Quick Look: Moonlighter

typo in that title

I am ready to sell my wares

Edit: I am ready to purchase this game

The moonligher was the worst joke from Napoleon Dynamite

Is this game basically Recettear? I would be up for more of that kind of game.

@funkys: From everything I've heard about it, it seems like it ? Was hoping they'd do a quick look so I could find out.

Typo in the title: "Moonligher"

Someone pulled a Klepek with this title

Title is bigh if true

This is a pleasant looking game.

I have been enjoying the hell out of this game for the past few days. The loop is just the right length, and the two aspects of the game feed off each other in a way that makes for some very addictive gameplay.

By the time I feel like I've had my fill of the combat, my inventory is stuffed with loot I can't wait to sell. The ability to teleport out of the dungeon, even in combat, means the only times I've died and lost any sort of progress is when I've gotten greedy and over-reached.

The inventory management is actually quite a fun little puzzle game at times, and never really feels like a chore since the reward you get for figuring out the optimal inventory layout can be the difference between a good run and an average one.

Gear progression feels significant and earned, and the combat difficulty hits a rewarding stride of letting you get just powerful enough to feel like an unstoppable juggernaut in the first dungeon, before you unlock the next dungeon and the difficulty rises again.

The shop-keeping gameplay strikes a good balance of frantically trying to get your shelves restocked, expediting customers, reading their reactions and demands, and fighting off shoplifters without ever feeling overwhelming. The numbers go up in a very satisfying way, and when I'm done I can't wait to upgrade my gear and go back in the dungeon.

Edit: To touch on a few of the points the crew were unclear on:

Supply and demand: So far, I have not noticed any real change in the demand for certain items by selling stack that are too large. The only time I think I've seen the demand drop is if I over-price things. Maybe this comes more in to play later in the game.

Removing curses from items: I'm not sure if I just misunderstood her, but I noticed that Abby placed an item with a symbol like a circle with a line through it on the edge of the inventory, saying it would destroy other items. What this effect does is to destroy a curse on an item in the direction of the arrow, not the item itself. For example to reveal what the hidden item is, or to disable the positional requirements some items have.

Question for folks who are playing this: Is this more or less complex than Racettear?

Just wondering if its going to scratch the same itch.

@matiaz_tapia: I haven't played Recetter but from what I've heard from friends over the years, this is a lot less complex. The initial loop of estimating your sell price for items isn't difficult at all since it gives you the top and bottom of the pricing for the items from a dungeon in the item list. They are also listed by price in the list so you can sort of guess how much everything will sell for right away. You can see this when Abby is showing the tabs for each dungeon and there's a gold value in the upper right on the list.

@muftyriots: Thanks! Well, think I might play Racettear again then. Shopkeeping is the itch I was looking to scratch ( capitalism ho! )

I found the loop in the game got stale around the 3rd dungeon, it very quickly became a grind of returning to the same dungeons to get the rarest items on the 3rd floor to get the most money, repeating this over and over. I will concede this may be because I played the game in 2-3 hour chunks each time, I feel this is a good commute game or just for short sessions. That said, I felt each aspect of the game (inventory management, shop simulator, dungeon crawling) were each too shallow to hold my attention to the end of the game. That said the game's pixel art is really wonderful, with the bosses, in particular, looking really great.

@matiaz_tapia: I only played Recettear for a little bit about a decade ago, so I don't really remember too well.

The shop-keeping really isn't too complex or demanding, and feels more like an arcady Diner Dash style experience than a deep strategy thing.

The combat is not as fast paced and a bit more slow and purposeful (not in a bad way, but in the read-enemy-movement-and-attack-patterns way) than for example the dashy super-mobility of Hyperlight Drifter. You can't cancel out of attacks by dodge rolling, and the movement and attacks are slow enough that you will be punished if you commit to an attack at the wrong time or with the wrong positioning.

I'm a bit worried about this myself. I'm at the point where I could finish up the forest dungeon on my next run, and so far there has not been much in the sense of expanding upon the gameplay elements established early in the game. I've bought most of the vendors, and most of the shop upgrades apart from the ones that are progression locked, and there's really nothing game changing about any of them apart from "makes numbers bigger". I'm still having fun though, and the numbers keep going up, so I'm happy for now.

Looks like a lot of fun and the right fit for a Switch pick-up-put-down game. Thanks, for the QL!

