After seven long years, the sequel to a genre-defining indie classic everyone has been waiting for is finally here — that’s right, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault.
Okay, fans might not have been as vocal about Moonlighter 2 as, say, Hollow Knight Silksong, but 2018’s Moonlighter was another indie darling of Hollow Knight’s era with a novel concept: a roguelite dungeon-to-shop simulator. In the long years following its release, there haven’t been many games that tried to mimic its format, leaving the mishmash of genres untapped. Moonlighter 2 aims to improve on the tried-and-true formula that its predecessor left behind as it enters early access — and it does. However, with the sequel’s soft opening, there’s still room to grow as everything is currently under construction.
As a refresher for those who have forgotten what happened towards the end of Moonlighter, the dungeons on Rynoka, a quiet commercial village where the hero resides, turned out to be gateways into other worlds. A space pirate crew used them to plunder treasures across dimensions. Will, the protagonist who unknowingly also became an interdimensional thief, defeated the pirate captain, established a commerce treaty with the other nations, and luckily avoided jail time (or extermination).
In Moonlighter 2, Will and the Rynoka townspeople have been forcefully removed from their homes by Moloch, an interdimensional collector, who wanted the power of the gateways for themselves. Will and the crew somehow end up in a town called Tresna, where Will, a master shopkeeper, has seemingly not made a single dime. That is until he is forced to hunt for treasure and re-open the Moonlighter.
Oh yeah, and we can’t forget about the mystical cube named the Endless Vault that crash landed in the town square and promised to grant Will whatever his heart desired as long as he completed its trials and earned enough gold. This might leave you wondering, “Where did this magical box come from?”, “Why didn’t Will fight back against Moloch?”, or even “How did Will not make a single sale for the past three months?”, but as Moonlighter 2 is in early access, the story remains unclear. But it’s already as wacky as the first game.
The sequel follows the same well engineered day-night cycle that made its predecessor special. At night, you’ll enter another world, face off against aliens, robots, and witches (oh my), and shove all of your goodies into your overflowing backpack. Your main priority is to safely return home, whether it’s by extracting via your handy-dandy pendant or defeating the boss that lies at the end of each world. During the day, you’ll open up shop and sell your new found treasure. After a prosperous day, you can spend your well-earned money on a multitude of upgrades and items. You can enhance your weapons and armor, buy decorations and furniture to spruce up your shop, increase the potency of your potions, and much more.
You might be thinking that this sounds exactly like the first game, and it does, but Moonlighter 2 takes the formula and, quite literally, adds another dimension as it pivots from a 2D pixel perspective to a 3D isometric viewpoint along with a multitude of changes. It loses a bit of its charm in the process, but, as Moonlighter 2 embraces its multiple dimensions — in both lore and appearance — the world opens up to be adventurous and whimsical. You explore a curated gallery full of antiques and valuable goods, where security guards and robots watch your thieving hands. You visit stormy floating islands home to powerful witches and a magical atmosphere. Even Tresna, your new home, is a thriving town with familiar faces and aliens from other dimensions.
Combat is more strategic as you use your gun to shoot enemies out of the sky and your backpack to launch ruptured enemies off of the map. Each run is more distinct with the addition of a branching map à la Slay the Spire and perks that change your fighting style. Organizing your backpack is a mind-wracking puzzle as there are more relics and curses than you can remember. Managing the Moonlighter and selling goods is more rewarding as your decorations and perks can drastically grow your revenue.
A majority of these changes are a step in the right direction, but there is an occasional misstep here and there. There may be more relics than ever before, but there is somehow less backpack and chest space for all of your goodies. Combat may be more attention-grabbing, but it also follows the classic rule of three with every boss fight having three phases and a shield that needlessly forces you to use the backpack attack three times, leading to long-drawn-out battles.
Moonlighter 2 has its stumbles, but I don’t expect it to fall on its face on the long road to its 1.0 launch. As it’s still in early access, it has a lot of room to grow — both in terms of content and quality. I was able to reach the end of its current version in about 10 hours, and I’ve only completed about 25% of the entire game according to its in-game counter. Developer Digital Sun has also been very open to feedback and quick to resolve any and all issues, which is surprisingly an oddity in the modern era of gaming. (As a matter of fact, I had to omit a line about a stuttering issue from this very review as it was fixed in a mere matter of days after the early access release.) In its current state, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is not the perfect dungeon-to-shop simulator, but with developer Digital Sun running the register, it has the potential to be.
Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault is out now on Playstation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on Windows PC using a prerelease download code provided by Digital Sun and 11 bit studios. You can find additional information about gamexplore’s ethics policy here.
