Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault Preview
Fans of cozy sims like Stardew Valley may remember 2018. sleepwalkerwhich skillfully combined store management and commerce with adventure gameplay. The game is back as Moonlight 2: Infinite Vaulti.e. The sequel, which will be released in Early Access in November, will certainly please fans of the first game.
Saving the world, one purchase at a time
The small fantasy village of Tresna has fallen on hard times, and it's up to you to save it. You are the shop owner from the first game and your job is to go on a journey to find relics and treasures, return to town intact and sell the goodies you find. With the money you earn, you can invest in better equipment, upgrade your store, or spread your wealth around the city. It's fun to watch your store go from a tiny place to Tresna's Costco. That is, if Costco sold magical relics and treasures instead of toilet paper on pallets.
This part of the cycle is as cozy and relaxing as you can imagine. The people of Tresna are an attractive crowd with a lot to say. Setting store prices, haggling with customers, and tending the cash register is mostly fun. The only blemish on the glass is that the whole thing is a multi-step process, which can get a little tedious. There is no voice acting, which is too bad, because the dialogue itself is written quite well. He doesn't take himself too seriously.
Unexpected fight
It seems like every action game has a roguelike element to it these days, and Moonlighter 2 is no exception. Each journey into the Infinite Vault is a series of small stages connected by a branching grid. Some areas contain treasure, others have temporary weapon upgrades or a mini-boss. At the end of each run there is a boss. Defeat the boss and return with coins and relics.
If you fail at any point in the run, you have a choice: return to Tresna with half-worth of your collected loot, or try again from the beginning. This is true no matter what difficulty you choose. It's a bit punitive. However, it also reminds the player that Moonlighter 2 takes its combat pretty seriously.
This is also highlighted by some fairly challenging encounters, especially with bosses and mini-bosses. Your character has a dodge roll, which is a bit slow to initiate, as well as a normal and special attack. I played a preview of the Moonlighter 2 beta and it definitely felt like the combat needed some balancing. Too many enemies with overlapping area attacks and slow rushing is frustrating. That complaint aside, the combat is generally fun. There are quite a few types of weapons you can experiment with.
Window decoration
The original Moonlighter was a top-down pixel art game. The sequel moved to eye-catching and stylized 3D art. It has a colorful storybook style that is timeless, and the NPCs have lots of little details that add a bit of wit and character. At least in the beta – and only in one level – there were too many blob enemies, but the more humanoid monsters were fun to fight.
Since there is no voiced dialogue and the ambient sound is quite sparse, the music in the game carries a lot of weight. It's the acoustic, dreamlike folk style you'd expect, a little more fun around town and more menacing in battle.
Balancing Law
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault takes a lot of what people loved about the first game and broadens its appeal. I really enjoyed the new art style and appreciated the balance between the cozy shopping loop and roguelike combat. Judging by the relatively small portion of the game in testing, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault should be a hit with both cozy simulators and roguelike adventure fans alike.
***PC code provided by publisher for preview purposes***
