Quick Look: Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

Title just makes me think of MHA. "Relvery in the dark."

Now here´s a game that lived on my Steam Wishlist for a good few years. Never picked it up though.

I played this game when it was new on PC, it kicks ass. Definitely recommend it.

I picked this up in 2016 after Halfcoordinated ran it at SGDQ2016, and man it's such a good game. It's a pretty light metroidvania. It takes inspiration but doesn't slavishly pay homage to those types of games.

This is one of my favorite games. It captures the mystery and design of games like Dark Souls without rote copying of mechanics. It is a short distillation of the great parts of the metroidvainian genre. Looks beautiful plays great and engages you through it's few hours of content.

I don’t understand the distaste for the Switch D-Pad. The system is uncomfortable to hold, for sure. I use a grip and it solves that issue. But I love the D-Pad. Practically everyone on the site has complained about a controller reading diagonals from a D-Pad when it wasn’t intended. The Switch D-Pad is no question. If you’re not pressing two buttons, you’re not going diagonal. I’d rather that then the finnicky nonsense of the Pro Controller. Pro for 3D games, JoyCon for 2D games. I may stand alone, but that’s how I roll ?

Pixel game should just be its own GotY category at this point. Fuck it.

The intro to this quicklook........ is Ben turning into Dan Ryckert?

It's also been out on both PS4 and XBox One since 2017.

@darkaileron said:

We can only hope.

@darkaileron: Dan may not know a good many things but vocabulary is one area he excels in. Guarantee he knows the word "reverie" but that might be saying more about Ben than Dan.

This game looks like a no-bars-hold reverie.

Played on Steam. Had some great boss fights but the backtracking was really tedious.

Played this last year, great game. It’s fairly short but there is New Game + and plenty of secrets to find. Like Ben said it is pretty brutal, especially some of the bosses can be really unforgiving unless you are very familiar with their patterns and attacks.

This game looks dope.

That being said, there is soo much shovel ware on the Switch. It's starting to look like the Google Play store.

Really curious why Ben enjoys this way more than Hollow Knight, and I'm not saying this as some Undertale style fanatic of Hollow Knight. I'm mainly curious because both games play similarly, it's all about exploration and learning attack patterns and controls are even similar. Curious if it really all does come down to the map system.

Loved Momodora 3 and always meant to play this. Got some eshop gold saved up so its between this and Onimusha...decisions!

@humanity: This game is much smaller in scope compared to Hollow Knight so while both games rely heavily on backtracking, this game is much easier to navigate through. and I’m saying that as someone who loves Hollow Knight and has played through it twice. That may be a big reason, because I know a lot of people were frustrated by the map system and how easy it was to get lost in Hollow Knight, myself included at times.

Man, seeing Momodora 4 here is a trip for me after all these years of following the site. I got my start as a video game composer doing the music for Momodora 2 and 3 (wasnt involved in 4 sadly due to some personal issues at the time, although I am responsible for the sound the bells make.) One of my small dreams has always been to see you guys play and enjoy one of the games I've worked on and seeing this video today has made me feel like it's closer than ever before. Until then I've just gotta keep on going and I've got some very exciting projects coming out in 2019 (one of which is Rdein's next game!)

We've all come a long way from that basement in sausalito.

I played this game back when it originally dropped for PC, and every time from that point on that I have thought about it since then I have not been able to keep myself from calling it Momodora: Breakfast Treats, like Stella D'oro: Breakfast Treats. Also, it is a great, if punishing at times, game.

This kind of super health bar for bosses sucks. By the time Ben fought the queen for the third time, this game was putting me to sleep.

how do you not know how to pronounce reverie lol. c'mon son

oh my god Ben not knowing how to pronounce reverie fucking killed me

No-holes-barred is one of my favorite adult films, is that what you meant @Ben

I remember beating this game 2 years ago. Might have to re-pick it up since the switch version looks solid.

Ben said the word MUNNY, Kingdom Heartache Episode 6 confirmed

Was the reverie thing a bit? The word is pronounced exactly like it's spelled.

played this game in 2016 it is great. it really needs a sequel.

Riviera Under the Moonlight.

That town was never the same after Geraldo left to ply his witcherery elsewhere.

Is the next Momodora game here yet?

Really weird to see a quick look of a game I played two years ago, but glad its getting some attention. Momodora 4 is one of my favorite metroidvania/souls-likes. It gets the atmosphere and tone of the souls games right where many fail, and the movement/combat feel great. Hope more people give it a chance.

I remember liking this game quite a bit back when it came out. My main complaint was that it was quite short. Like really short. Something like 3 hours. I started the game in the morning and finished by noon.

@clintlandon: I just played the entirety of Celeste getting frustrated at the pro controller's d-pad, and your comment here about the joycon d-pad buttons just gave me a phoenix down moment. That makes sense! I will try that next time!

The music is so soothing...

I just can't do another pixel/retro art Metroidvania - and I fucking love Metroidvania games. I'm just burned out on that style.

Loved this game (when it came out on Steam). It is a bit small but worth it if you're the sort to try to get everything.

This is an example of a game I should love except it's way too difficult for me to get into. I ended up refunding it. It's a shame, because it's very well made.

@elektrobear: Wooooaaaaahh! Artemisia's Grave from Momodora 3 is high up there on my list of video game area BGMs. I never knew who did the music, good work!

I'd be down for some moonlight ravioli.

If you enjoy this game, Rabi-Ribi is another buried Metroidvania gem that recently came to Switch. It's a shame so many are put off by its art style (I was but still gave it a chance), because it's one of the deepest and most rewarding Metroidvanias to date. Unbelievable combat depth, boss encounters and a huge world to explore.

I've beaten the game a few times since discovering it in 2016, but watching this and seeing the AGDQ run the other day made me immediately reinstall and play up to the final boss in one sitting, only took a few hours.

Hell of a game. You're doing good work, Ben.

Strong Cave Story vibes.

Ben is correct, this game is much, much, much better than Hollow Knight. It's shorter, certainly, but it's vastly superior.

For me, better art, better story, more appealing characters, gameplay feels a lot crisper. Also the bosses, enemies, and environmental situations were a lot more interesting. I also didn't like the whole bugworld conceit... npcs are bugs, enemies are bugs, you are a bug... but I admit I didn't make it very far in Hollow Knight so maybe there was some stuff later that redeemed that whole idea.

I actually do like the map system in Hollow Knight quite a bit but everything else didn't really do it for me.

Welcome back @brad! Good to see (hear) you lending your voice to the Quicklook.

Having played it on steam I'd say I enjoyed it. The music gives the game a heavy atmosphere that I found kind of draining by the end. Though given the story that you eventually piece together and what happens at the end of the game it makes sense. Don't think I'll be playing this again, but if you like this style of game I'd recommend it.

didnt this game come out like several years ago?

o right the switch

$15 on Switch, $10 on everything else. PSN even has it on sale for 5 bucks right now. Switch tax strikes again, on a 2+ year old game at that.

@slayeric: *softly under breath* Revelry in the Dark

did he just say it again..?