Moonlighter

I’m not completely calling these issues dealbreakers, particularly since the good stuff carries much more worth than the bad. Moonlighter is one of those titles that just sort of ended up making me okay with its contrivances and keep playing for a pretty long while. In fact, just thinking about it as I write this is making me want to fire it up again, so it absolutely is under my skin.

If you want to play a top-down Legend of Zelda game as a rogue-lite while also taking shifts as a shopkeeper then, hey, Moonlighter is about to scratch a distinctive itch for you. It hits a sweet spot somewhere between satisfying swordplay and nitty-gritty economic sim, although some players may feel it gets ‘grindy’ after a while in its mechanics. Nonetheless, Digital Sun Games has produced a lush work it can be proud of; one that even touches on our humanity in an optimistic way.

The beauty of Moonlighter is how seamlessly it bends dungeon-crawling with a store simulator. Every action you take, whether it be in the dungeons collecting materials or in your shop earning gold to spend on upgrades, helps to move you further along towards your end goal. There were a few technical hiccups that cropped up from time to time and the last few upgrades needed a bit of grinding to unlock.