Moonlighter 2 : The Endless Vault is the long-awaited sequel to the sleeper hit that released back in 2018 which seems like forever ago at this point. Developed by the folks over at Digital Sun and published by 11 bit Studios, Moonlighter 2 succeeds in capturing the essence that the first game had.
But, there are a few moments where I feel that the identity of the game has slowly become eroded. The big question remains, can Moonlighter 2 maintain its unique stamp the first one left behind? Join me in the latest review for Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault.
New Beginnings
Moonlighter 2 opens up with a recount of a story that I didn’t even realize was taking place in Moonlighter. Immediately we have strong story elements, depicting an antagonist who does a very good job at establishing their ability to be a rotten foe. Destabilizing the already established Rynoka and forcing its citizens into the new, slightly broken realm of Tresna, essentially hitting the reset button and allowing Moonlighter 2 to embrace a new beginning.
Naturally, it isn’t just the story and setting that embraces change. The camera angle and overall design of the entire game plays deeply into what I have already experienced in a litany of other games. Leaving behind the bit-style design of old-school graphics that made my wife go “Hey, this looks like the first Legend of Zelda game” into something that hearkens to the isometric styling of modern roguelike titles. While Moonlighter seemed to have hidden these aspects rather well, Moonlighter 2 manages to up the ante while reducing the effectiveness, leading to something that I still cannot make my mind up on.
It seems that if you are not isometric or a deck building game, then what are you really? Don’t answer that. With these sweeping changes, I am left in a state where I am constantly weighing the options like that one famous Larry David gif. Sure, these changes are really cool and it is nice seeing Will tumble and defeat enemies in a style that I have become all too familiar with over the last 8 years, but I also feel like I am exchanging something in return for this experience.
Resell Value
Item stacks from the first game are gone and instead certain materials get added to a special pocket separate from the artifacts that you pick up; a smart move that I like. This allows you to focus on managing your treasures. Instead of wondering if I need ten more jellies (a material used to make potions), I can focus on the new way these artifacts are managed.
Instead of picking up stacks of treasures and materials, you get one per slot. Each item has a rarity which is color-coordinated to match the famous “uncommon, common, rare” schematics that we have established since games were conceived. Then each item has its own quality rank which is represented by a number. The higher the number, the more likely it is to sell at a higher value when that time comes. You also have curse effects which apply various buffs and debuffs to other items, a staple that carried over from the first game. I also like how every chest you find has at least one item where you can choose the curse effect. This makes you think more about your inventory and the value of various items.
I am torn because I loved managing a bag of random items and this streamlines the entire experience. But, it also adds a bit more thought into the selling phase of the game, which I will get to. If you happen to find yourself defeated during a run, instead of items disappearing from your bag in the most disheartening way ever conceived, they simply lose quality levels. The risk-reward factor from the first game being absent here makes me torn.
On one hand I really felt terrible when I lost everything and that pushed me to go back into the dungeon and act as a storm of vengeance, making me want to retrieve everything I lost. Moonlighter 2 removes that feeling of risk which can be good for those who want a more “rogue-lite” experience. Is it a good change? Well… in the grand scheme of it all, perhaps it is. Especially when we get to the hungry vault.
Return on Investment
When you return to the town of Tresna, you are then able to sell your items from your shop. It turns out that people have brought a good amount of funds with them across dimensions. This segment is a bit different from the first game in ways that I think are much improved. The item quality system plays into the experience in an interesting way. You can set the item but there might be relative bonuses that apply to what the final price may be. These breakdowns of information are present, but at first if you don’t pay attention to them, you might find yourself wondering how an item worth 200 gold ends up becoming 500 gold. Naturally, the shopper reaction system is still there and it is more at the forefront of the experience. You have a better idea right away at what people like and do not like.
A neat addition to this portion of the game is roguelike aspects that modify the shopping experience. Happy shoppers who buy things from you build up a meter which then allows you to activate a temporary bonus which is pulled from a pool of options. Examples like “All common items sell at a higher price” and “increase tip jar funds” are mixed in together to make this segment way more engaging.
There is also a bit of customization going on here. Through a friendly cybernetic robot chest, you can move shopping pillars around carpets to make your own layout. You can also store items in the chest, but it is a fine limit. Moonlighter 2 really wants you to sell items after every run because it eventually leads into the main swing of the game: The Endless Vault.
