Game Review | Moonlighter: Manage your shop and Delve deep into the dungeons for rare loot!
Hello everyone, @Piroct here for your almost daily reviews and recommendations!
You like those simulation games where you get to manage a store and sell everything for profit but you can't handle the lack of Action? Well, this game may be for you!
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Let's get into it!
Moonlighter.
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Suddenly, out of nowhere, 5 Strange Doors appeared near the Village of Rynoka. Adventurers couldn't hold too long before the thirst of glory and riches forced them to open the doors and explore whatever is inside them. Some of them died while exploring moments after, others had more time and study the surroundings of this Strange Dungeons, and a few lucky ones could scavenge great treasures, Mystic Artifacts of some sort that could take you out of the claws of any dungeon, to the safety of the village... For a price. The owner and founder of the Moonlighter was one of those lucky ones.
But luck it's not enough to survive in the dungeons. A terrible fate was inevitable for those burning with needless curiosity.
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You take the part of Will, the last of his Family-Line and Heir to the Moonlighter. A Legendary Shop that his Grandfather built after the dungeons appeared, to sell artifacs and every kind of loot he could scavenge with the help of his artifact, a beautiful necklace that could teleport him to the Shop just for a little sum of gold.
The Shop, the Artifact... And the needless curiosity were passed down to Will. It's up to us to manage the Moonlighter and turn it into the Legendary Shop it once was, and uncover the Mysteries of the dungeons, defeat every Great Guardian and unlock the 5th Door.
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Our Journey Begins.
So, Moonlighter is the combination of a simulation game with an RPG with Rogue-like elements. You'll need to delve into the dungeons that are Ramdonly Generated everytime you enter, defeat little guardians to receive loot, and when your backpack is full, activate your Necklace to go back and sell everything for profit!
And once you're in the safety of your Shop, it'll be time to put in display all the loot you want to sell and learn the value of those things. If you do this well, success will be around the corner, and it's a really simple mechanic... Although is the part I failed the most to be honest.
There's no simple trick to know the price of something. You'll have to think of a price depending on how rare you think the item is, and then wait for the client's reaction when inspecting the item. But don't worry, you'll have your "Merchant Book" in which all reactions will be recorded with their specific reaction, so you can check the price later and avoid making the same mistake.
It's a simple but fun mechanic in which you'll have to play with numbers until you get it right, but as it's almost a Guessing Game, you'll have greats odds to end up selling an rare item for a really low price, losing all the profits. So it's adviceable to not sell a whole stack of items of unknown price, just sell one for a certain price and check on the client's reaction!
Village's Last Hope.
As the last running business inside Rynoka, you'll be given the option to sponsor other people with great business ideas, to bring them to the village. With every people you sponsor you'll unlock services that will help you both your Shop and your combat capabilities.
The Blacksmith, for example, can offer you to craft items and improve them into higher tier equipment, or like the Alchemist, that will let you brew potions or enchant your equipment! Every one of these services will help you improve your income or your character so you can delve deeper into the dungeons and find better loot.
Not only you'll be able to improve the village and bring more people into it, but you can improve your store as well. Make it bigger, improve the Cashier Machine so the clients give you bigger tips, or decorate your Shop with different items that grant different bonuses!
As you expand and improve the Village, it'll be noticeable the amount of people that I'll start appearing in the square and in your store. That's a pretty detail as it show that you're making a difference inside the Game-World.
Before we get into Action.
Before heading out, let's check out equipment first!
Moonlighter lets you decide you own play-style depending on the Armor and Weapon you choose to use.
After unlocking the Blacksmith you'll be able to check on your equipment options and the items you need to craft them.
In the Armor tab you'll have the generic Light Armor (Increments movement speed and HP), Medium Armor (Only Increases HP but in a higher quantity), and the Heavy Armor (Increases big amounts of HP but decreases movement speed.
And in the Weapon tab you'll find a handful of option, going from Short-Sword and Shield to Spears and Bows!
All of the equipment can be upgrade to a higher tier with items from the different dungeons, so be sure to check out which items you need to store before going on a selling rampage!
And, for a little extra power, the Alchemist will offer you the service of Enchanting your Armor, for extra HP bonus and added Damage mitigation, and your Weapons for extra damage bonus!
This process is quite expensive but sometimes worth it, although is a little bit discouraging that the Enchantments won't stay once the Equipment is upgraded to a new Tier, but I guess is fair. You'll only need Empowering Crystals for this so be sure to save a bunch!
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To the Dungeons we go!
Moonlighter offers a smooth and face-paced combat that it's easy to get used to, but not to get bored with. Enemies can appear in large numbers, so in this cases I really appreciate the smoothness of the animations. It's quite pleasant to take out a lot of enemies at once when you get the hold of it!
At the beginning, the game lets you choose a Control Scheme: Keyboard or Controller. Regardless of whatever you choose, the key bindings are completely customizable and that's a plus!... I'd rather attack with the mouse button than having my two hands in the keyboard, for sure.
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So, as I said before, the dungeons are completely Randomly Generated when you get into them, and every dungeon consist of 4 leves, the 4th being the Boss Level. It was easy to not feel bored or annoyed of going back to a dungeon several times as the dungeons do feel different, and the levels aren't too big to be overwhelming. It's easy to climb up to the Boss Level, but every level adds a quite thick layer of difficulty to every mob.
In Moonlighter you'll find a wide variety of enemies to fight with, every one of them with a specific attack pattern or ability that you better learn to evade. This monster will always do significant damage, unless you have full armor and you're exploring the first dungeon that is.
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It's never a park-walk, specially when you get into a different dungeon for the first time, which is what makes it interesting. Studying the pattern and learning when to dodge can save you from perishing and losing all the items you collected, so be aware!
Oh, and if you take your sweet time in a certain level, you'll probably wake up a Reaper, and unkilleable being that will chase you until you get out of the level, so you better manage your time well!
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Study the Dungeons.
Every dungeon will hold many secrets and you better pay attention and read to every scrap of paper you find as they'll have important hints to understand the Dungeon Behavior and other little details that can take you to great loot!
I found this a good incentive to read and listen to every lore and piece of information to understand better the story and context of the game. Give players rewards in exchange for reading interesting pieces of lore is a good deal!
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Challenge the Great Guardians!
Every Boss fight is unique, and you'll have your heart pounding at every moment. Every Great Guardian has its unique set of attacks, which you'll have to pin-point quickly so you know when to dodge or block, because they do lots of damage, and you can't afford to lose that loot!
The design of every one of them is really pretty and detailed. They do look like a strong being, and sometimes it gets a little bit overwhelming to see your little character beside those giants...
After defeating a Great Guardian another Dungeon will be unlocked and you'll be awarded with unique and expensive loot that will worth all the trouble you spend in the battle.
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Sounds of Adventure.
Moonlighter has one of my favorite soundtracks in an Indie game. The soundtrack inside Rynoka being full of melancholy but with a fast-paced melody that speaks volumes to your heart! As the soundtracks from the dungeons, that are more actiony but with an undertone of sadness in some parts that reminds you that you're in a dangerous place.
Moonlighter is a enjoyable experience for your ears, in combination with the combat is quite the adventure!
You can hear the Rynoka theme here, believe me, you won't regret it:
If you find the game interesting and want to give it a try, please visit its STEAM PAGE and support the developers! They are quite talented.
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more reviews and news from us. Don't forget to vote if you liked it!
See you really soon, Steemians!
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