When I discovered it in 2018, I fell in love: its pixelart look is pure charm, the mechanics that include managing a store during the day and hunting in dungeons at night are addictive and provided many hours of play. The charisma of Will and all the inhabitants of Rynoka, even the delinquents who tried to rob me, are unforgettable and made this title a great highlight, creating a legion of fans eager to continue their ventures with relics.
Now you’ve given us reason to update our CV and secure a spot in the new Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault store. The position is the same, but there are new responsibilities and tools that expand your activities (maybe the salary too? lol). The game is available in Early Access for PC and Xbox, via Game Pass and, right away, it’s already packed with content for us to start working on immediately. Only then will we ensure that this store is bigger and better upon its official launch.
Same store, new address
With the town of Rynoka captured by the interdimensional collector Molock, Will and many villagers are transported to an unknown dimension called Tresna. A place so different that it even changes the way we see things. Jokes aside, everything here is even more vibrant and with an exquisite 3D that oozes charisma.
Without money, you and the other villagers are trapped in this village. Now you need to recover and, in the meantime, once again transform the humble store and the entire city. The difference is that we don’t completely own Moonlighter here, everything belongs to Miss Pecúnia and she won’t give you any slack during your stay in Tresna. In this way, the work is given new meaning. Instead of maintaining a family legacy, we now have to seek the freedom of the Rynochians. It remains to be seen whether we really want to leave here.
The dynamics of Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, compared to the previous game, are very similar. Explore, survive and collect relics across dimensions at night; At dawn, take your valuable merchandise to the shelves, adjust prices, open your store and do business. The similarities are already capable of causing that feeling of nostalgia, remembering how good it was in the first game. But here the new features, which are already available and on the way, make Will’s double life even more addictive and fun.
In this early access, for now, we can explore three different dimensions and all of them are exuberant, with beautiful visuals that captivate even with all their hostility. We still have procedurally generated maps, which ensures that each session is unique during your explorations. Despite this, now when leaving one area to another it is possible to view the Tome Radar, which is a type of map and allows you to see the possible path within the dungeon, giving you an idea of the challenge that awaits you.
It may seem that the radar takes away some of the surprise factor, as it shows the route to the final boss, in addition to anticipating what may appear in each area through the icons that illustrate the map. There are, for example, areas with chests, events, blacksmithing, mini-bosses or advantages. The truth is that the map is full of forks and the freedom to chart your own path gives you the chance to be more strategic and decide what is most worthwhile in that session. Furthermore, it doesn’t take away the unpredictability, as everything is randomly generated. Therefore, it is a mechanic that better balances exploration.
Guaranteeing the best products
To reinforce strategic choices, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is bringing effects to the relics you find. Once again, there’s no point throwing it in your backpack anyway. The new thing here is that some items can burn, shield or even enhance other items. There are several effects that can be beneficial or negative, but it will depend on your attention during the allocations. For now, this works very well and makes organizing the loot a lot of fun, not only to avoid losing a valuable item, but to try to improve it as much as possible and also shield it, ensuring safe transport to Tresna. I hope more effects are added in the future.
Still in the dungeons, Will can roll, use weapons, swords and even hit with his backpack. There are energy bars for special attacks and to enable the use of the weapon. They recharge as you hit enemies or objects with weak hits. It’s not that complex a fight, but it’s enough to keep your attention and know the right moment to fight and roll. Even though it is simple, the confrontations are just as challenging, with varied enemies and even mini-bosses with different attacks in each game.
The confrontation ends in three ways: death, which results in losing part of the collected items; the victory; or escape, securing what had already been collected. In Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, Will still keeps the mysterious necklace capable of transporting you back to the village safely. Whatever the result, when returning to Tresna there will always be something new, from the simplest such as NPCs commenting on your adventures through dialogue bubbles to new events and characters appearing. This makes you explore even outside of combat.
There are merchants to improve your weapons, your health and also your store. Yes, now in addition to expanding the store there are many decorative items that will make each Moonlighter store unique. Some familiar faces may come to the store and, if you have the item they are looking for, they will make differentiated payments with useful materials for these improvements. In sales management, buyer reactions still help you find the ideal value for items, but product quality, which you can amplify with effects, can bring improved sales value. Not to mention that there are now negotiations and improvements during sales that result in tips, for example. And there is also the calendar with events that can make certain items more coveted.
There are new features that are not yet available, such as a pet creature that for now we can only pet, but there are also layers of store improvements, more relics and many other new features that will still be added as the game completes its development. So far, there is already a lot to do to guarantee good results for this store. There are so many possibilities that make the sales mechanics even more dynamic and those who liked it will probably love the new features.
Expanding the Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault store
It is worth remembering that the subtitle Endless Vault refers to a strange artifact that appears in the middle of Tresna square. It will test many of Will’s entrepreneurial skills. In practice, it will give you profit targets for your sales, at least they are cumulative numbers and will reward you with new skills. It works quite like a gear that helps drive the narrative and also keeps you focused on the evolution of the entire village.
The merchants present in Tresna, such as the blacksmith or the alchemist, can appear inside the dungeons. These will be times when you can guarantee an improvement in your weapons or protections. In addition to them, there are different travelers who will also want to challenge you in exchange for improvements or items. All of this makes the game very diverse and the most incredible thing is that, even though it is still in development, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is already full of content to explore.
Digital Sun Games is always very attentive to community feedback and also shares each new feature or correction patch made. This shows the commitment to ensuring that the title remains complete until the final version. It’s remarkable in every detail of the game, you can see the care put into every aspect. In fact, the songs are still beautiful and all the changes presented make this sequence very enjoyable. It certainly tends to surprise all fans, it remains to be seen what else will come.
In the tests I carried out, the game presented no problems, everything works very fluidly and my PC is not the most up-to-date. It is also worth mentioning that the game has a lot of texts and fortunately already has translations in our language, which helps to interpret the narrative, the effects and all the negotiation dynamics more easily. So there’s no excuse for low performance at work, you see.
If the first Moonlighter achieved its balance between selling and exploring caves, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault expands this entire mold without losing its identity. Whether you’re a fan, newbie or even someone who likes a roguelike that mixes action and management, trading with swords, pay attention to this title. Even before completion, it vibrates like a finished game.