As an avid player of Recettear and having played Moonlighter a little bit: Moonlighter doesn't really scratch the same itch.

This review on Steam has some apt comparison between Moonlighter and games it took inspiration from.

Sounds an awful lot like it. In a good way though, I loved Recettear!

Reminds me of Crawl.

I REALLY wanted to like this game, but after putting in a good chunk of time into it (3rd dungeon), it doesn't even come close to Recettear.

Capitalism, ho?!

As much as I appreciate their work, far too many east qls lately. This seemed like a good Brad or Rorie joint. Hope a better balance is struck eventually.

It shouldn't, but it always weirds me out when I hear my name said in quick looks, not that it happens very often.

Also, @alex, I got that reference.

Looks neat, probably gonna pick it up to keep me entertained until Octopath Traveler finally comes out.

What is the point of the inventory management in this game, if not to artificially lengthen it? I feel like the minigame inventory tetris aspect was layered on it to conceal a lack of depth, like they put a game around the most arbitrary game mechanic possible to make you feel ok about having to return to the same dungeon over and over.

Does, uh, "remind me" of Reccetear though, but seems to lack all of the shopkeeping charm.

That said, seems like it's built for switch, I might get it when it hits there.

Someone correct the title of this for God's sake!

I loved Reccetear, but bounced off it pretty quickly. This seems like juuuust the thing to keep my interest.

Reminds me of the binding of Isaac. At least the dungeon portion

Abby needs to play Recettear. Its right up her alley.

Sellda?

Someone please help me see the cat in the bag?!

Man, would love to see a GBE play date of Recettear after hearing how everyone seems intrigued by moonlighter

This game is exactly Recettear, and that is a very good thing.

Yup it’s Recettear. My first Steam Game

Can't you make it a LITTLE bit cheaper?

@asherrd: hello on the inventory screen ignore everything on the right she's not referring to the paper doll or inventory equipped. To the top left is an icon of a stick person essentially and there is a line that separates that portion of the inventory and the icon below the person in the top left of the inventory is what they are referring to. It looks like a cat it is a bag but appears to be a cat with pointed ears. Alas I am not near a video capture software capable to have made this any easier but there is a cat in a bag but the cat is the bag it's like those cars that look like people or things hanging up in a bathroom. I've never been able to see a magic eye but I like to count letters in words and noticed and asked myself is there a cat inventory or why is there a picture of the cat when I first saw it. Game looks interesting but I'm not really sure about that inventory and I always get sad when I see low qualituu inventory icons like a good example is horizon zero dawn I just can't stand the two shade inventory icons. Hope you found the cat.

I love love love loved Recettear! I can't wait for this to come out on Switch.

@mortimer: Yeah, unless something changed in the dungeon after completing the 4 main ones I hadn't seen anything change up gameplay wise in anything meaningful way. The 'numbers going up' feeling kept me going for 8 hours, so I can't say I didn't have a good time with this game, but the sudden burnout I felt was really harsh and I just felt like I had figured out the best loop and was just increasing the numbers on the screen. I think it comes after playing roguelikes like BoI and Spelunky where there was layers of secrets to uncover as you went along (unless I completely missed something). I know Moonlighter is not exactly like these games and I shouldn't expect all roguelike games to have that, but the lack of there being more to the game than the very basic shop-and-dungeon gameplay left me quite cold by the end.

@asherrd said:

He wasn't talking about the sprite. On the left side of the left page of the book are 2 green icons, and the lower one is the bag but looks like a cat.

I'm glad you're enjoying this Abby! I finished it a couple of weeks ago and really loved it.

it says moonligher on the front page :o

How can anyone claim this game's anyhting's like Recettear?

Sure, it has a similar concept, and was clearly going for that vibe, but none of the charm from running the store is there. In fact, unless something changed recently, the actual store part was... not great. If I want a dungeon crawler, I have multiple options available to me, liek say Binding of Isaac, if I want a quirky shop management I have... well, just Recettear, I guess.

Capitalism, ho!

Awesome Quick Look, this game looks great. I love the art style and music, and the inventory management and shop keeping aspects look really refreshing. I think I'm gonna hold out for the Switch version though, seems like this would be perfect to have as a portable game. Thanks Abby!

This is honestly one of my favorite games of the year so far. The loop is very satisfying and the design of the enemies and bosses in the later dungeons are great. Good job with the Quick Look, Abby!

This is the first game I have bought off the back of a QL alone in a long time.