Money Sink
A segment of the town features a giant cube called The Endless Vault. Money you make goes towards opening this vault so you can get more treasures. There are various stages to this that start out small and get progressively bigger. While this happens, you have to traverse the multitude of worlds to get more money to then get more stuff from the vault. It is an endless cycle that has you hyper focused on hitting that number that emits a feeling that I haven’t had since the days where I was given a mortgage by a very charismatic tanuki. The cycle goes: run a dungeon, sell things, unlock the vault. But there are a few other elements that play into that.
Running dungeons is just like the first one with changes that once again, lean into the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” aspect of roguelikes. You start your run and you get to choose from a multitude of pathways with nodes that give you an idea of what will be present before you accept. You beat each area and then move onto the next node. I feel like this disconnects me from the exploration the first game had where I could go around and revisit rooms or search for things that I may have missed. Here, that element is removed for something more streamlined.
Once again, I am at odds. Because it feels like a step backwards while retaining the benefits of forward momentum. I think it is one of those things that removes a bit of what made Moonlighter stand out amongst the crowd of roguelikes. Sure, the shop keep aspect is still present, but that is just one part of establishing a stand-out feature.
The vault isn’t the only place you’ll be using money. There are a slew of talent trees and upgrades that you can invest in, but it takes a lot of money and sometimes specific materials. Don’t have enough bag space? You can pay to upgrade that. Better weapons? Upgrade path. Want to hold more potions or make them more potent? You can upgrade that. Your shop can be upgraded and your various otherworldly effects can be upgraded. There is armor in the game that isn’t as good as the first game, which can also be upgraded. Honestly, there are so many upgrade paths within Moonlighter 2 that it feels like booking a Disney vacation. It isn’t necessarily bad, but I do find myself getting struck by choice paralysis.
Tools of the Trade
Weapons and abilities have also been changed massively. Instead of having this flow where you make a weapon and then choose various upgrade paths (that were rather shallow), you have four weapons and you just have them evolve over time. It’s sort of basic but I don’t mind it. The bow is mysteriously gone and instead we have a blob gun with a set amount of charges. As we perform melee attacks, the charges return, allowing us to strike distant foes or ones that decide to jump in the air.
The interesting aspect is when enemies either fall from the sky after a shot or hit a certain damage threshold, they become covered by this bleak substance. This is where you take your item bag and slam it into the enemy with a trigger pull. This sends the enemies careening into an area depending on the angle you hit them from. Traps and other environmental elements can deal bonus damage, enabling you to dispatch enemies quicker than before! I like this part, but I did have to swap buttons for this one. Using the stick to aim my gun and pulling the trigger to fire it felt much better than using it to swing an oversized bag.
One other part of the whole picture is the addition of various bonuses. Just like in ole roguelike fashion, you can choose from a suite of options that randomly appear. As you venture on your path, you can think about how you want to kit yourself out, making choices based on what you want. Trying to make a fire-based build? Then follow the flame icons.
Each pathway has a number of other events like choosing to engage with a challenge system where you suffer an effect for a certain number of rooms in exchange for a boon once it is complete. This does make you think more about how you approach this entire system. Not necessarily game changing, but it also very much is.
Items Per Transaction
This is where I begin to peter out a bit. I cannot tell you why, but as good as this game is, I feel like it does too much to follow the status quo rather than break out and become something incredibly different. It feels like Moonlighter 2 was made using a very specific playbook that has worked for many others. In a way, I question why this was even needed?
Sure, the evolution of various games are necessary, especially since it has been years later. I just wish some parts felt a bit more original, something that feels more unique to the experience. Moonlighter is basic on almost every level, and that is something I really liked about it. It was easy to pick up and once you got into the swing of things, the game really became this machine where the goal was to “make number go up.”
Moonlighter 2 does a lot more with what is written in the formula. And sure, on one hand I can picture Moonlighter 2 feeling relatively the same if they didn’t make these big swings, essentially becoming boring and uninspired. But, by changing so many aspects, it still holds onto that uninspired feeling. The one good thing I can say is how there are enough improvements here to make Moonlighter 2 a very fun and nuanced game that will take hours upon hours to conclude. There is a lot to chew on here and that is something I really love about the game. It might not feel like it stands on its own two feet sometimes, but everything else feels so good that I can overlook the parts that seem to borrow from the catalog of roguelike features.
In a way, I can see that reducing certain elements enabled the folks at Digital Sun to make something that felt more robust. When it comes down to how this game was made, even if they followed the same path that many others took, it seems to have worked out swimmingly and that is something you can’t put a price on.
Thank you to 11 bit Studios and our PR partners for review access to Moonlighter 2. You can find Seasoned Gaming’s review policy here.
