the combat a bit more challenging as you can't always see where the attacks are coming from. And along with the updated graphics comes a nice polished look when transitioning between areas.
The characters can exhibit more emotion through their body language which allows you to feel more invested in the characters. They don't simply respond with an emoji, although I do get the appeal of those pixelated reactions.
Although I love the art style of Moonlighter 2, I definitely see where the game can cause a problem for some PCs. If you get the option to drop spike traps after hitting an enemy, then there is potential for there to be a lot of animations happening at the same time. In fact, other players have mentioned that too many traps and overcharged abilities will create a visual smorgasbord which can cause a computer to go on the fritz. Thankfully, I didn't encounter much in the way of visual chaos as I've taken a liking to foaming or burning creatures instead. Though, I'm sure there is potential for the game to get bogged down at some point, I just haven't done anything to cause any issues.
That said, there are times where flying creatures managed to get stuck in the air. It is one of those instances where the gun came in handy. Despite it being weaker than your main weapon, I was still able to kill the enemy and spawn the relic chest. Although, what was strange about the creature being stuck was that it couldn't move at all. It couldn't even attack me back, so it was a free kill. Anyways, this only occurred once, but it was a strange enough instance that I found it worth mentioning.
Final Thoughts
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is a fantastic game even though it is not yet finished. There is some storytelling through the cutscenes and short discussions with other merchants. You will experience plenty of combat to sate the palette and receive more loot than you may know what to do with. It has many levels of strategy from combat tactics to inventory management that will net you the most profit, and ability trees to maximize your gains.
Visually the game is stunning which includes everything from the character movement (which is quite smooth) to scenery of the different dungeons. Each dungeon area has a unique style that is beautiful and aside from some small gripes with combat (which can be worked on before the full release) and a few unimplemented features, Moonlighter 2 is a ton of fun to play! I spent a lot of time running around the town trying to figure out which upgrades I wanted to purchase first before braving another day in the dungeons. Besides, we get a Bloblet whom you can pet at any time. Whatever this cute pet does is unknown to me because he isn't fully included in the game yet, but apparently there will be more of them. He's cute and I love him. (Gief plush of Bloblet please. Kthxbai!)
Anyways, I highly recommend Moonlighter 2 to anyone who enjoys roguelike games. It's fun, it's cute, and it's visually beautiful. There's so much to consider in the early game and it'll get its hooks into you. I promise. And in case it wasn't clear, it's definitely worth your time and money to get, even at this stage of development.
Score: 9 out of 10
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