Moonlighter, What Do You Mean It's Been Seven Years Since You Launched?

I originally began writing this article as a Moonlighter 2 news story, only to learn that the first game recently celebrated its 7th anniversary.

Seven years, I can barely fathom it for a game that I've rebought countless times, and I still remember it fondly. My introduction to Digital Sun's action RPG came back in 2019 as one of the Epic Games Store freebies, and I decided to jump in because the premise reminded me of Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale. About 20-something hours later, in less than a week, I'd cleared the campaign.

Much like Recettear, I enjoyed how Moonlighter splits your time between two different segments. It's one half dungeon crawling, one half shop management, and you play as an adventurous shopkeeper who directly travels through these strange gates to plunder various treasures. As a roguelite, the exact layouts for each level change every time you go in.

Without turning this into a full mini review, it's a rewarding loop that also punishes in equal measure for taking unnecessary risks. That's reinforced by the fact you can't just hoard everything you find, either; there's no stocking 99 versions of each item. Moonlighter never feels unfair or too lenient, it's very replayable, and the artwork is solid.

You can understand my excitement when the sequel got announced, which brings me back to what I'd started writing this article about. Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is due out later this year, which only seems to be building up on that formula further. Recent previews have encouraged me with talk of combat improvements and the new 3D art style, so I'll be jumping in as soon as I get the chance.

Moonlighter is available now on PC, Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, IOS and Android, while Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault arrives this summer on PC, Xbox Series, and PS5.